Point 3: Establish a product life cycle management system with BOM as core

As explained earlier in vol.1 of this series, BOM contains the key information pertaining to product configuration and also being used across all business processes from planning, sales, engineering, manufacturing to service throughout the product life cycle as core of Monozukuri. Therefore, centralized and integrated management of BOM becomes important to establish a product life cycle management system.
In vol.2 of this series, we explained about the matching of manufacturing related information with goods and the linkage of information between all business processes from planning, sales, engineering, manufacturing to service makes a digital thread for the realization of the cyber-physical system (digital twin).

The following picture is an example of smart factory that strengthens the linkage of cyber-physical, support parts supplying for a multi-variety variable production with AI technology and autonomous process and facility control by using an abnormal equipment detection.

BOM and BOP (Bill of process) refers to the key information of Monozukuri which is defined by PLM system during upstream phase for linking the information of engineering chain with supply chain. In this system, BOM is linked to SCM and ERP for product planning and purchasing, and BOP is linked to MES (Manufacturing Execution System) for manufacturing order and notifying a technical change to product line quickly and preciously. These information execute the linkage between engineering and supply chain tightly and support a manufacturing system in response to sudden and dynamic changes of market and economy.

We think that it would be important to supply a product continuously with strengthen a capability of resilience for surviving under new normal era in addition to maximize an efficiency of manufacturing by operating a PDCA cycle of product development with the linkage between PLM, MES and IoT. Under this situation, we believe that BOM is strongly candidate as a core information of this system.