A bill of process (BOP) details the planned production approach for a specific product. It presents a best practices template for manufacturing each finished good. The bill of process lists production line configurations, tools, machines, and equipment needed to make the product. The BOP also contains the electronic work instructions (EWI) that explain how to make it. BOP information complements the manufacturing BOM (MBOM), or manufacturing bill of materials, which lists the materials and components needed to make the product.
Prior to the development of product lifecycle management (PLM) software, the bill of process was generated manually on paper or in isolated electronic documents. Any changes to a product and/or its manufacturing processes necessitated manual updating of the BOP, MBOM, and EWI – an inefficient and error-prone process that lacked both visibility and scalability.
Modern PLM systems generate BOPs within integrated manufacturing process planning software. This integrated capability allows changes to be reflected in the BOP rapidly – and communicated immediately to the shop floor for implementation. The bill of process communicates the production plan to the manufacturing operations management (MOM) solution, especially the manufacturing execution system (MES), to guide and orchestrate the implementation of the plan.
For industries in which product complexity is increasing and lot or batch size is decreasing, integrated bills of process have become imperative for cost-competitive manufacturing operations.
The bill of process reflects close collaboration between engineering, manufacturing, and execution through manufacturing process planning software within a company’s PLM solution. Manufacturers use the PLM’s workflow, change management, and configuration capabilities to create the BOP. The PLM also enables process planners to standardize and reuse manufacturing processes in the BOP across multiple plants.
Manufacturing and assembly planning software tools enable users to create processes and operations with the BOP to represent the sequence of steps in their assembly plans. They can assign relevant parts and assemblies from the MBOM to specific operations, along with tools and resources from the bill of equipment (BOE) or through a library of classified objects. When creating or maintaining a BOP, the user can:
These functions result in full traceability and visibility of the BOP throughout a product’s engineering, manufacture, and design evolution. A bill of process built on manufacturing process planning software allows the manufacturer to leverage existing product and process information, share cross-departmental workflows, capture shop floor feedback, and manage changes effectively.
An integrated BOP enables manufacturers to reuse standardized best practices and adjust them based on plant-level requirements, leading to greater productivity and reduced operational costs.
Additional benefits
Ensure that engineering and manufacturing are kept in sync
Eliminate user errors and increase quality
Accelerate new product introductions (NPIs)
Optimize cycle times
Ensure accurate and efficient change management
Teamcenter Easy Plan
With an easy-to-use, task-oriented web browser, Teamcenter Easy Plan helps you synchronize product engineering with manufacturing activities and data, to efficiently execute and optimize assembly planning processes across your organization and plants.