By Mike Hart
The bill of material (BOM) is the foundation of any manufacturing system. If you disrespect the BOM, you severely limit your efficiency potential.
Disrespecting the BOM
You "disrespect" the BOM when you don't give it center stage in your manufacturing processes. Instead of using the BOM as the driver of MRP, purchasing, material issues, and costing, companies disrespect the BOM when they relegate it to the "cleanup" function of "backflushing" component inventory at the end of a job.