What is an Engineering Bill of Materials (EBOM)?

An EBOM (Engineering Bill of Materials) is a comprehensive list of all physical elements (assemblies and subassemblies) that defines the structure of a product. Engineers typically create it during the product design phase, is an essential part of the product development process and supports change management, cost estimation, and collaboration across teams during the product development process. EBOM is a specific type of bill of materials (BOM) and serves as a blueprint from which other types of BOMs are created, such as MBOM (Manufacturing BOM).

What are the benefits of an EBOM?

The EBOM provides many benefits since it serves as an up-to-date reference of how a product is designed to all stakeholders, such as engineering, manufacturing, and suppliers:

• Streamlined communication: EBOM improves collaboration since all teams have access to the same design data, which reduces the risk of miscommunication and errors during product development, manufacturing, quality control, and service and improves their visibility into design changes and production requirements. EBOM is an essential part of product lifecycle management (PLM).
• Effective management of product changes: The EBOM provides a clear record of all components, making it easier to manage changes and revisions. When a component or material needs to be updated, the EBOM can track and document the changes, ensuring that updates are properly implemented across all product iterations.
• Effective management of product variants: Each product variant can be represented by a dedicated EBOM derived from the same product platform. Differentiating between common and variant-specific parts allows for improved efficiency of manufacturing and service operations.
• Better cost management: By identifying each element of a product, EBOM helps manage its cost, facilitates efficient procurement of parts and materials from suppliers, and effectively manages manufacturing resources.
• Derivation of additional BOMs: Using an EBOM, non-engineering teams can derive other types of BOMs, such as MBOM (Manufacturing BOM).

Digital thread unifies all types of BOMs

A digital thread serves as an authoritative source of truth for stakeholders across multiple domains within a product’s value chain to trace the information they need to complete the necessary tasks at each stage of development. When applied to EBOM, MBOM, Service BOM (and others) management, it provides context for meaningful relationships between digital assets (including revisions and design changes) that help multidisciplinary teams of engineers, procurement specialists, or project managers work more efficiently as they receive data.

Why is EBOM important?

An EBOM is fundamental to product development because it provides a detailed, structured list of all components, parts, and materials required to build the product as intended by the engineering team. It guides all processes downstream from design, including manufacturing, quality control, supply chain management, and servicing.

Examples of EBOM

The below resource provides a good example of an EBOM template for a skateboard company:

EXAMPLE: https://letstranzact.com/blogs/engineering-bill-of-materials

A very simple BOM might look like this:

Image source: https://katanamrp.com/blog/bill-of-materials/

A more complex BOM could look like this:

Image source: https://plmtechnologyguide.com/what-is-the-difference-between-an-ebom-and-an-mbom-do-we-need-both/

EBOM challenges

When managing an EBOM, engineers and project managers may encounter issues with version inconsistency, change management gaps, communication barriers, data management shortfalls, and system integration complexities. Understanding the impact of these challenges helps all stakeholders in the product lifecycle play their part in streamlining EBOM management.

Version inconsistencies

As engineers move between making changes to prototypes, testing these changes, and re-designing the prototypes, tracking EBOM versions can be challenging, especially when dealing with multiple EBOMs for a family of products. If process owners do not capture all design changes successfully, there’s a risk of generating inconsistent EBOM versions.

Change management gaps

Since the complexity of each EBOM depends on the product’s unique build requirements, multidisciplinary teams of engineers and project managers may find it time-consuming to document and keep track of all these changes. For example, some EBOMs may only contain raw materials, mechanical components, and design specifications. However, others might also include a list of preferred suppliers and guidance for industry-specific regulatory compliance.

Communication barriers

Terms used in EBOMs may have different meanings or connotations across disciplines, creating communication challenges. For instance, a project manager who oversees multiple aspects of product development may not be as adept at articulating design nuances in an EBOM as the engineers who interface with the project’s day-to-day technicalities.

Data management shortfalls

When the information used in an EBOM (such as part numbers, their quantities, or lead times) is obtained from multiple suppliers, keeping track of it and maintaining an up-to-date EBOM becomes cumbersome. Periods of price fluctuations or global supply chain disruptions can also impact accurate EBOM documentation because stakeholders may not always have access to the latest information.

How to create a strong EBOM

Despite the challenges of EBOM management, organizations can still strengthen their EBOMs to streamline product development, downstream manufacturing, quality improvement, and service processes. That requires organizing data, maintaining design control, implementing feedback, and resolving supply chain issues, among other tasks.

Here’s what that might look like:

• Data organization: Stakeholders across an enterprise should agree on how they would like to manage and document various types of data in the EBOM, including part numbers, design descriptions, compliance requirements, and other components. Doing so early ensures accuracy and consistency throughout the project’s lifecycle.
• Design control: Product development teams should maintain an up-to-date version of each engineering design approved to enter production. Controlling these design versions helps avoid discrepancies going unnoticed until later, during manufacturing or quality assessment.
• Feedback incorporation: By implementing an ongoing feedback loop across production, stakeholders can promptly apply relevant new information to update product versions and document that in the EBOM. However, this requires an organization-wide culture of openness and collaboration to view feedback as a driver of improvement.
• Supply chain management: Preventing supply chain disruptions may require engineering, procurement, and manufacturing teams to collectively anticipate their needs early in a project’s lifecycle. Tools like the digital thread can help these teams predict supply quantities, minimize delays from lengthy lead times, or reduce manufacturing waste.

To learn more, check out our
Blog: Exploring the Transformation to the Digital Enterprise: 4 Key Takeaways

Aras capabilities in EBOM

Aras Innovator provides an ideal platform for EBOM that includes:

Collaborative data management

Aras Innovator empowers better collaboration across product development teams by facilitating connections to critical data throughout the product lifecycle. A digital thread built on Aras streamlines how stakeholders manage represented by an EBOM, enabling teams across the product value chain to access critical information on demand.

Reliable data standardization

With Aras, companies can reliably maintain the data definitions they agree upon throughout the product lifecycle, minimizing discrepancies related to mismatched data or inconsistent versions. As these organizations scale their development processes, Aras Innovator provides a data backbone they can rely on.

Adaptability to industry trends

In production development environments, business processes change frequently, meaning companies must evolve and discover new, innovative ways to meet industry demands and compliance requirements while remaining competitive. Aras’ digital thread and PLM solutions help companies adapt quickly to these demands without compromising performance.

EBOM management supports innovation while prioritizing product quality

A well-structured and maintained EBOM helps stakeholders across product lifecycles access the information they need to manufacture high-quality products and extend their lifetimes. By investing in strategies like the digital thread to unify EBOMs and their derivative BOMs, enterprises can increase production efficiency, shorten their timelines, and manage risks like supply chain disruptions.

Aras Innovator’s digital thread solution enables EBOM management for fast-growing enterprises looking to harness innovation and sustain excellent product quality.