Electronics Manufacturing: How do you quote a bill of material?

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Comment by chicago-industrial on May 19, 2009 at 2:04pm

This is excellent information.
Thank you for the response.

So you ask the engineer as an upfront part of the process.

I see how this would also help with old / obsolete designs. The sustaining engineer would now be charged with this task.

thanks!

Comment by Ed Karisch on May 19, 2009 at 8:14am

We place most of the "new BOM" quotation process onto the designing engineer. This way the engineer is constrained to design using available parts and we stress that the engineer must choose parts we stock whenever possible to maximize our purchasing power. It does not do anyone in manufacturing any good for an engineer to design an assembly using parts that are obsolete, hard to find, or are unavailable for whatever reason. My company survives by delivering products quickly. If we cannot do that we are going to close down and go away. Once we obtain the BOM with sourcing information then we quote line by line for items that are new and use existing pricing for stocked inventory items. We also created a website: "e-surplusinventory.com" for us and anyone else involved in the industry to list inventory that is no longer needed so that others who might need this inventory can call the listing company for quotes and arrangements to acquire that inventory. We made the website so that you can also list parts you are trying to find and then companies who have these parts will contact you for a transaction. Now for older BOMs where parts have become obsolete we maintain a list of potential suppliers who may be able to find and quote the parts. If we cannot obtain quotes from our suppliers list then we go to a round-the-clock operation to quickly re-design and re-qualify a circuit. This has worked successfully for the last 12 years. It involves a lot of extra unpaid time but we have chosen to survive by whatever it takes. Sometimes there is a lot of midnight oil being burnt. Hope this helps you decide how you will quote your BOMs. Ed.

Comment by Ron G on May 7, 2009 at 10:50am

In general, our purchasing department will cross reference the new BOM with existing BOMs and check for common components. For all common components, we will use the same pricing that is being used in existing products. If it is a new component, the various suppliers are contacted and asked to quote the part.