Custom bill of materials management software for metal products
Appfront builds software for metalworking companies that want to manage their bills of materials in one place. The bill of materials comes from the CAD package and is supplemented with operations such as laser cutting, bending, welding and coating, along with the distinction between manufactured and purchased parts. Every change becomes a new revision, and the shop floor and purchasing always work from the released version.
What is bill of materials management software for metal products?
A metal product consists of parts: sheet parts that are cut and bent, profiles that are sawn, assemblies that are welded, and purchased parts such as fixings or motors. The bill of materials describes all of this, with the material, dimensions and operations for each part. For production planning, purchasing and the shop floor, it is the foundation of everything that happens.
In practice, the bill of materials is exported from the CAD package, supplemented with operations in a spreadsheet, and sent by email to purchasing and the shop floor. A change in the drawing leads to a new export, but the old version is still at the machine. Purchasing orders from an outdated list. And for a product with variants, there are ten almost identical spreadsheets.
We build custom software because metalworking companies differ: which CAD package you use, which operations you perform in-house and which you outsource, how variants are structured, and which systems you use for orders, nesting and purchasing. The software fits how your drawing office and production planning work.
From CAD, supplemented
The bill of materials from the CAD package, supplemented with operations, material and manufactured or purchased part.
Revisions with release
Every change a new revision, and only the released version goes to purchasing and production.
Variants without copies
A product with variants without ten almost identical lists, with the differences per variant.
How we build your bill of materials management software for metal products
We start with your drawing office and production planning: which CAD package, how bills of materials are currently created, which operations and variants there are, and where things go wrong. Often the knowledge about operations sits with production planning. We record that per part type, so new bills of materials are complete more quickly.
Your CAD, bills of materials, operations, variants and systems.
Bills of materials from CAD, with parts, material and operations.
Change requests, revisions and release to production.
Integration with ERP, nesting and purchasing, followed by maintenance.
What bill of materials management software for metal products actually does
The components below appear in almost every metal company with its own bills of materials. Which ones you need depends on your products.
CAD import
Bills of materials and assemblies from CAD.
Share
Material, dimensions and whether a part is made or bought in.
Operations
Cutting, bending, welding and coating per part.
Variants
One product in several configurations, without copies.
Revisions
Change requests, revisions and release.
Handover
To purchasing, nesting and production.
Who we build bill of materials software for metal products
The software is designed for metal companies that create and maintain bills of materials.
Sheet metal fabricators
Many parts per product. The operations are the core.
Machine builders
Large assemblies. Revisions matter most.
Subcontractors
Products supplied by customers. Changes are what count.
Own product ranges
Products in several configurations. Variants are the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about bills of materials in metalworking. For manufacturers with their own products, see our page on an ERP for discrete manufacturing; for the costs of machining, see our page on post-calculation and quote calculation; and for metalworking in general, see our page on metalworking software. You can read about our approach under building software.
Why choose Appfront for your bill of materials software for metal products?
An outdated bill of materials at the machine produces the wrong part. That is what we build for: bills of materials from CAD, revisions with release control, and variants without copies.
The right version
The shop floor works to the released version.
Fewer errors
Purchasing orders against the latest list.
Faster to complete
Operations recorded per part type.
Security and privacy in bill of materials software for metal products
The software holds drawings, bills of materials and product data, sometimes belonging to customers. Access is set up by role and by customer, and within a portal a customer sees only their own products.
The software runs in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage, daily back-ups and two-factor sign-in. Every release is logged.
Frequently asked questions about bill of materials software for metal products
Questions metal companies ask before getting started.
It pulls bills of materials from the CAD package, enriches them with material, operations and made or bought-in status, manages variants and revisions with release control, and passes the released version on to purchasing, nesting and production.
With the package you use, provided it has an export or integration. Most mechanical engineering CAD packages can export bills of materials and assemblies. In the first step we check which data comes out.
The engineering bill of materials comes from the drawing and describes what the product is. The production bill of materials describes how it is made, with operations, sequence and sometimes different groupings. The software keeps both and shows the differences.
A change starts with a request, leads to a new revision, and is released by whoever is authorised. Only then does the new version go to purchasing and production, and the old one is closed. Open orders keep the revision they started with, unless you decide otherwise.
A product gets one bill of materials containing the parts common to all variants, and for each variant the parts or dimensions that differ. That way a change to a shared part only needs to be made once.
Yes, if the ERP has an interface. Released bills of materials go to the ERP for orders and purchasing, and sheets and parts go to nesting.
Check that first. Some ERP and PDM packages manage bills of materials and revisions, and that may be enough. Custom development makes sense when operations are currently added in spreadsheets, when variants lead to copies, or when the shop floor works from outdated lists.
Always the right bill of materials at the machine?
Tell us which CAD package you use, how bills of materials are created today, and which operations and variants you have. We'll show you what the bills of materials, revisions and handover look like.