Patent Application
20210374667
Generally, the invention relates to Bill of Materials (BOM). More specifically, the invention relates to method and system for automatically generating BOM for a product.
Bill of Material (BOM) for any product is a comprehensive list of components of that product along with all their details. Typically, BOM generation is a manual, labour intensive, and time-consuming process using spreadsheet templates. Depending upon size of the product, the number of components may range from few hundreds to few thousands. Thus, the manual process to generate BOM may consume several days to few months, when the product has large number of components. For example, a product may include thousand components or parts. In such case, analysing each of the thousand components or parts to generate BOM, may be extremely difficult for persons involved in generating BOM. Also, the manual process is mundane and prone to human errors that may impact the accuracy and quality of BOM and subsequent analysis. In short, the current BOM generation techniques are highly unproductive, inefficient, and prone to human errors, thereby impacting subsequent workflow and go-to-market.
In one embodiment, a method of generating a Bill of Materials (BOM) for a product is disclosed. The method may include acquiring information associated with a component of the product using a plurality of communicatively connected information recording instruments. The information may include a set of measurement parameters recorded using a set of communicatively connected measuring instruments. The method may further include automatically populating a set of data fields in a graphic user interface (GUI) based on the acquired information and a shape of the component. It should be noted that the shape of the component may be selected by a user from a list of pre-defined shapes or may be identified based on an image of the component, and the set of data fields may be among a plurality of data fields in the GUI. The method may further include receiving a validation command from the user via the GUI. The method may further include storing the plurality of data fields as one of a plurality of records in a BOM database for the product upon receiving the validation command. It should be noted that each of the plurality of records in the BOM database may correspond to each of a plurality of components in the product.
In another embodiment, a system for generating a BOM for a product is disclosed. The system may include a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The memory may store processor-executable instructions, which, on execution, may causes the processor to acquire information associated with a component of the product using a plurality of communicatively connected information recording instruments. The information may include a set of measurement parameters recorded using a set of communicatively connected measuring instruments. The processor-executable instructions, on execution, may further cause the processor to automatically populate a set of data fields in a GUI based on the acquired information and a shape of the component. It should be noted that the shape of the component may be selected by a user from a list of pre-defined shapes or may be identified based on an image of the component, and the set of data fields may be among a plurality of data fields in the GUI. The processor-executable instructions, on execution, may further cause the processor to receive a validation command from the user via the GUI. The processor-executable instructions, on execution, may further cause the processor to store the plurality of data fields as one of a plurality of records in a BOM database for the product upon receiving the validation command. It should be noted that each of the plurality of records in the BOM database may correspond to each of a plurality of components in the product.
The present application can be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, in which like parts may be referred to by like numerals
The following description is presented to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of particular applications and their requirements. Various modifications to the embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Moreover, in the following description, numerous details are set forth for the purpose of explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the invention might be practiced without the use of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary detail. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
While the invention is described in terms of particular examples and illustrative figures, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the examples or figures described. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the operations of the various embodiments may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof, as appropriate. For example, some processes can be carried out using processors or other digital circuitry under the control of software, firmware, or hard-wired logic. (The term “logic” herein refers to fixed hardware, programmable logic and/or an appropriate combination thereof, as would be recognized by one skilled in the art to carry out the recited functions.) Software and firmware can be stored on computer-readable storage media. Some other processes can be implemented using analog circuitry, as is well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Additionally, memory or other storage, as well as communication components, may be employed in embodiments of the invention.
Referring now to
Examples of the BOM generating device 102 may include, but are not limited to, a server, a desktop, a laptop, a notebook, a tablet, a smartphone, a mobile phone, an application server, or the like. The BOM generating device 102 may include a memory 104, a processor 106, and an input/output (I/O) device 108. The I/O device 108 may further include a display 120 which may render a user interface 122 (e.g., GUI). A user or an administrator may interact with the BOM generating device 102 and vice versa through the user interface 122. By way of an example, the user interface 122 may be used to provide results of analysis performed by the BOM generating device 102, to the user. By way of another example, the user interface 110 may be used by the user/administrator to provide inputs to the BOM generating device 102.
As will be described in greater detail herein below, in order to generate BOM, the BOM generating device 102 may acquire information (e.g., measurement parameters, image, identification number, etc.) corresponding to the component of the product via one or more communicatively connected information recording instruments 110. Additionally, in some embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may extract information (e.g., image, component description, etc.) corresponding to the component of the product from a server 112, which is further communicatively coupled to a database 114.
The memory 104 and the processor 106 of the BOM generating device 102 may perform various functions including acquiring information, processing information, populating data fields, receiving commands, and storing the data fields. The memory 104 may store instructions that, when executed by the processors 106, cause the processors 106 to generate BOM based on information corresponding to the component of the product, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The memory 104 may also store various data (e.g. image of the component, shape of the component, measurement parameters, material details, the cost report, the measure report, the BOM report, the FAST report, etc.) that may be captured, processed, generated, and/or required by the BOM generating device 102. The memory 104 may be a non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM) memory, etc.) or a volatile memory (e.g., Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random-Access memory (SRAM), etc.).
In some embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may interact with the user or the administrator via external devices 116 over a communication network. In such embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may render the user interface 110 over the external devices 116. The user/administrator may provide inputs to the BOM generating device 102 via the user interface 110. Additionally, in such embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may acquire information (e.g., measurement parameters, image, identification number, etc.) corresponding to the component of the product via one or more information recording instruments 110 communicatively connected to the external devices 116. Thus, for example, in such embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may ingest information corresponding to the product provided by the user/administrator or acquired by the information recording instruments 110 via the external devices 116. Further, for example, in such embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may render results (e.g., the measure report, the BOM report, the cost report, the FAST report, etc.) to the user/administrator via the external devices 116. The one or more external devices 116 may include, but may not be limited to, a desktop, a laptop, a notebook, a netbook, a tablet, a smartphone, a remote server, a mobile phone, or another computing system/device. The communication network 118 may be any wired or wireless communication network and the examples may include, but may be not limited to, the Internet, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
Further, the BOM generating device 102 may interact with the external devices 116 and/or the server 112 for sending/receiving various data. For example, in some embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may receive information about the component (e.g., image of the component) from the server 112 or send the generated reports to the server 112. The server 112 is further communicatively coupled to a database 114, which may store the images sought by the BOM generating device 102 or reports generated by the BOM generating device 102. Similarly, for example, in some embodiments, the BOM generating device 102 may interact with one or more external devices 116 for sending and receiving various data.
Referring now to
The information recording instruments 202 may record information associated with the component of the product. In some embodiments, information may be a set of measurement parameters recorded by various measuring instruments. It should be noted that the set of measuring parameters such as a height of the component, a length of the component, a width of the component, a weight of the component, a diameter of the component, and a thickness, may be recorded by the measuring instruments. Further, the measuring instruments may include, but not limited to, a digital tape, a digital Vernier scale, a micrometre, a digital height gauge, and a digital weighing scale.
Additionally, in some other embodiments, information may be an image of the component captured by a communicatively connected imaging device such as a web camera. Also, information may include an identification number or a bar code of the component. In order to capture the identification number of the component the imaging device or a communicatively connected bar code scanning device may be used.
The GUI 204 may be communicatively connected to the information recording instruments 202. The GUI 204 may be configured to receive information recorded by the information recording devices 202. It should be noted that a wireless connection like radio frequency technology, wireless internet or blue tooth connectivity may be established between the information recording instruments 202 and the GUI 204 for transferring and receiving information. The BOM generating device 200 may be initialized after receiving the information from the information recording instruments 202. In some embodiments a computing device such as a laptop, a computer, a mobile, a tablet or the like may be used to receive the information from the information recording instruments 202. The GUI 204 may include a plurality of data fields, for example, measuring data fields and material details. In such plurality of data fields, some of the plurality of data fields may be populated by the user 218. And, other may be populated by the data field populating module 206, automatically, as a set of data fields. Further, the GUI 204 may be operatively connected to the BOM generating device 200 to generate BOM for the product.
The data field populating module 206 of the BOM generating device 200 may be configured to receive recorded information. Further, the set of data fields from the plurality of data fields in the GUI 204 may be populated automatically by the data field populating module 206. In some embodiments, the set of data fields may be populated automatically, based on information and shape of the component. The component shape identifier 206a of the data field populating module 206 may identify shape of the component. Whether it is a square shape, a rectangular shape, a circular shape or other. To identify shape of the component, the component shape identifier 206a may analyze image of the component and based on that, shape of the component may be selected. In some embodiments, shape of the component may be selected by the user 218 from a list of pre-defined shapes. And, for the selected shape, associated data fields may be populated by the data field populating module 206.
For identifying shape of the component an image processing algorithm may be used by the component shape identifier 206a. In some embodiments, the component shape identifier 206a may be trained and tested with a plurality of training and test images for greater accuracy. On the other hand, information mapping module 206b may map each of the set of measurement parameters with each of the set of data fields based on the identified shape of the component. In some other embodiments, the information mapping module 206b may perform mapping based on the shape selected by the user 218.
Further, the BOM generating device 200 may receive additional information associated with the component from the user 218 via the GUI 204. In such embodiments, the additional information may correspond to remaining of the plurality of data fields in the GUI 204.
The plurality of data fields may be acquired by the measure report generator 208 in order to generate a measure report. The measure report generator 208 may evaluate the plurality of data fields populated in the GUI 204 and accordingly generates the measure report as one of the plurality of records in the BOM database. For generating the measure report, a data computation and analyzation may be performed on the plurality of data fields, by the data analyzing and computation module 208a. The data analyzing and computation module 208a may be connected between the GUI 204 and the measure report generator 208. The measure report may be further stored in the connected BOM database 216 for subsequent processing.
The BOM report generator 210 is communicatively connected to the BOM database 216 as well as the measure report generator 208. In some embodiments, the BOM report generator 210 may directly receive the generated measure report from the measure report generator 208. In some other embodiments, the BOM report generator 210 may access the plurality of records in the BOM database 216 to generate a BOM report based on the plurality of records in the BOM database 216. Each of the plurality of records may correspond to at least one component in the product. Thereafter, the generated BOM report may be stored in the BOM database 216 or transferred to the cost report generator 212 or the FAST report generator 214.
The cost report generator 212 may access the generated BOM report stored in the BOM database 216 or directly interact with the connected BOM report generator 210. Afterwards, a cost estimation may be performed on the BOM report by the cost report generator 212. Based on the cost estimation, the cost report may be generated and stored in the BOM database 216 for further processing. On the other hand, the FAST report generator 214 may perform a functional value analysis based on the BOM report. And, based on the functional value analysis, a FAST report may be generated by the FAST report generator 214. The FAST report generator 214 may be further communicatively connected to the BOM database 216 to store the generated FAST report that may be accessed by the user 218 upon requirement.
The BOM database 218 may be communicatively interconnected to the GUI 204, the measure report generator 208, the BOM report generator 210, the cost report generator 212, and the FAST report generator 214. The BOM database 218 may be configured to store intermediate and final results generated by the various modules 204-214. In some embodiments, the BOM database 218 may store the measure report as on of the plurality of records, the cost report, the BOM report, and the FAST report. Upon requirement, the user 218 may access the BOM database via the GUI 206.
It should be noted that the BOM generating device 102 may be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or the like. Alternatively, the BOM generating device 102 may be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified engine/module of executable code may, for instance, include one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may, for instance, be organized as a component, module, procedure, function, or other construct. Nevertheless, the executables of an identified engine/module need not be physically located together but may include disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the identified engine/module and achieve the stated purpose of the identified engine/module. Indeed, an engine or a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different applications, and across several memory devices.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, a variety of processes may be employed for generating BOM for a product. For example, the exemplary system 100 and associated BOM generating device 102 may generate BOM for the product, by the process discussed herein. In particular, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, control logic and/or automated routines for performing the techniques and steps described herein may be implemented by the system 100 and the associated BOM generating device 102 either by hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. For example, suitable code may be accessed and executed by the one or more processors on the system 100 to perform some or all of the techniques described herein. Similarly, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) configured to perform some or all the processes described herein may be included in the one or more processors on the system 100.
Referring now to
At step 302, information associated with a component of the product may be acquired. To acquire information, a plurality of communicatively connected information recording instruments 202 may be used by the BOM generating device 102 or 200. It should be noted that the information includes a set of measurement parameters that may be recorded using a set of communicatively connected measuring instruments. The set of measurement parameters may include at least one of a height of the component, a length of the component, a width of the component, a weight of the component, a diameter of the component, and a thickness of the component.
Further, the set of communicatively connected measuring instruments may include a digital tape, a digital Vernier scale, a digital micrometre, a digital height gauge, and a digital weighing scale. In some embodiments, the information may further include the image of the component captured using a communicatively connected imaging device. The communicatively connected imaging device may be a web camera. Further, in some embodiments, the information may include an identification number of the component. The identification number may be captured using one of the communicatively connected imaging device and the communicatively connected bar code scanning device.
At step 304, a set of data fields may be automatically populated in a GUI (analogues to the GUI 204 in
At step 306, a validation command may be received from the user via the GUI. For example, in some embodiments, the user may use a save key to transmit the validation command. At step 308, upon receiving the validation command, the plurality of data fields may be stored as one of a plurality of records in a BOM database for the product. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of records in the BOM database may correspond to each of a plurality of components in the product. In some embodiments, the process 300 may include the step of generating at least one of a measure report, a BOM report, a cost report, and a FAST report.
The measure report may be generated based on an evaluation of the plurality of data fields prior to storing the plurality of data fields as one of the plurality of records in the BOM database. Additionally, the BOM report may be generated based on the plurality of records in the BOM database. For generating the cost report, a cost estimation may be performed based on the BOM report. Further, for generating the FAST report, a functional value analysis may be performed based on at least one of the BOM report and the cost report. The functional analysis may include a set of pre-defined functions and sub-functions customized for the product and mapped to a plurality of components of the product.
Referring now to
In some embodiments, the part geometry 402c may be automatically selected by the data field populating module 206 upon identification of shape of the component, when image of the component is analysed. Also, a user may select the part geometry 402c. Based on the selected part geometry 402c, various empty fields of measurement parameters associated with the part geometry 402c may be displayed on the GUI 204.
For example, the empty fields for measurement parameters may include a height of the component, a length of the component, a width of the component, a weight of the component, unfolded length, unfolded width, a diameter of the component, and a thickness of the component. These fields of measurement parameters may be different for different shapes. Like, in case of circular shape the measurement parameter ‘diameter of the component’ may be displayed, however that may not appear in case of rectangular or square shape. These fields of measurement parameters may be populated based on information captured by the information recording instruments 202. Further, the part image 402d may be populated either by selecting a ‘Take a photo’ option 402e or by selecting ‘Add a photo’ option 402f.
When the ‘Take a photo’ option 402e is selected by the user 218, an associated camera module may get a command to capture a picture. And, by selecting the ‘Add a photo’ option 402f, the user 218 may be able to select one of the existing pictures stored in a database. A reset key may enable the user to reset the plurality of data fields and the save key may be used to store the plurality of data fields as one of the plurality of records. On the other side, the second section of material details may include empty fields for ‘Material Type’, ‘Make’, ‘Buy’, ‘Level’, ‘Module’, ‘Product Category’, ‘Assembly level’, ‘Primary Process’, ‘Secondary Process’, ‘Finishing Process’, and ‘Remark’.
Referring now to
At step 506, a transmitter may transmit the recorded information to a receiver via a wired or wireless connectivity like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Radio frequency technology. Thereafter, at step 508, the receiver may receive information associated with the component transmitted by the transmitter. At step 510, the information may be transmitted to a computing device. Examples of the computing device may include, but not limited to, a computer, a laptop, a microcontroller, a tablet, or the like. At step 512, a condition may be checked i.e. whether the system (same as the system 100) is ready to operate or not. In case the system is ready to operate, a next step may be executed, otherwise the previous steps from 504 may be performed again until the condition becomes favourable.
At step 514, upon satisfying the system condition, information of the component may be transmitted to a user interface by the computing device. The user interface may correspond to the GUI. After that, at step 516 information associated with the identification number of the component or a pre-printed sticker of the component captured by the bar code scanning device may be considered. Based on that, at step 518, a data entry page or the plurality of data fields may be displayed. In some embodiments, the data entry page may include the plurality of data. At step 520, a condition that the data entry page is opened or not may be verified. If the data entry page is not opened, then the step 518 may be executed again.
At step 522, a geometry 402c may be selected. It should be noted that shape of the component may be checked to select the part geometry. The part geometry may be selected automatically, based on image of the component, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. In some other embodiments, the user may select shape of the component. Some pre-defined shapes like a circular shape, a rectangular shape, a sheet metal may appear on the data entry page for selection. In case, shape of the component does not match with any of the pre-defined shape the process may again execute the step 522. At step 524, a plurality of entry boxes corresponding to measurement parameters may be identified. The plurality of entry boxes may be different for different shapes as shown in
At step 530, a component image may be selected. To select image of the component, two options may be provided. one option, the image of the component may be uploaded directly by a key ‘Add a Photo’. In this option the user needs to select one of a plurality of images stored in the database by pressing the key ‘Add a Photo’. In another option ‘Take photo’, a facility of taking a photo via the connected imaging device like a web camera may be provided. At step 532, material details including product category, product material, level, module, buy, make, assembly, primary process, secondary process, and finishing process may be provided.
At step 534, when the data fields are populated with data associated with to the component, the data fields may be mapped again to each of the measurement parameters in order to check whether the data fields are populated appropriately with correct information or not. In case, the data fields are populated with incorrect information, all the steps from 512 of the
Referring now to
Thereafter, at step 606, a data analysis and data computation may be performed on the plurality of data fields. It should be noted that the data analysing and computation module 208a may perform the step 606. At step 608, the populated plurality of data fields may be channelized to different cells in a pre-defined order. It should be noted that channelization of the plurality of data fields may be performed based on analyzation and computation performed by the data analysing and computation module 208a. In
Referring now to
Referring now to
It should be noted that a functional analysis page may allow selection of one or plurality number of components for a function and sub function. Thereafter, at step 808, a condition ‘if the part is selected or not’ may be checked. In case the part is still not selected, the process 800 may again execute the previous step. In some embodiments, the selected functions and sub functions may be enabled to pull the data from pre-defined database Additionally, post selection of one or plurality of components, corresponding data may be copied to a specific location, and the functions and respective component's cost information may be mapped. At step 810, a FAST diagram may be generated, after the condition of step 808 is verified. At step 812, a FAST report may be generated based on the FAST diagram.
Referring now to
Further, two sub-functions 908a and 908b may be selected and corresponding values may be determined. Now, for each of the sub-functions 908a and 908b, one or more sub-functions may be selected. Expansion of the sub-function 908a is clearly illustrated in
Thus, the present disclosure may help in eliminating manual requirement of generating BOM for products by introducing automation in the field. As, the disclosure introduce automation in dimension generation, weight gathering as well as positioning images at right location, productivity may be enhanced. by fifty percent, when compared with conventional procedures. Additionally, the disclosure delivers some advantages like reduction in manual errors, quality improvement, enhanced accuracy and less time consumption. The disclosed system may be an offline system and may be updated regularly by bringing it to connectivity. In future, it may be easy to track the images of the part only through the part names and smart labels. Also, the disclosure involves FAST diagram generation automatically by selecting functions and associated components, thereby reduces the operational time and deliverable quality. Thus, in short, the disclosure provides a robust method and system with improved productivity and quality.
It will be appreciated that, for clarity purposes, the above description has described embodiments of the invention with reference to different functional units and processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, processors or domains may be used without detracting from the invention. For example, functionality illustrated to be performed by separate processors or controllers may be performed by the same processor or controller. Hence, references to specific functional units are only to be seen as references to suitable means for providing the described functionality, rather than indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organization.
Although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the scope of the present invention is limited only by the claims. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art would recognize that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in accordance with the invention.
Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or process steps may be implemented by, for example, a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different claims, these may possibly be advantageously combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. Also, the inclusion of a feature in one category of claims does not imply a limitation to this category, but rather the feature may be equally applicable to other claim categories, as appropriate.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202011023185 | Jun 2020 | IN | national |
