How BOMs Can Impact the Smartphone Industry

This week we’ll be covering 2 industries that would benefit the most from using maintenance and construction BOMs. In this series, we’ll be taking a closer look at specific industries in each post.

To begin, one of the most popular consumer products in the market today also requires the greatest respect for proper maintenance. Smartphones are remarkably complex machines that use hundreds of parts for the simplest of tasks.

The Smartphone and the BOM

By the time smartphones are packaged and shipped to retail stores, they undergo at least 20 separate processes. These processes require specialized machinery and equipment that’s expensive to replace. After molding, plating, anti-oxidation, screen testing, and assembling, smartphones made up of hundreds of pieces owe their existence to thousands of parts that make the process streamlined.

You can imagine the bill these manufacturing companies pay to maintain this complex equipment. A careful organization of spare parts to maintain proper upkeep is essential. This is where a maintenance bill of materials comes in. As we know, adequate BOMs are the bedrock for successful maintenance requests. Moreover, companies that need to manage thousands of parts for day-to-day operations, would benefit from a system that can accurately categorize and depict parts data as needed.

Smartphone manufacturers are especially inclined to keep an intuitive database of this information since smartphone models, batteries, and specs change by the year. And the equipment required to manufacturer them needs to be updated regularly as well. This renders parts and equipment for manufacture and assembly subject to changes and updates regularly.