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Bills of Materials, Recipes and Kits

A structure says what an item is made of. Manufacturing calls it a bill of materials, food production a recipe, distribution a kit: one model covers all of them, with revisions and dates so you can always answer what something was made of on a given day. The Structures console is where you maintain, explode and check them.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:

  • Structures — the console: maintain, explode, where used, validate, cost roll-up and a requirements preview
  • Structure Records — the underlying structure headers
  • Standard Costs — rolled-up costs per structure

Architect Panel → ERP - Reference Data:

  • Structure Types — bill of materials, recipe, kit and phantom

Admin Panel → Inventory & Production:

  • Structures — the same console for planners and production staff

Who can use it

ERP: Inventory or ERP: Reporting can open the console; changing structures needs ERP: Inventory (or ERP: Administration) and write access to the company. Components must exist in the item master once the company uses it.

Kinds of structure

  • Bill of materials and Recipe: made on work orders and planned by MRP.
  • Phantom assembly: a sub-assembly that is never stocked or made on its own work order; its components take its place wherever it is used.
  • Kit: a sales bundle, never built or planned, only exploded on request.

Creating a structure

  1. Open Structures, choose the Company and click New structure on the Structures tab.
  2. Enter Makes (the item code), a Name if it differs from the item's, the Kind, Revision, Valid from and, if it ends, Valid to.
  3. Set Makes how many (line quantities are for this many) and the Unit, and choose Status: Active, Draft or Obsolete. Only active structures are exploded, costed and planned.
  4. Choose Applies to: This company only or Every company in the group. A company's own structure beats a group-wide one.
  5. In Components, fill each line: Line (the sequence), Component, Qty per, Unit, Scrap %, Phantom and the line's own From and To dates. Use Add a component for more.
  6. Click Create structure.

Scrap grosses a line up: 10% scrap on 2 per means 2.22 are issued. A save that would make an item contain itself, through any level on any date, is refused before anything is written.

Changing a structure over time

To change a structure from a date, open it and click New revision…, enter Effective from and click Create the revision. The current lines (and its routing) are copied into a revision numbered one higher, and the old revision now ends the day before. Edit the new revision. Where two active revisions overlap, the higher one is used. Make obsolete… keeps a revision on record but stops anything exploding, costing or planning it; work orders already raised keep their components.

Explode, where used and validate

The bar at the top takes an Item and an Effective on date, used by every tab:

  • Explode: enter a Build quantity, choose Explode as (Bill of material / recipe, or Sales kit) and click Explode. The tree shows every level with quantity per, scrap and required quantity; scrap compounds level by level and phantoms are blown through. Download CSV exports it.
  • Where used: the structures that name the item directly, one level up, on that date.
  • Validate: checks for cycles, depth over 25 levels, zero or negative quantities, scrap out of range, components missing from the item master, and gaps between revisions. Leave Item blank and click Validate every structure before go-live.

What goes wrong

  • "This would make X contain itself (A > B > A).": a loop; fix the lines.
  • "Revision N of X already exists - use the next number, or New revision."
  • "Item X is not in the item master. Create it on the Items console first."
  • "Effectivity gap: X has no structure from D1 to D2": work orders and MRP find nothing for those dates.
  • An explosion looks wrong: check the Effective on date before the structure.

Worked example

A manufacturer replaces a fastener from 1 November. In October the planner opens the pump assembly, clicks New revision… with Effective from 1 November, swaps the fastener line in the new revision and saves. Explode on 31 October shows the old part; on 1 November, the new one. Validate every structure confirms there is no gap or loop. When a defect notice later covers the old fastener, Where used on dates before November shows exactly which assemblies used it.

Recommendations

  • Change structures with New revision, not by editing lines in place.
  • Validate every structure before go-live and after bulk changes.
  • Use scrap only for real, predictable loss.
  • Load structures deepest level first, so components exist before parents.