Book a demo
Login
A Bill of Materials (BOM) is a structured list of the components, parts, materials, and quantities required to build, maintain, or repair a product, piece of equipment, package, or system. A BOM typically includes information such as manufacturer, part number, description, specification, quantity, unit of measure, and revision.
In industrial asset management, the BOM provides the parts-level detail beneath an equipment or asset record. Where a Master Tag Register identifies an asset and its tag number, the BOM describes what that asset is made of and which components may need to be maintained, repaired, or replaced.
For owner-operators, EPCs, and suppliers, this makes BOM data important not only during engineering and procurement but throughout the operating life of the asset.
The exact fields depend on the equipment and industry, but a typical BOM can contain:
The relationships between these records are as important as the individual values. A component should be traceable to the assembly it belongs to, the relevant engineering or vendor documentation, and ultimately the asset or tag installed in the facility.
This is where BOM management becomes part of broader data contextualization, rather than simply maintaining a list of parts.
A single-level BOM lists the components directly beneath one product, assembly, or piece of equipment. It is relatively simple and works well when there are few component relationships to manage.
A multi-level BOM represents components hierarchically. A package may contain several major assemblies, each assembly may contain subassemblies, and those may contain individual replaceable parts.
For complex industrial equipment, multi-level BOMs are particularly important because maintenance teams often need to navigate from a tagged asset down through several assembly levels to identify the exact component requiring replacement.
This structure is related to an asset hierarchy, but the two should not be confused. An asset hierarchy describes how operational assets are organised within a facility; a BOM describes the components and parts that make up a particular asset or assembly.
An Engineering Bill of Materials (EBOM) describes a product or equipment item from the engineering and design perspective. It reflects the components specified by engineering and is typically derived from engineering drawings, specifications, and design systems.
A Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBOM) describes the materials, components, and assemblies required to manufacture or assemble the product.
The two can differ because the engineering definition of a product does not always map directly to how it is manufactured.
For an owner-operator receiving equipment from a supplier, another question becomes critical: what was actually supplied and installed?
The BOM handed into operations therefore needs to represent the final equipment configuration and remain connected to the corresponding supplier and engineering records.
These records are related, but they answer different questions.
Tag register: What assets exist and how are they uniquely identified?
Equipment list: What are the main technical and design characteristics of those assets?
Bill of Materials: What components and parts make up the equipment?
For example, a pump may have one unique tag in the Master Tag Register and a set of operating and design parameters in the equipment register. Its BOM can then identify the motor, bearings, seals, impeller, couplings, and other components associated with that particular equipment item.
Keeping these structures separate but connected creates a much more useful asset information model than flattening everything into a single spreadsheet.
BOM information is commonly generated across many different suppliers and sub-suppliers during procurement.
One vendor may provide a detailed multi-level BOM with manufacturer part numbers and specifications. Another may provide only a parts list inside a PDF manual. Naming conventions, equipment identifiers, component structures, and levels of detail can also vary considerably between suppliers.
As a result, BOM data can technically exist without being usable.
A common problem is that the required component information exists somewhere inside supplier documentation but was never linked to the correct equipment tag. The document handover package may therefore contain the document, while the maintenance team still cannot reliably find the part information from the asset they are working on.
This is why BOM quality is closely connected to supplier data management.
A structured industrial BOM should provide traceability from the physical asset down to its components and back to the information that defines those components.
A useful relationship might look like:
Tag → Equipment → Assembly → Component → Manufacturer Part Number → Supplier Document
This context allows a maintenance planner to start with a tag number and identify the relevant component, specification, manufacturer information, and supporting documentation without manually searching through disconnected registers and document folders.
It also makes BOM information much easier to transfer into downstream maintenance and asset management systems.
Once equipment enters operation, BOM data becomes particularly valuable for maintenance and spare-parts planning.
When a component fails, maintenance teams need to determine exactly which replacement is compatible with the installed equipment. An inaccurate manufacturer part number, obsolete component reference, or BOM associated with the wrong equipment revision can lead to incorrect procurement, longer downtime, and unnecessary inventory.
Reliable BOM information can support:
The BOM therefore needs to remain governed after handover rather than becoming a static snapshot of what was originally supplied.
BOM information is frequently consumed by Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and maintenance systems such as IBM Maximo, SAP, and IFS.
But an EAM platform cannot automatically correct poorly structured source information. If component records are duplicated, manufacturer part numbers are missing, or BOM lines were never connected to the correct tag during project delivery, those problems can simply migrate into the operational system.
Establishing those relationships upstream gives the EAM system a cleaner and more trustworthy asset baseline.
Sharecat manages BOM information as connected asset data rather than as an isolated parts spreadsheet.
BOM records can be linked to the relevant tags, equipment, supplier information, and engineering documentation, allowing component data to retain its context as information moves from engineering and procurement through handover and into operations.
This connects the BOM with the Master Tag Register and supplier documentation while preparing structured asset information for downstream systems such as IBM Maximo, SAP, and IFS.
The result is a traceable path from an operational asset to the components that make it up and the documentation that supports them.
What is a Bill of Materials in simple terms?
A Bill of Materials is a structured list of the components, parts, and materials that make up a product or piece of equipment, including information such as quantities and part numbers.
What does BOM stand for?
BOM stands for Bill of Materials.
What does a Bill of Materials consist of?
A BOM typically contains component descriptions, part numbers, manufacturers, quantities, specifications, units of measure, revisions, and relationships between components and their parent assemblies.
What is the difference between a BOM and a parts list?
A parts list may simply identify individual parts. A structured BOM also represents how those parts relate to an equipment item or assembly and can include quantities, specifications, revisions, and hierarchical relationships.
What is the difference between an EBOM and an MBOM?
An Engineering BOM (EBOM) represents the product from an engineering and design perspective, while a Manufacturing BOM (MBOM) represents the components and materials required to manufacture or assemble it.
Why is BOM data important for asset management?
BOM data allows maintenance and reliability teams to identify the exact components associated with an asset, find the correct replacement parts, access relevant supplier documentation, and maintain accurate equipment records throughout the asset lifecycle.
ISO
27001
Certified
