Which parts a configured product is built from
A configurable product’s bill of materials holds every variant’s parts. Say which configuration each part belongs to — always, with an option, or under a condition — check the model before releasing it, watch the parts and the process take shape as options are chosen, and make a production order from the result.
Engineers usually draw a configurable product as ONE bill of materials on its item, holding every part any variant can contain: both case sets, the 4-inch and the 6-inch glass, pointer and gasket, both stem pipes. This is often called a super BOM or a 150% BOM. The configurator takes each configuration’s parts from it, and each line of it says which configurations it belongs to.
Three kinds of line
| The part… | How to say it | Example (TG100 gauge) |
|---|---|---|
| is in every configuration | Leave the BOM line as it is — no condition. | TG100-02 BM bottom, TG100-07 movement set, TG100-13 dial screws |
| follows one answer | Name the part on that option ("Item it adds"). A BOM line whose part an option names is in a configuration only when that option is chosen — never by itself as well, and never twice. | Dial size 4″ adds TG100-20, the 4″ SS304 case set; 6″ adds TG100-01 |
| depends on an answer, but several parts do | Give each BOM line a condition in "Only when", written over the question codes. | TG100-21 glass 4″: dial_size = 'DS-4IN' |
| has a quantity that follows a typed value | A rule of kind "selects component" with a quantity formula — or a quantity formula on the BOM line. | Pipe TG100-27 when stem_diameter_option = 'SD-6MM', quantity stem_length / 1000 (mm of stem as metres of pipe) |
A condition names a question by its code, lowercased: dial_size, case_material. A question holds the CODE of the option chosen (DS-4IN), or the number typed for an option that takes a value. <question>_option always holds the code, so stem_diameter_option = 'SD-OTHER' is true when "Other" was chosen even though stem_diameter holds the 7.5 typed with it.
A condition is a formula, not a sentence. "When dial size is selected as 4 inch" is refused when the rule is saved, with the names the model does have. And a requires / excludes rule is a pair of options — it has no condition; a condition on one is refused.
Check the model
Supply Chain → Product Configurator → Models → Check this model opens Configure a Product with the model check open. It lists, most important first, what stops the model configuring: a required question with no options, a rule or BOM condition that does not read, a part two options both add. Then it shows every line of the bill of materials and what it will do — always, with which option or rule, or under which condition — and every name a rule can use, with the option codes each question accepts.
Answers that are values
- An option can take a value the person types: set "The answer is a value the person enters" to number or text, and say what to ask for and its unit (Stem length, mm).
- "Decimal places allowed" (2 accepts 125.25, refuses 125.255) and, for text, "Most characters allowed" (10 for a material such as INC625) are said beside the box before anybody types, and refused with a reason if exceeded.
- A list with an "Other — specify" answer is an ordinary option that takes a value: 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm, and Other (number, mm, 2 decimals).
- A value another answer implies — B1 is 18 mm for a ½″ NPT process connection — is a rule of kind "defaults_value": the condition (process_connection = 'PC-1/2NPT'), Then this option (B1 · Define) and the Formula (18). It is filled in and marked as coming from the other answers; the person can type over it, and their own value is never overwritten. Changing the connection to one with no default takes a filled-in value away again.
Configuring, step by step
Configure a Product says what to do next above the questions: which required question is still unanswered, which chosen value is still to be typed, or — once everything is answered — that the configuration is complete. The moment it is complete it works out what the product is made of and shows it under "What it is made of", level by level, with the cost of each level, before anything is resolved or quoted.
Watching it take shape
You do not have to finish answering to see what you are building. While a configuration is still being chosen, Configure a Product shows three panels beneath the questions, each marked "preview", and works them out again on every choice:
| Panel | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Bill of material, routing and cost | How many parts and operations the choices so far come to, and what they cost. |
| What it is made of | The parts, level by level: the sub-assemblies and what goes into each, with quantities. |
| How it is made | The operations in order, the work center of each, and their times and cost. |
- The preview is worked out by the same rules a production order of this configuration is made from, so what you see is what the shop will be asked to build. A model with no routing of its own takes its item’s routing.
- Nothing is saved until the configuration is resolved. Change an answer and the panels change with it; walk away and nothing has been written.
Making it
Once the configuration is resolved into its configured item, Make a production order appears beside Resolved. The order is made to exactly the structure shown — its components and its operations — not the product’s whole super bill of materials. Once made, the button is not offered again for that configuration.
Production orders for configurable products
- New production order, on Manufacturing → Production Orders, has a Configuration (configurable products) field. Name one and the order is built from that configuration’s own parts and operations.
- Leave it empty for an ordinary product. A configurable product raised with no configuration gets only its standard parts — the lines no option, rule or condition decides — and the order’s note says so. Add its options’ parts on the Components tab.
- The component picker on the Components tab lists what this product can take first: the options of its configuration (the chosen one, then the alternatives to it), the parts the model’s rules add, the lines of the order’s own bill of material, and then every other stock item, so a consumable can still be added. Each entry says why it is offered.
- An option the chosen ones rule out is not offered as an alternative. Its part can still be picked from the rest of stock, and is marked as ruled out by the model, with the reason.
Trying a model before it is released
The Model list on Configure a Product shows released models first and, under "Not released yet — to try out", the ones still in draft or in review. You can answer every question of a draft to check it; it can be quoted, resolved or made only once its status is Released under Configurator · Models.
An option always belongs to the model of the question it answers. The options form offers only the chosen model’s questions, and the platform keeps the two together whatever arrives — an option saved against another model’s question used to vanish from one model and demand an answer in the other.