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OpenBOM

Score8.9 out of 10

9 Reviews and Ratings

What is OpenBOM?

OpenBOM is a digital network-based platform that manages Product data and connects manufacturers and their supply networks from the company of the same name in Boston. OpenBOM enables users to share and collaborate data using online Bill of Materials from initial design through all stages of engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain.

Great tool for BOM management; can hardly stand a fight with PLM solutions, while pricing gets close

Pros

  • E-BOM management with an intuitive interface.
  • Import/export from/to popular systems.

Cons

  • Pricing plans have grown significantly in a year's time.
  • Purchase orders/inventory control features are only available at 450 USD per month - it's a starting price point for some popular cloud ERP solutions with much wider functionality, where BOM management is just one of the modules.
  • 2FA/MFA is, again, only available at 450 per month - BOM being a core part of IP and it's hard to overestimate the importance of having a reliable cloud solution, backed by several factor auth.

Most Important Features

  • Intuitive interface.
  • Import/export.
  • Features, which suit different depts. needs.

Return on Investment

  • We are yet to establish the ROI at a given subscription tier and compare it to other similar-priced solutions.

Alternatives Considered

Katana Manufacturing ERP, PTC Windchill and Arena PLM and QMS

OpenBOM is powerful & easily deployed for a start-up company

Pros

  • Flexibility with an ability to work within defined structure
  • Configuration management
  • Vendor management (active/watch/disqualified)
  • Accessibility to the design team for discussions/ understanding of functions.

Cons

  • Consistent log-off/ log-ins required (despite saying stay logged in)
  • Default "custom use" of fields (vs. requiring the user to check this each time a new parameter is selected).

Most Important Features

  • Cost (subscription fees)
  • Cost/ Time for entry & maintenance

Return on Investment

  • My company has avoided (literally) hundreds of misconfigurations, saving us months of development cycle time.
  • We have been able to streamline vendor management/ approval (or disqualification), reducing the overall time from ~8 hours to <2 hours per vendor. And our maintenance of the vendors (e.g. requalification) has similar savings.

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Great product. Easy to implement.

Pros

  • Simplicity
  • Ease of implementation
  • Ease of updating

Cons

  • Some little buggy quirks
  • Public parameters are annoying
  • Rev control provisions are not super robust or easy

Most Important Features

  • Similarity to spreadsheets
  • Cloud based
  • Catalog based BOMS

Return on Investment

  • Positive- keeping boms consistent across teams
  • Positive - ability to track inventory in some capacity