For manufacturing businesses seeking greater control and insight over their production processes, the Bill of Materials (BOM) functionality in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers a powerful solution. In this blog, we explore how BOM can transform your operations, from cost tracking to production efficiency, and why Creative Computing is the ideal partner to help you implement and leverage these tools.

What Is a Bill of Materials (BOM)?

A Bill of Materials is a comprehensive list of components, assemblies, and/or raw materials needed to build a finished product. In Business Central, BOMs form the backbone of manufacturing planning, enabling manufacturers to define, track, and manage every input used during production.

🔗 Learn more about BOMs in Business Central

How Business Central BOMs Streamline Manufacturing

1. Simplified Production Planning

Business Central allows you to create Production BOMs that clearly define what’s needed to manufacture a product. These BOMs integrate seamlessly with your production orders, automating material allocation and simplifying scheduling.

This reduces manual errors, speeds up planning, and ensures consistent quality.

2. Real-Time Costing and Profitability Insights

By tracking the cost of each component within the BOM, Business Central delivers real-time visibility into the true cost of goods sold (COGS). You can analyse margins across products, jobs, or customers giving you a competitive edge through smarter pricing decisions.

🔗 How Dynamics 365 helps with financial visibility

3. Inventory Optimisation

With BOMs, you can forecast material needs based on production demand. Combined with Business Central’s inventory management features, this minimises overstocking or understocking, ultimately reducing carrying costs and improving cash flow.

4. Version Control and Product Variants

Need to update your product design? Business Central supports BOM versioning, ensuring all changes are tracked and applied correctly. This is essential for industries like electronics or engineering where product configurations change frequently.

🔗 Managing BOM Versions in Business Central

‍Integration With Other Modules

One of the standout benefits of Business Central is its ability to unify processes. BOMs integrate with:

• Sales: Trigger production automatically from sales orders.
  
• Purchasing: Reorder raw materials based on BOM requirements and stock levels.
  
• Finance: Monitor production costs and reconcile them with your general ledger.
  

This full end-to-end visibility ensures everyone from shop floor to finance is working with the same data.

Why Choose Creative Computing?

With over 20 years of experience and recognition as a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Dynamics 365, Creative Computing specialises in helping manufacturers unlock the full potential of Business Central. We offer:

• Expert installation & setup
  
• Tailored training & support
  
• Ongoing consultancy & optimisation
  

Whether you’re migrating from Dynamics NAV or implementing Business Central for the first time, we ensure your BOM processes are lean, integrated, and aligned with your business goals.

Ready to Take Control of Your Manufacturing?

At Creative Computing, our mission is to inspire organisational change through smarter systems. Let us help you streamline production, improve accuracy, and unlock deeper insights with Business Central’s BOM capabilities.

Contact us today for a free consultation: www.creative-computing.co.uk

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