A small oversight in your bill of materials can stall production fast. These 5 precision-focused tips help keep your build—and your team—moving forward.
The first shipment is late. Procurement is chasing clarification. On the floor, production stalls while a team waits for tubing specs missing from the last export. No one dropped the ball—at least, not in the traditional sense. But the bill of materials (BOM) left out three critical details, and now hours are slipping through the cracks.
These aren’t uncommon missteps, but they’re avoidable ones. Here are five mistakes to avoid in your bill of materials to avert the dreaded slowdown.
1. Skipping Version Tracking Once
It only takes one outdated version of a BOM to derail an order. If your design team updates part specs on Thursday, but the purchasing team exports a copy from Monday, the result is confusion, rework, or both.
To prevent cross-functional mismatches, you must perform version tracking in real time, not at the end of a cycle. Use shared tools with audit trails, and require that every revision is reviewed by procurement within 24 hours of being published.
2. Leaving Out Key Dimensions
Generic labels don’t travel well. A supplier may interpret “steel tubing” in half a dozen ways depending on diameter, wall thickness, or finish. And when you’re sourcing from multiple vendors or cutting in-house, those distinctions matter.
Always list full dimensions—outer and inner diameter, length, material grade, and any required tolerances. When evaluating supplier options, it’s also worth understanding what types of tubes a tube laser can cut so that cutting capabilities match the order.
3. Mixing Up Units of Measure
A bill of materials that includes both inches and millimeters—or mixes quantity with linear footage—can lead to severe overages or shortages. These mistakes are disruptive and hard to reconcile mid-build.
Review all units of measure at the component level before releasing the BOM to procurement. This crucial task should be assigned to a single owner and completed at least 48 hours before any order is placed.
4. Relying on a Single Vendor
Listing just one supplier for a part, especially a custom part, introduces unnecessary risk. If that vendor is backlogged, you’re left with no immediate fallback and an uncertain lead time.
A more stable approach is to identify two qualified suppliers per critical item. Include part numbers for each, along with specific cut or packaging instructions if they differ by vendor. Your team then has options without halting production.
5. Ignoring Scrap and Yield
When BOMs are based solely on design quantity, real-world loss gets ignored. Scrap from tube laser cutting, for example, can vary by nesting efficiency, edge condition, and geometry. Underestimating yield leads to unplanned reorders and delivery delays.
Account for expected scrap by adding your calculated material overage. Review actual usage data quarterly to adjust these targets with more accuracy.
Treat the BOM as a Live Asset
In addition to these five mistakes to avoid in your bill of materials, consider how you’re treating your BOM. A BOM should evolve with the build, reflect real constraints, and be reviewed every time a new batch is planned.
When it stays active, it stays accurate.