Iām always annoyed when ordering with amazing-assembly that I only see a total price for the BOM components. The individual component prices are only displayed with a rough scale of four euro symbols.
This makes it difficult to spot errors or optimise component costs.
Displaying the prices would have several advantages:
- Recognise if the MPN has been entered for a whole roll by mistake, resulting in an unnecessary order.
- Recognise where there is potential for optimisation. Expensive individual components would quickly stand out, enabling you to look for alternatives.
- If a single component is the only part purchased from a separate supplier due to lack of availability, extra delivery charges are incurred for this component only. If I could see this, I could consider using an alternative component instead.
In my opinion, this would be a very useful feature, providing more transparency on component costs in the BOM.
We are always open to better communicate BOM pricing! When starting Amazing Assembly a few years ago, we displayed prices. Unfortunately, instead of improved comprehensibility, it sparked confusion. Our algorithms are optimizing for the lowest assembly cost of the total price for a dedicated quantity. It therefore respects various aspects, e.g., additional manufacturing buffer (which, e.g., depends on assembly method and the component price and type).
We therefore decided for a scale, allowing identification of cost drivers. Would a more fine-grain scale improve your situation?
I am curious about the full reel MPN issue, do you have an example for me?
Out of curiosity, which kind of components would you consider easy to replace / the best candidates for optimization?
I do not believe that the problem can be solved by a finer-grained scale.
An example for 10 boards:
The most expensive component on my board costs ā¬20 x 10 = ā¬200.
If I now enter the MPN CQ03SAJ010102T5E for the 1k Ohm resistor, then the whole reel will be ordered, which costs 5 euros instead of, for example, taking the CR0603-FX-1001ELF for 11 cents for 10 pieces.
If the displayed scale divides the range 0-200ā¬ into 4 steps, it is not possible to see on the scale whether the resistor is being purchased for 5 euros (reel) or 11 cents (cut tape).
If I were to see the prices directly, I would immediately realise that ā¬5 for a 1k resistor cannot be right.
If you want to keep to a scale, then such errors can only be recognised if the scale has an increment of 50 cents, for example - i.e. 400 scale lines in the example shown. This will not work.
So in my opinion, the only way to find such errors is to display the component prices.
Thanks for the example, I see the difficulty here and take this to our internal discussions how to improve the BOM displaying.