Turn Messy BOMs into Quote-Ready Lists in Seconds

Frequently asked questions

How does PCBoffer read a bill of materials?

In any table format. The column mapping is detected and put up for confirmation before anything is calculated, so that a misread quantity column is not discovered at the price. Each line is then matched against a normalized parts database, and price, source of supply and assembly effort all follow from that same match.

What does BOM scrubbing mean?

Cleaning a bill of materials so it can actually be quoted and purchased: resolving ambiguous or misspelled part numbers, removing duplicates, normalising formats and units, filling in missing attributes, and checking each part against real distributor data for availability, price and lifecycle status. PCBoffer does this automatically on upload and detects the columns itself.

What is the difference between a BOM and an SBOM?

A BOM lists the physical components of a product. An SBOM, software bill of materials, lists the software components and libraries inside a program, and exists for security and licence tracking. The two are unrelated despite the similar name. PCBoffer works with the physical bill of materials of electronic assemblies.

Which file formats can I upload?

Excel and CSV bills of materials in whatever column layout you already use, the columns are detected automatically rather than requiring a template. From KiCad, PCBoffer reads the BOM straight out of the project through its own parser; Altium projects are read natively on request. Alongside the BOM, PCBoffer reads the fabrication data itself: ODB++, IPC-2581, Gerber and pick-and-place files.

How much time does automated BOM cleaning save?

3.1 hours per quote on average, for a bill of materials of around 100 lines. Matching runs against over 350 distributor catalogues. The measured effect on purchasing is a 29.6 % average material cost saving through automated supplier comparison, and 16.1 % on passive components.

What is the difference between an eBOM and a purchasable bill of materials?

The eBOM is the engineering bill of materials that falls out of the layout tool; it describes the circuit. The purchasable bill of materials, also called mBOM or manufacturing BOM, is derived from it: identical parts consolidated into one line, manufacturer part numbers and purchasing data added, approved alternates recorded. That is exactly the step PCBoffer performs on upload. Covered in full in the glossary under bill of materials.