Create Bill of Materials

Note:This is available only for certain plans in Zoho ERP.

Scenario: Patricia owns a small manufacturing shop where she makes cotton shirts. She uses Bill of Materials (BOM) as a blueprint to manufacture shirts and keep the whole process sorted. In the bill of material, she adds all the required components, such as 1.8 meters of fabric, 7 buttons, 50 meters of thread, 1 collar fusing and 1 brand label, along with the operations involved, such as cutting, stitching, button fixing, and finishing for manufacturing one shirt. This helps her know exactly what components will be consumed and what operations her team will follow. Once she decides to produce the shirts, she simply converts this bill of material into a manufacturing order and starts the process without any hassle.

To create a bill of materials,

Prerequisite:

You must enable the Manufacturing module in Zoho ERP to use the Bill of Materials module.
You must have created at least one cost template, work center type and operation in settings to create a bill of material. Learn More

Go to Items on the left sidebar.
Navigate to Bill of Materials in the top Module bar.
Click +New in the top right corner.

Field	Description
Name	Enter the bill of material name.
Bill of Material#	Enter the bill of material number. By default, it is auto-generated, but you can also choose to enter it manually. To set your preference: - Click the Gear icon next to the BOM# field. - Choose one of the following options: * Continue auto-generating Bill of Materials numbers - Set the prefix and next number. The bill of material number will be auto-populated for every new creation. * Enter Bill of Materials numbers manually - Add the BOM number manually during each creation. Once done, click Save.
Description	Add a brief description of the bill of material. You can add up to 500 characters.
Item to Produce	Select the item planned for manufacturing. You can also create a new item by clicking + Add New Item from the dropdown.
Quantity	Enter the quantity of the item you wish to produce.

Add Components

In the Components tab, add the details of each component required for producing the item by clicking +Add New Component.

Field	Description
Name	Select or add the components (items) that will be used as raw materials to manufacture the item to produce
Quantity	Enter the quantity of the component required for production.
Unit	Displays the base unit of the component

Note: You can also create a bill of materials for the components. Learn more

Add Operations

Once the components are added, switch to the Operations tab. You can view the operations you have associated with the components.

Field	Description
Name	Displays the name of the operation associated with the bill of material.
Description	Shows a short summary of the operation defined during creation. You can click and edit the description as needed to match the current bill of material configuration without affecting the default operation description.
Work Center Type	Shows the work center assigned to the operation.
Duration	Enter the time required to complete the operation.

Note: For operations measured in hours, convert the time to minutes (e.g., 2 hours = 120 mins) and enter it in the Duration field.

Blocked By Operations

Specifies the operation that must be completed before this one can begin.

Scenario: Patricia sets up her cotton shirt production with operations such as cutting, stitching, button fixing, preparing the label, and finishing. Some operations depend on others to be completed first. For example, stitching cannot start until cutting is done, but labels can be prepared while cutting is happening. To manage this, she can use Blocked By Operations in her bill of materials to indicate which tasks must wait and which can be performed concurrently, ensuring proper time management.

Note: When you start an operation before completing its prior operation specified under Blocked By Operations, the system will not allow you to proceed and show a pop-up stating that the prior operation must be finished.

You can also add operations without assigning them to a component in a bill of materials.

Add New Operations

Go to the Operation tab in the Bill of Material Creation page. If it’s the existing bill of materials, edit it.
Click the Operation name, and select the operation in the dropdown.
Enter the Duration for the operation. If needed, you can also add Blocked By Operation if needed.

Scenario: Manish Patel runs a furniture business and manufactures tables. For each table, he has components like wood panels, screws, and varnish, along with operations such as cutting, assembling, polishing, and packaging. Once the table is ready, the packing operation begins. Manish adds a Packing operation without associating any component in a bill of materials. Since packing does not directly use any raw materials, it can be performed after manufacturing.

Click Save.

Multi-Level Bill of Materials

When you want to create a bill of materials for a item to produce and its components need to be manufactured, you can simply select the bill of materials for the component while manufacturing the item to produce, instead of manufacturing each component separately.

Scenario: Bailey owns a small manufacturing shop where she makes dining sets. In the bill of materials for the dining set, she adds all the required components, such as 1 dining table, 4 chairs, 20 screws, 4 table legs, along with the operations for producing one dining set. Since the chairs themselves need to be manufactured, she also selects the bill of materials for the chair, which includes the seat, backrest, 4 legs, screws, and polish, along with the operations.

She uses this bill of materials to create a manufacturing order for the dining set in Draft status. Once she reviews it and changes the status to Confirmed, the manufacturing order for the chair will be automatically created in Confirmed status. This helps her to proceed with manufacturing both the chairs and the dining set.

To create a multi-level bill of materials:

Prerequisite: The component should have at least one bill of materials created.

Go to Items on the left sidebar.
Navigate to Bill of Materials in the top Module bar.
Click +New in the top right corner.
Follow the steps mentioned above to create a bill of materials.
If the component has any bill of materials that you created before, the Bill of Materials dropdown will be displayed below the component.
If you need to produce the component along with the Item to Produce, click the dropdown and select the bill of materials for the component.
Add the required operations, and click Save.