Feature Highlight: Advanced Build System

When building, there is often a need to specify exactly which parts will be used, and where they will be taken from.

With the Advanced Build System feature, it is possible to use multiple part sources for a single BOM entry. This is useful when parts are in several locations, when a meta-part is specified in the BOM, and when lot control is used.

You can choose the default order in which parts will be consumed: FIFO (First In First Out), LIFO (Last In First Out), Last accessed, Largest lot first and Smallest lot first. Arbitrary reordering of sources is also possible, as well as individual source selection and per-entry quantity override.

Let's take an example. Say we're building our "USB Gadget" which uses a meta-part: "R-0805-10k". There are several substitutes in that meta-part, any of which can be used in the build. We would like to build 11 units, and we need 11 pieces of R-0805-10k. But our stock for R-0805-10k is split into three lots:

There are two different substitutes (RC0805FR-0710KL and CRCW080510K0FKEA), and additionally stock for one of them is split into two lots (if lot control isn't used, it could also be stored in different locations).

In the past, it was not possible to use multiple part sources in a build. But PartsBox now allows that, so if we start a build and set the build quantity to 11, our build table will show:

What this means is that first, 10 pieces of RC0805FR-0710KL will be used, and then 1 piece of CRCW080510K0FKEA.

With the Advanced Build System feature, you can select/deselect individual part sources, reorder them in any way you wish, as well as use pre-defined orderings to quickly configure the entire build. For example, we might want to consume the smaller part lots first, and with a couple of clicks we can end up with:

In this case, the build will use up everything from lot c11781b4 (1 part), then all of lot d463pt5y (3 parts), and then proceed to use the largest lot.

It is also possible to override the quantity individually for every entry:

In the image above, the quantity was changed from 11 to 14, and the stock requests were changed accordingly, keeping the manual ordering.

The Advanced Build System is important if you often build in larger quantities and have to use parts from multiple sources (or multiple part substitutes in meta-parts). It also ensures that you get the benefits of traceability (with lot control), while being able to both use multiple lots for a single BOM entry, and being in full control of which exact part sources were used for a build.