Back in the late 70's I was involved in developing a system of paperwork which streamlined efficient project management. The Bill of Material became the primary document from which all, ALL, documents derived.

Drawings, purchasing, instruction manuals, everything was in the Bill of Material first. The Project Engineer began the Bill of Material when the project was started.

The Bill of Material is an 'A' size drawing. While developed as a manual system [before the PC], I will adapt it for the PC - in html.

Bill of Material Utilization Procedure

I

A. The purpose of the bill of material is to document detailed project information at the highest and earliest level. This will eliminate considerable duplication of effort. The bill of material will also provide a better history of the project. The bill of material will not only be an important source document but it is designed to be a powerful engineering tool. To be effective, such a tool must be carefully controlled. In these ways this document will improve the efficiency of all departments and become more important as a much needed tool.

B. 1. There will be one A-sized multi-sheet fill of material for each project, or for each standard product. Bills of material will not appear on mechanical, electrical, or piping drawings.

2. Purchasing will be done from the bill of material (Engineering does not write purchase orders.)

3. The bills of material for different jobs will be more uniformly organized.

4. Devices will be checked against the bill of material when received.

5. Bill of material originals are made by engineering and not redrawn by drafting.

6. Bill of material provides complete description to all departments, as well as the customer and any other concerned parties.

7. Bill of material cover sheet provides concise project description and list of all project drawings to all parties.

8. Bill of material sheet 2 includes special instructions to shop or other departments.

9. Bill of material lists ALL items supplied by the company whether mounted on equipment or shipped direct.

10. Bill of material concisely specifies all vendor drawing and instruction requirements for ordering and expediting purposes.

11. Bill of material provides shop with one list containing all material to be included with shipment of constructed pieces.

C. For expandability, the sheet numbering system is a two dimensional array (e.g. 1, 1A, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6A, ...).

The cover sheet, sheet 1, will concisely describe the entire project. The project drawings will be listed on this sheet along with the major project unit assemblies and appurtenances. Next a sheet for general shop notes, internal specifications, and special instructions is included as sheet 2. For the details of the devices, two forms are used. One is un-ruled for paste -in of information, tabulating, etc. The other is ruled for legible hand printing. More forms, including fill-in-the-blank styles can be added where they are found to be efficient.

D. For purchasing of material and automatic distribution of copies, the bill of material originals will be released by engineering in a manila folder known as the bill of material release folder and will be routed in a specified manner:

1. From the engineer to the scheduler; who will enter the material required date on the folder and forward to:

2. Purchasing; who will write the purchase orders, enter purchase order number and dates on the bill of material detail sheets, and enter purchasing complete date on the folder and forward to:

3. Reproduction: who will make automatic in-house distribution of bill of material copies and return the bill of material originals to:

4. Engineering, for filing and control of the originals.

E. Each original bill of material and bill of material release folder will be kept in a file folder in the bill of material file cabinet. There will be One release folder and one file folder for each bill of material.

II

A. As any tool, the bill of material is designed to be used in specific ways for maximum effectiveness. Therefore, a detailed outline procedure follows to explain preparation of the bill of material.

b. The department assigned a primary project responsibility will assume the responsibility for control of the bill of material. The cover sheet will be filled in as completely as possible once the job has been assigned a project number. The bill of material number will be derived from the project number, simplifying cross-referencing. After surveying the job specifications, the engineer will insert on the note sheets, sheet 2, 2A, et., the applicable instructions for adherence to the job specifications. Fill-in-the-blanks forms have been designed for these sheets.

The Cover Sheet

Project Name ______________ ______________ Project Site ______________ ______________ Customer ______________ ______________ Customer P.O. _____________ Ship to: _____________ _____________ _____________ Consulting Eng. _____________ Project Eng. _____________ Drawing No. _____________	PROJECT MAJOR ITEMS UNIT NO. DESCRIPTION
	BILL OF MATERIAL	B/M-A- Sheet ________ Continued on sheet _______ Engineer Date Total No. sheets

C. As the actual design of the project progresses, the engineer will begin inserting information into the detail sheets of the bill of material as follows:

1. Mark Number. All material for a project must be identified by mark numbers assigned by the engineer. All identical devices will be specified under one mark number. Similar (but not identical) devices should be assigned consecutive mark numbers. The engineer will judge the best way to assign numeric/alpha-numeric mark numbers in such a way as to make each mark number easy to find in the bill of material and to allow for changes and additions to the bill of material. Examples of arrangements of mark numbers by manufacturers are shown in the samples.

2. Quantity. This column will indicate the total quantity of the mark number required for the job. It is the sum of the entries in the distribution column. It will tell purchasing how many to order and it will tell the shop how many to pull from stock and place on the job shelf/skid.

3. Purchase Order Number. All purchase orders written by purchasing should instruct vendors to mark the material with our purchase order number and our mark number. The engineer will not assign purchase order numbers. Purchasing assigns the purchase order suffix numbers and the purchase order item numbers and enters purchase order suffix and item numbers along with P.O. date (e.g. -02 -3/25OCT01), in the purchase order column of the bill of material original. This column can then be used for checking by comparing it to the release folder or to the revision column of the bill of material sheet.

4. Revisions. Revisions will be made only by the engineer. All material should be entered into the bill of material as the engineer designs the job, but when the bill of material is released to purchasing all material entries which are doubtful, subject to change, or contain incomplete information must be marked "Hold" in the mark number column in the bill of material.