Companies that produce consumer products need the ability to manage both the hard and soft components of their products. Engineering product structures are BOMs made of components, where each component is described by geometry that is provided in a CAD document, and other characteristics such as part number or source. Each component in an engineering BOM is a part and the part can be reused, substituted, and managed. Changes to a part can change its parent assembly and you might have configuration management rules that govern how part changes affect assembly and product changes.

Merchandising BOMs are typically focused on data that correlates to the look and feel of a finished product, such as materials, colors, packaging, and labeling. Merchandising BOMs do not typically contain parts that are always defined by characteristics such as geometry. Parts in a merchandising BOM are similar to locations or reference designators such as sleeve, inner lining, and main body fabric. However, the important information in a merchandising BOM is the material list, which describes what each part is made of.

Customers can more precisely describe a product to their suppliers and other internal users by specifying a BOM that is a combination of its engineering data and its merchandising data. This means you can communicate specific part numbers to suppliers. This communication reduces any confusion the supplier might have with which parts to use. For example, a designer developing the headrest of a stroller can communicate the latest design to a materials developer by associating the headrest part to the product. This allows the materials developer to select the appropriate fabric or make other important production decisions such as determining the needed fabric yardage.