Low Level Code Calculation for Bill of Materials Co-Products
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Solution Overview
Problem
Material planning for complex projects, such as airplanes or automobiles, is challenging due to extensive bill of materials hierarchies, where changes in subcomponents require recalculating part codes across multiple levels, leading to inefficiencies in managing co-products like gasoline and diesel fuel.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method recalculates low-level codes for materials connected by component-subcomponent and co-product relationships, forming equal groups and assigning the same code to co-products, allowing for coordinated production and consumption during material requirements planning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional hierarchical coding is used for bill of materials, then part organization is maintained, but recalculating codes becomes complex and time-consuming when subcomponents change
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the bill of materials into distinct hierarchical levels (parent items, children items, grandchildren items) and processes each level independently. This segmentation allows the system to calculate low-level codes for only the affected portion when changes occur, rather than recalculating entire hierarchies, thereby reducing time loss while maintaining organizational structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-establishes the hierarchical relationships and coding rules before processing changes. By maintaining a structured framework where parent-child relationships are pre-defined, the system can quickly apply new codes without performing complex recalculations, improving productivity while minimizing time loss during updates.
2Ease of operation
If co-products are assigned different low level codes, then individual tracking is possible, but coordinated production and consumption becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges co-products into a single low-level code group, assigning them the same low-level code despite being distinct materials. This merging approach enables coordinated production and consumption planning for co-products while preserving their individual identities through the maintained bill of materials structure, thus improving ease of operation without losing essential co-product relationship information.
3Manufacturing precision
If extensive material hierarchies are maintained, then detailed material planning is enabled, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by maintaining detailed hierarchical structures only where necessary for accurate material planning, while using simplified coding approaches for co-products. This selective application of complexity allows the system to maintain manufacturing precision for critical components while reducing overall system complexity through targeted simplification strategies.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for re-calculating low level codes for a plurality of bill of materials that receives a list of a plurality of materials connected by a first set of edges that represent a component subcomponent relationship and a second set of edges that represent a co-product relationship. The same low level code may be assigned to each material connected by the second set of edges, the assigning includes forming at least one equal group. Each equal group may include the number of nodes in the equal group, a list of nodes in the at least one equal group that have been processed, and the low level code for the equal group. The results of the low level code assignment may be displayed to allow the user to receive the materials in the equal group at the same time.