In the manufacturing world, the two terms bill of materials and knowledge graph are closely related. They are used in the manufacturing world to get a better understanding and stay organized with data. Data is an asset that continues to be misused and not taken full advantage of. Data has all of the keys for a manufacturer to learn from and grow through adaptation.
For starters, a bill of materials is a centralized source of all of the information that a manufacturer has to produce a product. It is vital for a company to use this because it is the backbone of the organization and information for making that product.
Without a clear blueprint and list of materials, it could be problematic if the manufacturer has thousands of different things that they make. You really can’t fathom how organized some of these manufacturers have to be. Also, it contains all of the instructions to actually assemble the product to completion.
Now, let’s break down the knowledge graph aspect of this post. A knowledge graph for an organization is the centralized source of enterprise knowledge and inferences from the knowledge.
The reason why a knowledge graph is important is that there are too many “data silos” out there for companies to keep track of, and it is going to cause them to feel unorganized. With a knowledge graph, it is a centralized piece of data that is pretty simple to understand.
For a long time, businesses did not know how to combine their data into something that is universally effective in assessing knowledge. That is where the knowledge graph comes in because it is a centralized form of inferences and enterprise knowledge.
Having too many individual data silos and things to keep track of is how a company can feel overwhelmed and end up not succeeding at all. The thing that a bill of materials has in common with a knowledge graph is that it’s a centralized form of data that promotes organization.
In the business world today, there are too many other things to worry about in the manufacturing space. For instance, you have to deal with supply chain, new customers, and heavy competition. On the inside of the company, you have to deal with engineering and management systems that are becoming very complex.
The lucky thing is that the new ideas with a bill of materials and knowledge graphs are helping people out in a big way. There are platforms out there such as Openbom that are helping people in a big way.
When you are organized with your knowledge and materials, then that is one less thing to worry about constantly. It will open up your time to worry about other systems and processes that are important to you.
And there you have it for a general overview of knowledge graphs and the basics of a bill of materials. If you found this post interesting, then we would really appreciate it if you shared it with someone else!
