Can someone please explain all of the differences between a Phantom BOM and a Sales Kit?
A phantom BOM exists on a job. It is an “assembly” that only exists during manufacturing. It can be used as a multiplier like a cable with five wires of 5MM. Now I can alter the quantity to get different lengths of cable. Phantom BOMs are found in many ERP systems.
A sales kit is something does not exist on a job. It exists on a sales order. It takes a BOM and explodes it into multiple lines on the order - internally anyway. There is no labor to assemble it. It is picked and then shipped.
That’s the quick explanation.
Mark W.
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Excellent answer, I thank you.
We currently use “Phantom BOMs” in our legacy system.
Ex. 696-2-M-FORD
(1) 696-2-M - Service body
(1) xxxxxxx - FORD mounting kit
(1) xxxxxxx - backup camera
My question is, do we even need phantoms if we’re using a product configurator? I’m imagining that I can write rules, BAQs, or something, that will call in all needed material, and methods. If this isn’t possible, do you have any suggestions on a technique to use?
Without knowing your exact requirements, I would venture to say that anything you could do with Phantom bills, you should be able to do with the Product Configurator and more.
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We upfit trucks. We receive cab/chassis from the manufacturer, and we add service bodies/flatbeds, and numerous accessory options. Through the years the company has tried to make things easier on the sales force(quote/sales order writing) by creating Phantom BOMs for SOME of the options. All of the bodies have mounting kits that are ordered separately(they are vehicle specific), as well as cameras have to be installed. these things have been put into a “STD BOM”. If we attache materials to jobs via the MOM, I’m not seeing a reason to create more STD BOMs before we upload our parts list into EPICOR.
I think this depends on how you quote customers. If the body is one line and the bed is another line and options are more lines then you structure your configurator differently than if you’re pricing a single line. (Although you can do both by altering the print program…but that’s another topic.)
I seem to recall that I was able to replace an assembly part number on the BOM and it was a phantom so it would blow through it during the initial Get Details.
Are you building the MOM in the Quote or later?
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As @Mark_Wonsil said (very well), a Sales Kit is typically something that requires no labor in order to “assemble”… it is typically seen as a sales pick list. This allows you to sell a “Kit” of items for one price, but then the stock room can pick the kit and ship it all at once. When invoiced, it would be invoiced as one item. Again… no labor (other than retrieval from the shelf).
In Epicor, a PHANTOM is a collection of parts that is included in an upper level assembly. The upper level assembly typically has labor to assemble it. In Epicor, a Phantom may also include additional labor.
Epicor DOES follow the standard phantom logic in that the Phantom part number (or Ghost) “disappears” once it comes into the job… only the components of the phantom show. This makes phantoms completely different than Sales Kits, because in the world of sales kits, the top kit part number DOES show on the sales order.
Other things:
- Phantoms may not be stocked or sold (but sometimes get stocked mistakenly)
- Sales Kits are never stocked, but can be sold
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We will need to create the MOM in the quoting phase.
On one line?
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yes