The file is the starting point.
A drawing or spreadsheet can describe a useful slice of the product. When those files are exchanged separately, people may have to reconstruct how they relate and which definition they describe.
Bill of Materials (BOM) ManagementEvery part.
Every part.
In product context.
Connect the parts that define your product to the decisions that shape it. Bring structure, revision control and clearer handoffs to your bill of materials.
Explore the product structureUnderstand the definition before the processSee the structure.
See the structure.
Understand the product.
A bill of materials (BOM) is the structured definition of the parts and quantities in a product. BOM management keeps that definition organized and identifiable as product information changes.
It connects each component to its place in an assembly and to the relevant design information. The purpose is a clear product reference, more than a collection of drawings or a list of part numbers.
A shift in the working referenceFrom scattered files.
From scattered files.
To a connected product.
As product options and revisions grow, separate drawings and spreadsheets become harder to interpret together. A part-centric approach changes the reference point: the product structure connects the information, while each document explains a particular aspect of it.
The product provides the context.
Identified parts and their assembly relationships give CAD, drawings and other records a shared point of reference. Teams can discuss the same product definition while maintaining the information relevant to their own work.
This is an information-model change, not simply a move to digital storage. The definition needs managed relationships and version context so a record can be understood in its intended product setting.
Explore Product Data ManagementMake the definition useful across the lifecycleClearer context.
Clearer context.
Better product decisions.
Use these outcomes to choose a first improvement. The practical test is whether the next person can understand the product and act with the right context.
Build a shared understanding
Earlier stakeholder visibility
Bring relevant product information into reviews sooner.
Who needs a view before the design is finalized?
Purpose-built BOM views
Keep different departmental structures related.
What grouping does each receiving team need?
Clearer configuration context
Identify the definition relevant to the task.
Which versions and applicability belong with this review?
Make a better-informed decision
More recognizable product information
Use visual context to discuss parts and assemblies.
Can the reviewer identify the component being discussed?
Component and supplier context
Connect component discovery with sourcing information.
What existing part or sourcing relationship should be checked?
More traceable change
Keep revisions and their affected product context visible.
Which related records need another look?
Prepare the next team
Deliberate collaboration
Share the information needed for a defined purpose.
Which participants and access boundaries apply?
Useful product reporting
Organize product information for questions and reporting.
Which decision should the report support?
Earlier downstream preparation
Give receiving teams a reference for their own structures.
What can manufacturing or service prepare earlier?
Turn the foundation into a practical first scopeDefine the scope.
Define the scope.
Lay the PLM foundation.
Build the first PLM scope around one product definition that your team already works with. A part-centric approach means agreeing how records, responsibilities and downstream needs fit together, rather than simply transferring a drawing list or spreadsheet into a new system.
Explore how a part-centric definition supports broader PLM practices, then use your own assembly to frame a practical starting scope.
Read the BOM foundation guide- One representative assembly
- Bring a small but realistic assembly with its CAD, drawings and related documents. Include a recent change so the team can discuss which records and versions belonged to that product definition.
- One accountable workflow
- Identify who creates, checks and releases the information, and the decisions each person owns. Use the example to agree naming, revision and review expectations before expanding the scope.
- One meaningful handoff
- Choose a receiving team, such as manufacturing or service, and define what it needs. Agree how that team will identify the intended definition and raise a discrepancy; a file transfer alone does not establish a usable handoff.
Evaluate capabilities around the records you useEdit the structure.
Edit the structure.
Follow every relationship.
A managed BOM connects the product structure with the records used to define, select and deliver its parts. Explore three areas of capability, then use the questions to assess how each would work with your own product information.
Create and understand the definitionEditing, visualization, comparison and history
Establish what the product contains and examine the evidence behind it. These tools support the author or reviewer working with a particular structure and its related records.
Visualization
View a product configuration in 3D and relate the visible component to its record. Depending on the viewer, review tools can support visual comparison, searching or interference checks.
Consider in your reviewWhich viewers and review tools does the team need?
Explore PTC Product ViewStructure editing
Create and maintain assembly relationships and part quantities. Inline editing, CAD-derived structures and spreadsheet imports provide different ways to contribute; incoming information still needs agreed checks.
Consider in your reviewWhat information must be checked when it enters the structure?
Explore Product Data ManagementStructure comparison
Compare structures and their related CAD or document information to identify what changed. A difference is a prompt for review, rather than evidence that a replacement is acceptable.
Consider in your reviewWhich differences should trigger a review?
Explore Engineering Change ManagementPart types and history
Use part types to organize attributes and lifecycle needs. History lets a reviewer revisit earlier information and compare it with the definition under discussion.
Consider in your reviewWhich records and historical states must remain available?
Explore Configuration ManagementManage components and variationReplacements, classification, options and sourcing
Describe which components can be selected and the relationships that guide those choices. Finding a candidate or a replacement does not, by itself, establish its suitability for a particular use.
Replacements and supersession
Record alternates, structure-specific substitutes and superseding parts as distinct relationships. This helps reviewers understand whether the choice is general, tied to a particular assembly use, or associated with obsolescence.
Consider in your reviewWhat relationship is appropriate for the replacement?
Explore Service Process ManagementPart classification
Organize parts by agreed classes and searchable attributes, such as dimensions or material. Designers can narrow the candidate set before checking whether an existing component meets the design need.
Consider in your reviewCan designers find an existing candidate before requesting a new part?
Explore Parts ClassificationOptions and variants
Define product-family options and the rules for their combinations. Use those selections to form a configuration for review, with the relevant structure and downstream deliverables in scope.
Consider in your reviewWho owns the choice definitions and rules?
Explore Product Variant ManagementManufacturer and vendor lists
Relate an internal part to manufacturer and vendor part information. Preferred-source and status information adds purchasing context without replacing the technical review of the component.
Consider in your reviewWhich sourcing relationships and statuses should the review include?
Explore Supply Chain CollaborationConnect the wider product definitionSoftware context and associative downstream structures
Keep relationships between engineering information and the deliverables other teams use. The point is traceable context: receiving teams still own their structures, decisions and discrepancy reviews.
Embedded-software relationships
Link a software deliverable from its source-control context to the product structure. The relationship helps identify the software associated with a hardware definition; it does not replace software lifecycle management.
Consider in your reviewWhich software release belongs with this hardware configuration?
Explore ALMBOM transformation
Create related manufacturing or service views from engineering information and retain associations between them. Compare and reconcile differences as each discipline organizes the definition for its own work.
Consider in your reviewWho reviews discrepancies between the related views?
Explore Manufacturing Process ManagementWindchill capabilities depend on the selected applications, release, roles and configuration. Manufacturing transformation, service, advanced variants, supplier functions and viewers can have separate entitlement or setup requirements.
Explore WindchillOne product, different working purposesDesign, build, support.
Design, build, support.
Choose the right BOM view.
The same product needs different working definitions for design, production and support. Engineering, manufacturing and service BOMs organize related information around those purposes; they need not have identical groupings or levels of detail.
EBOM
Engineering BOM
What are we designing?
Define the product as designed: assemblies, subassemblies, components and their quantities. CAD and related design records contribute to the structure, giving engineering a reference for the intended configuration.
Illustrative pump example
A pump is arranged by its designed assemblies, with the casing, impeller and sealing components in their engineering positions.
Design intent and the controlled engineering reference.
Explore product-definition controlMBOM
Manufacturing BOM
What do we need to build it?
Arrange the materials and components needed to produce the product. Manufacturing can regroup the engineering definition for a plant or assembly approach, alongside the process plans, operations and instructions used to prepare production.
Illustrative pump example
The same pump’s parts can be grouped into the kits or subassemblies used in production, while preserving their relationship to the engineering definition.
The definition used to prepare the build.
Explore manufacturing processesService BOM
Service bill of materials
What do we need to support it?
Organize the maintainable items, replacements and service-relevant assemblies needed to support the product. The service view can emphasize replaceable units and parts information; applicability matters when choosing a part or instruction for equipment in use.
Illustrative pump example
For that pump in service, a sealing kit or replaceable assembly may be the useful unit of work. Check which product configuration it applies to.
The configuration and information relevant to maintenance.
Explore service processesConnect the service view to the wider service chain.
A service BOM supplies product and parts context. PTC’s Service Optimization film introduces the wider service-chain perspective, including the information people need to support equipment in use.
Apply the discipline to a real product situationEvery industry.
Every industry.
A structure worth trusting.
A BOM becomes useful when its structure answers a product-specific question. Start with one assembly and the people who need a dependable view of it.
Electronics & High-Tech
For an electronic assembly, relate the board, enclosure and purchased components to the product versions that use them. A component decision should have a recognizable place in the structure.
Which assemblies contain the component being reviewed?
Aerospace & Defense
For a long-lived program, distinguish engineering, manufacturing and service views of the applicable assembly. Keep the configuration behind a review identifiable.
Which product view and revision apply to this program?
Industrials
For a configurable machine, examine the common assemblies and the parts that vary with the delivered option. Relate the build view to the selected machine.
What changes in the structure when this option is selected?
Before you define the scopeBOM questions.
BOM questions.
Choose the right product view.
Clarify the information, the responsibilities and the first workflow before choosing the implementation.
How is a managed BOM different from a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet can record items and quantities. A managed product structure also retains the relationships around identified parts, revisions and associated records. The useful starting question is which decisions or handoffs your current list makes difficult to control.
Do engineering, manufacturing and service need identical BOMs?
Their structures can differ because the work differs. Engineering describes the design; manufacturing organizes what is needed to build it; service focuses on maintainable items and replacement context. Define how the views relate and how teams review differences.
Is a CAD assembly the complete BOM?
CAD can contribute the engineering structure, but a product definition may also need items or records that are not modeled geometry. Agree the part types, attributes and documents your BOM must include rather than assuming every required item comes from CAD.
Does BOM management replace ERP?
Define a clear role for each system. PLM manages product definition and change context; ERP supports business and production operations. Their handoff needs its own mapping, ownership and validation.
Which Windchill capabilities should we evaluate?
Start with the required structure and review process. Manufacturing transformation, service structures, variants, supplier management and integrations can require additional applications, configuration or entitlements. TriStar can help assess the scope against your selected environment.
Build on a clearer definitionStart with one assembly.
Start with one assembly.
Connect the next decision.
Bring the structure your team uses and the handoff that needs attention.
We’ll help turn that example into a practical BOM management conversation.