Bills of Materials, Recipes and Kits
A structure says what something is made of. Manufacturing calls it a bill of materials, food production a recipe, distribution a kit — the same shape, modelled once.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:
- Structures — the console — build, explode and review
- Structure Records — the underlying parent/child lines
- Standard Costs — the costed view of a structure
One graph, any depth
A parent with children, where a child can itself be a parent. An assembly contains sub-assemblies containing components, to whatever depth your product genuinely has. There is no fixed number of levels.
What each line carries
- Quantity — how many of the child go into one parent.
- Scrap — expected loss, so requirements reflect what you must buy rather than what ends up in the product.
- Sequence — the order components are consumed or assembled, which drives works instructions.
- Revision — which version this line belongs to.
- Effectivity dates — when this line applies.
Effectivity is not optional
A structure without dates can only tell you what a product is made of now. The question actually asked is what it was made of in March — and it is asked in the worst circumstances: after a recall, a customer complaint or a supplier defect notice.
Change a structure by ending the old line's effectivity and starting a new one from the changeover date, so both answers remain available depending on the date you ask about.
Planning a changeover
Because effectivity is dated, a future change can be entered in advance. Set the new line to start on the changeover date and end the old one the day before, and the system builds correctly on the day without anybody making an edit at midnight.
Check remaining stock of the outgoing component when choosing the date — a changeover that strands inventory is an expensive way to be tidy.
Kits versus assemblies
The difference is what happens to stock. A kit is picked and shipped as its components and the parent may never exist as stock. An assembly consumes components and receives the parent into stock as a new item.
Decide which you are modelling before configuring — they produce different movements, and converting later means reworking the structure and the history.
Scrap is not a rounding fudge
Use scrap for genuine, predictable loss — offcuts, evaporation, test failures. Do not use it to compensate for inaccurate quantities, because it disguises the inaccuracy in exactly the reporting that would otherwise reveal it.
Explosions are dated too
Exploding for a works order due next month uses the structure effective then, not today's. If an explosion looks wrong, check the date you asked about before checking the structure.
Worked example
A manufacturer replaces a fastener from 1 September. The old line is ended 31 August, the new one starts 1 September, both entered in July. Builds through August use the old part; September builds use the new one. When a defect notice arrives in November covering the old fastener, exploding by date identifies exactly the builds that used it.
Recommendations
- Always set effectivity dates, even on a structure you think will never change.
- Enter changeovers in advance rather than on the day.
- Import structures deepest level first so a parent never references a missing child.
- Verify a sample explosion against your old system before trusting the set.