sync eBOM revision with mBOM revision

[Former Member]

Hi,

   We have a PLM system which will send SAP the eBOM. SAP will then create an mBOM from the eBOM. However the eBOM could be revised in the PLM system with an ECR/ECO process. At the same time manufacturing would like to revise the mBOM independant of the eBOM in SAP. Is this an industry best practice ? I see an issue with this approach that I could reach a stage where the eBOM is at revision level 2 and the mBOM is as revision 10 for example. How do we make sure that both are at the same revision level ? Or is it common to change the mBOM independantly of the eBOM ?

Thanks

[Former Member]

Hi GS,

Please go through SAP note 1974856, it will be helpful.

Thanks,

Nishit Jani

[former_member214775]

Hi,

our manufacturing company is also using this business process means different changes on eBOM and mBOM without sequence with SAP PLM as described by Ulf and Julien. These kind of changes cause difficulties in SAP PLM however it is not impossible to manage these.

Best regards

Tamas

[ulf_petzel]

Hi,

typically an eBOM might have multiple revisions that do not directly relate to a "revision" of an mBOM.

First, I would like to point out that an mBOM in SAP ERP does not carry a revision. It is typically changed via Engineering Change Management with DATE EFFECTIVITY. Only the header material of the BOM might have a revision level, and this revision level is directly tied to a Change Master as it can only be updated under change control. So basically in SAP ERP you talk about historic (versions) of an mBOM, which means you can dynamically explode the BOM taking into account the key date of a Change Master in order to see how the mBOM was or will be looking like at a specific point in time.

I have a similar experience as Julien.

So there might be standalone manufacturing-driven changes on an mBOM, controlled with Change Masters, but this is rarely the case. At most customers, irrespective if they use SAP PLM or a competitor PLM tool, there is an ECR/ECO process which drives both the changes to the eBOM and the mBOM. Some customers group multiple eBOM changes into a larger change on the mBOM side. So yes, there is typically delays when certain changes to an eBOM are getting applied to the mBOM.

Regards, Ulf.

[Former Member]

Hi,

EBOM is usually revised in advance regarding the MBOM. The MBOM revised after the EBOM has been revised with a time gap corresponding to some logistical / operational constraints (eg. consumsion of old components, new tooling vaidation, delivery time of new components). In some cases, manufacturing can also choose to implements the changes of the EBOM as a package, so to consider several EBOM revision at the same time, or even to implement the EBOM revision in a different order than the Engineering sequence.

BR
Julien