The words “risk” and “challenge” are an integral part of the product development vocabulary. But, honestly, of pretty much anything worth creating.

For electronics designers of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), these risks and challenges lie in ambush especially at the Bill of Materials (BOM) management stage, a step that, if somehow overlooked, can make or break a project. In fact, ignoring BOM risks can have serious consequences, leading to production delays, quality issues, and even legal problems.

In recent years, more than ever, several high-profile incidents have highlighted the importance of BOM health. Volkswagen Group, for instance, has been forced to halt production at numerous factories, including its Wolfsburg plant and its EV factories in Zwickau and Dresden, Germany, multiple times in 2021 due to the chip shortage. (Source: Automotive News Europe).

What Risks

When talking about BOM-related risks, we refer to four main ones: compliance, lifecycle, availability and price. 

1. Compliance risks have to do with the regulatory and legal requirements that must be met for a product to be sold in a specific market. 
2. Lifecycle risks refer to the potential obsolescence of a component or material used in a product, which can lead to production delays or quality issues. 
3. Availability risks are clearly tied to market conditions that affect the availability or shortage of certain components/materials when needed.  
4. Price risks refer to the possibility of prices for certain components to rise if the demand is also high.

What Challenges

But who has to take care of all these challenges and risks? Electronic designers, we feel you! We are very well aware of the daunting task that is BOM management. The need to track vast amounts of data, including multiple suppliers and parts, together with constantly changing requirements and regulations is not at all easy, especially if there’s no specific system to do that.

Without a BOM management system, you are more likely to incur several challenges, such as poor visibility into component availability, difficulty in tracking obsolescence risks and inefficiencies in managing suppliers. 

The good news is, Luminovo's BOM Health Dashboard provides a solution to these challenges by streamlining the BOM management process and providing real-time data and insights. Let’s see how in more detail.

How healthy is your BOM?

With Luminovo’s BOM Health Dashboard, you can answer this question in just a few seconds. 

Our software inspects your BOM and instantly provides you with up-to-date availability, lifecycle, price and compliance data on millions of parts, so you don’t have to.

How? Luminovo is developing one of the most comprehensive databases for alternative parts and smart-part-recommendation algorithms in the market. Among others, we have partnered with obsolescence data provider IHS (now an S&P Global company) to leverage more than 15 million part alternatives. This means, IHS is constantly enriching our parts library with lifecycle information, so that we are able to suggest part alternatives through our BOM Health Dashboard. 

But let’s dive deeper into Luminovo’s BOM Health Dashboard main features:

• Manage Obsolescence: The Dashboard can track the lifecycle of each component and provide a years-to-end-of-life prediction for each part. Specifically, the user is notified when a component is approaching obsolescence and receives alternatives for quick and easy replacement. ‍
• Ensure Compliance: The Dashboard checks each component against global regulations and standards (i.e. RoHS, REACH, AECQ), ensuring that the product meets all the necessary requirements.‍
• Track Lead Times: The Dashboard tracks the availability of each component and provides real-time data on lead times of their approved and preferred suppliers, helping electronic designers plan their production timelines better.‍
• Forecast Risks: The Dashboard provides risk assessment and forecasting, allowing users to identify and mitigate potential risks before they become a problem.‍
• Instant Issue Notifications and Suggested Part Alternatives: The Dashboard notifies users of any issues that require attention, providing instant suggestions for fixing the issues based on part alternatives that have been used and approved in other real-world designs.

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Conclusion

Managing BOMs can be overwhelming, but with Luminovo's BOM Health Dashboard, it doesn't have to be. Luminovo provides real-time data and insights on electronic parts, helping electronic designers mitigate risks, reduce inefficiencies in the BOM management process and ensure compliance with global regulations. 

If you’re interested in understanding how Luminovo can help you save time and money while developing high-quality electronic products, then definitely drop us a line! Our experts would be glad to show you around our software.