Bali BOM

WARNING: Work in Progress

Bill Of Material (BOM) management software for PCB micro-factories.

This software is intended for people who design and manufacture PCB, including using pick-and-place machines.

Motivation

When you start manufacturing electronics boards beyond a few hobby boards, keeping track of which components should be ordered from which supplier and when, becomes a major concern and occupying more time than necessary.

Most part/component suppliers have APIs available, where one can obtain all necessary details such as price, stock and delivery times if not in stock.

Focus

This software is not intended for large contract manufacturers, but those who make (for themselves and/or others) up to a few dozen boards and perhaps up to 1000 or so different parts/components.

It is a desktop application intended to be used by a single person, or at the most running on a single computer with trusted users accessing it. There are no security mechanisms whatsoever. And data is stored on the local hard disk in a JSON-per-entity format, allowing for integration with other tools relatively easy, without having to stand up a full database.

Workflow

1. During design create the following columns to be included in the BOM;

   1. MF (Manufacturer's Name)
   2. MPN (Manufacturer's Part Number)
   3. DigiKey, Digi-Key, DigiKeyPN, Digi-Key_PN or Digi-KeyPN
   4. Mouser, Mouser-PN, Mouser_PN or MouserPN
   5. LCSC

2. Name the BOM file; [product name]-Rev[revision]-bom.csv

3. In this program, under "Products" tab, click "Import BOM..." and select the BOM file from the file system. This will create an unresolved Product in the system. Unresolved means that the Parts have not been found yet.

4. Select one or more Products and click on "Resolve Parts". This will try to locate each of the Parts from the Enabled Suppliers.

5. "Cost Estimate..." allows you to get an idea of the total cost when producing a particular quantity of a Product. It is an estimate because only the exact amount of parts are looked up prices for, and not taking into account existing inventory and what prices are when buying larger quantities. Also, wastage is currently not considered.

6. Jobs are created under the "Jobs" tab, "Create Jobs..."