What's in a Complete Bill of Materials (BOM) & CAD Package

Here at Dragon Innovation, we’re often approached with incomplete Bills of Materials (BOM)/CAD packages. BOM and CAD packages come in all shapes and sizes, but in order to move forward with choosing your factory and starting manufacturing, they need to be complete.

Since starting Dragon Innovation we’ve talked with thousands of hardware companies and factories about how to start manufacturing and scale from a prototype to high volume production.

A critical starting point is reviewing a Bill of Materials (BOM) and CAD Package, which serves as the foundation for building the product. 

From that standpoint, below are the key items of a complete BOM and CAD package:

BOM Package

• EE (Electrical)
• Components
• Bare PCBA
• Board Size
• Board Layers
• ME (Mechanical)
• Fabricated Parts
• Gears
• Plastics
• Sheet metal
• CNC Parts
• 3D Printed Parts
• Purchased
• Anything OTS (Off the Shelf)
• Springs, washers, motors, lights, batteries, rails, etc.
• Packaging
• Clamshell
• Cardboard
• Inserts

CAD Package

• All 3D renderings
• 2D Drawings (when 3D unavailable)
• All Parts
• Associated Part #’s
• Top level assemblies of parts
• Materials
• PCBAs
• ME: General outer dimensions (popboard if possible)
• EE: Gerbers + Schematics + Component list
• Fabricated
• 3D CAD Designed
• Purchased
• Generate outer dimensions + critical features

These are fundamental sets of data, used throughout the process to get to mass manufacturing. A well constructed BOM and CAD clearly communicates all of the technical ingredients required to build the product. This can help avoid headaches down the road so when you are ready for mass manufacturing, you have everything you need to hit the ground running.