Labguru’s Bill of Materials (BOM) provides a seamless way to document and organize all materials used throughout batch production. By automatically recording each use event in a structured table, the BOM gives you a clear, step-by-step view of material consumption, tracking specific quantities and calculating the exact cost of each usage. This enables transparent cost tracking and helps you understand the financial impact of each material used, supporting accurate budget management.

With flexible filtering and sorting options, the BOM allows you to search, compare, and analyze material usage data efficiently. These features make it easy to spot anomalies or deviations in the production process and gain insights into production patterns. You can also export the BOM as a report or Excel file for further analysis and documentation.

In short, Labguru’s BOM streamlines production workflows by providing a centralized, easily searchable, and exportable record of material usage, helping you maintain organized, efficient, and cost-effective production.

Before starting the production phase, each production process must be established in Labguru and linked to an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), which serves as the work plan. The SOP contains a series of protocols that represent each production step, ensuring consistency and accuracy throughout the process.

It’s a good practice to create material records within these protocols. This preliminary step ensures that the list of materials guides activity (or experiment) performers, reducing the potential for human error by specifying which materials to use at each stage. For more on setting up material records, refer to Samples Management in Labguru. These material lists are essential for using the BOM functions effectively within the batch pages.

The Bill of Materials is available in the BOM tab on all batch pages. When the production process begins, the BOM table will initially be empty, indicating that no materials have been used yet. Material use is recorded only when a Subtract operation is performed on a material’s stock within one of the batch activities. You can learn more about updating stock amounts while performing experiments here.

To load stocks into an activity page (or experiment), you can scan barcodes or browse the necessary inventory collections. When performing a Subtract operation, select the appropriate unit of measure—such as volume, weight, or custom units—to accurately document the material usage.

Once a material's stock has been subtracted, it will immediately appear in the BOM table on the corresponding batch record page. In addition to displaying the amount used, the BOM table provides other key details such as the operator who performed the action, date of use, and the activity in which it occurred. The system also records stock details such as expiration date, lot number, concentration, storage area, and other relevant information. These data points are captured as they were at the moment of use, creating a time-specific record that does not change if stock data are edited afterward. If a Subtract action is reverted, the corresponding entry will be removed from the BOM table. Thus, the BOM table serves as a faithful historical record, unaffected by any retroactive changes.

The BOM feature calculates the cost of each material use event during production. This cost calculation is based on the quantity used and the parent data of the inventory item, specifically the item’s size and price. For accurate cost calculations, ensure that size and price data are entered in the inventory item record.

Tip: To produce an efficient BOM for calculating production costs, ensure that a uniform currency type is used when specifying material prices. This allows the cost column to reflect a single currency type, making calculations and analyses more straightforward.

Please note:

The BOM table offers flexible options for exporting and reporting to support your documentation and analysis needs. You can export the entire BOM table as an Excel file, which will be sent to you via email. This export captures all data in the BOM at the time of export, providing an accurate and complete record for further review or analysis.

Additionally, you can generate a PDF report of the BOM, selecting specific columns to include. This customization allows you to focus on the data that matters most, enabling you to tailor the report to highlight particular aspects of material usage, costs, or other relevant information.

With these export and reporting options, Labguru’s BOM feature makes it easy to create comprehensive records and share insights efficiently.

Here are solutions to some common issues you might encounter while using the BOM: