Survey reveals half of product companies still use spreadsheets to manage BOM

Arena Solutions, Foster City, Calif., a developer of cloud-based product life cycle management applications, has announced the results of a cross-industry survey of 405 product companies focused on how organizations manage their bill of materials (BOM). The survey showed that 48.4 percent of respondents are using either a spreadsheet (34.6 percent) or nothing at all (13.8 percent) to manage their BOM.

Of the survey’s 405 respondents, two-thirds represented organizations with fewer than 500 employees, while one-fifth represented organizations with more than 2,500 employees. The largest single group of respondents was engineers, at 35 percent. The rest were in managerial positions, 13.6 percent at VP level or above and 87.5 percent that either interacted directly with the BOM or supervised those who do.

Even though 62 percent said it is important, very important, or absolutely critical that suppliers be connected to the software that runs the BOM for smoother business operations, 47 percent said that none of their suppliers are connected to the BOM.

Seventy-one percent of respondents indicated that the difficulty of deployment at suppliers prevents them from connecting suppliers and the BOM. The cost of licenses for suppliers and security concerns also were cited.

Respondents noted that not having a specific supplier or multiple suppliers connected to the BOM causes significant problems, including revision control, scrap and rework, incorrect parts orders, product delays, and product quality issues.