Document Control Revision History in Manually Created BOM's (Bill of Materials)

[Trakman]

Revision History in Manually Created BOM's

Hi Folks,

Recently, I reviewed some material and find that our BOM's that are created in Excel (manually!) have no revision history in them at all. All other drawings and documents have revision history in them. The problem becomes very annoying when an ECN is processed, and without the revision history on the BOM, we cannot tell if it has been updated with the ECN information.

So I sent a CAR to Doc Ctrl for them to include revision history in BOM's, and there was literally a refusal to do so; "I have never done this so I won't do it now..." also, the revision history is included as a comment, but few people know how to print the document with comments, so for most people the hardcopy will never have revision history.

Question: Does this sound reasonable to request that the revision history be included in BOM's particularily when they are manually derived? Is this done in other companies?

Thanks!

Trakman

 

[CarolX]

Trackman,

How often is your bill of material revised? Most BOM's I have used do not track revisions of the individual components. Is that what you are after?

Ask this question, what does revision history get you? What are the implications of not having rev history on the BOM's?

If you find it really is neccessary, enlist the help of Doc Control. Buy in will be easier if they can develope the method for it.

Have fun!!!

CarolX

 

[E Wall]

Revision History in Manually Created BOM's

Our system documents BOMs by part number and revision level but no history. This information is available to anyone with access to the system. The changes made are not indicated in the program (J.D. Edwards), but on the ECO [Engineering Change Order] which all who are impacted by the change must review and approve.

I've sent my Materials Manager the question "Is it possible to see a change history on a single part/component?" I'll be sure to let you know what he replys....*grin* Already I know his first response: "Why do you want to know?"

 

[Trakman]

Thanks CarolX and EWall,

Well what I am after is for Doc Ctrl to list the ECN's (or ECO's as you may be familiar with...) that have impacted changes to it. I am not looking for typo changes, or every revision of each component. I understand that it would be a monumental (emphasis on mental!!) undertaking to list all that.

The main reason is to provide a reference to the ECN on the BOM so that forced changes can be linked to an ECN so that everyone can see that the BOM has been updated. With our system of doing all things manually, I believe that this would serve the purpose of ensuring that all ECN mandated documents are in fact updated, as there is some serious tardiness in Doc Ctrl dept. to get the ECN's done.

(Audit question: Show me that the ECN has been fully implemented...)

Is this a reasonable request or
does this open up another can of worms,
or am I overly picky?



Thanks!

Trakman.

 

[E Wall]

Revision History in Manually Created BOM's

Two things...
Show the ECN has been fully implemented-
This presumes the first identifier is the ECN which should list the BOM Part # and both the current revision and the change revision levels (FROM - TO). Whatever system is in place should be able to quickly verify what the current BOM revision is, as well as review the relevant details to confirm the changes were made.

ECN Information on BOM-
What a great idea! Headache? Maybe...awww, whose kidding who...heck yea! But we do put the change numbers on all our specs and work instructions. We show them as the 'approval by' information...So, why not BOMs? I guess a lot will depend on what kind of tracking system (software) you have in place an how easy it is to make modifications to it. I know for us that would be very costly in and of itself and everyone would try other options first.

What our company does is this:
1. BOM change need identified
2. ECO/ECN inititated
3. All respond approved to DC
4. DC sends ECO/ECN to Finanace to enter BOM Change Data/Info
5. Finance returns ECO/ECN to DC when completed (with sign-off)
6. ECO is issued out and notification form has block to be completed by the 'originator' to verify the changes are in the system.
#6 serves as both notification and follow-up verification.

I really don't see that there would be any difference in the steps if DC handled the BOM updated themselves other than skipping 4 & 5. We use Finanace because there are usually costing issues involved and this acts as their notification as well, because costing information then goes elsewhere too. Sounds confusing doesn't it? But, it works.

If the work (processing ECNs & updating BOMs) is getting done and the issue is really how 'long' it takes...there may be other areas that need to be addressed. Is the person responsible lolly-gagging around or actually busy? Are additional resources required or a shifting of some responsibilities? Either way for the BOM update issue...maybe tracking approval recipt time vs data entry time as a metric should be done with the improvement goal of reduction to 0!

 

[Al Dyer]

A Bill of Material is a controlled document in that it contains the information required by the company. Once the BOM is filled out it then becomes a "RECORD", with no need of revision level change.

 

[Trakman]

Al,

Yes, Yes, YES! You are Right!, it is a quality record! That's that part I was missing!

Therefore revisions are not necessary, but old records ARE.
Ah yes, the lights are coming on now!

So now I need to eat some humble pie and close the CAR I issued to Doc Ctrl, BUT, first I will make sure that iterations of BOMs before changes are being saved (printed off) now that they fall in the quality record camp (ISO9001: 2K;4.2.4, '94;4.16)

It is now making sense folks, and I am sure that we all get stuck in an incorrect mental loop every now and then.

Many thanks to all that provided the much needed insight. I will be sure the return the kindness in responding to others' concerns within Cayman Cove Forums.

I think that this wraps it up nicely!

Trakman.