Flexibility + Out-of-the-Box: How We Combine It at OpenBOM

Everyone has a dream. What’s your dream? After two decades in the PLM business, I know what users’ dreams are.

The users’ demand from the PLM system to be ready to use out of the box in the way they want it.

For many years, I’ve seen this dream take shape in the PLM world — the idea of “PLM out-of-the-box.” But here’s what I’ve learned: no matter how beautifully packaged a system is, the moment you start using it, you’ll find something you want to change. A new property here, a workflow tweak there, a different way of structuring data. It’s human — and it’s reality.

Jonathan Gable recently said something that really struck me. He reflected on how PLM started as a toolkit — a bare-bones platform you had to mold yourself just to get document and BOM management working. Over time, vendors added templates and best-practice processes. But even with those, some setup was always needed. Every business has unique approval processes, custom fields, and future use cases that don’t fit neatly into a predefined mold.

Jonathan’s point was simple and honest: no PLM system is ever completely out-of-the-box. Even the simplest implementation will need to bend just a bit to fit the business.

At OpenBOM, we’ve been thinking about this problem from our very first day.

How do we build a system that gives users the joy of starting quickly, with a working solution right out of the gate — but without locking them into something rigid? How do we offer structure without sacrificing freedom?

Our Approach at OpenBOM

When you sign up for OpenBOM, you can start working in minutes. That’s by design.

We provide ready-to-use templates for Items, BOMs, Vendors, Orders, and Inventories. You can connect to your CAD system and generate a multi-level product structure (aka BOM) instantly. You get structured data, rollups, part numbers, even real-time cost calculations. And we make it easy to share data across your team or with suppliers — no IT or export required. But we also provide out-of-the-box spreadsheet, PDF, and ZIP exports.

For many teams, that’s a game-changer. To make engineering data available for business users is a big aha moment for many of them. They’ve been stuck with spreadsheets, chasing down the latest version of a BOM over email or Slack. OpenBOM gets them out of that mess with minimal effort.

But that’s only half the story.

Because the moment you’re in, you start seeing what makes your business unique. Maybe you need to track specific data properties, or attach some files or specs. Or maybe your QA team wants to tag inspection steps per part. Perhaps your purchasing team prefers a different structure or wants alternate vendors embedded directly in the BOM.

That’s where the flexibility of OpenBOM kicks in. You can add any property, create your own object types,  define new BOM type, build different views of the same data — and none of it breaks the platform. It’s built to bend.

We even built an entire architecture, the xBOM Service, around the idea that product data isn’t a one-size-fits-all structure. One company’s engineering BOM might be another’s procurement view or installation tree. With OpenBOM, you can model all of that — with a single source of truth behind the scenes.

A Familiar Story

Let me give you a simple, real-life example. An engineering team builds a complex mechanical assembly in SolidWorks. They click a button, and OpenBOM generates the full, multi-level BOM. Nothing special so far — just the “out-of-the-box” magic combined with all derivative files, and links connected.

But then the purchasing team steps in. They need to assign vendors, define lead times, group items by supplier, and estimate total cost. They create their own filtered view, add supplier-specific pricing, and with a few clicks, generate purchase orders.

Meanwhile, the engineering team makes a design change. The BOM updates automatically, and purchasing is instantly notified. The system adapts in real time, across functions — without anyone writing code or scheduling a meeting to “sync the data.”

That’s what we mean when we say “flexibility meets out-of-the-box.”

Out of the Box: Get Productive on Day One

From the first time you log in, OpenBOM gives you the tools to manage engineering and manufacturing data — no code, no consultants, no IT bottlenecks.

• Pre-configured templates for Items, BOMs, Vendors, and Orders
• Native CAD integrations to generate BOMs from your designs instantly
• Automatic part numbering, cost rollups, and supplier assignments
• Catalog and inventory tools to get control over your parts
• Built-in ordering and procurement tools with gap analysis to bridge engineering and purchasing

In short, you can start building and managing your product structure within minutes. For most teams, OpenBOM replaces disconnected spreadsheets and emails with a real-time, shareable system that already knows how to manage parts, assemblies, and data.

But that’s just the beginning.

Flexibility: Evolve as Your Process Matures

Every manufacturing business has its quirks — and OpenBOM was built to embrace that.

We don’t lock you into a rigid data model or fixed workflows. You can adapt OpenBOM to your business without breaking it. That means:

• Add unlimited custom properties to your items, BOMs, or vendors
• Define advanced relationships (e.g. alternates, substitutes, sourcing tiers)
• Build different BOM types for different views — Engineering, Manufacturing, Service
• Create filtered views tailored to departments or roles (e.g. Procurement, QA, Field Service)
• Extend functionality with integrations and automation via our REST API

Most importantly, these changes don’t require complex scripts or consultants — they’re built into the UI, and they survive upgrades. Your flexibility doesn’t come at the cost of maintainability.

The xBOM Service: Structured Flexibility at Scale

At the heart of OpenBOM is our xBOM Service — a flexible, multi-dimensional model that allows multiple representations of the same product.

• Need to show a project breakdown? You can.
• Want a vendor-specific costed BOM? Easy.
• Require a flattened order list? One click.
• Looking how to organize a maintenance BOM? Click…

This flexibility is not an afterthought — it’s how OpenBOM was architected from the start. It’s what allows us to serve both small engineering shops and global supply chains using the same core platform.

What is my conclusion? 

What’s the Real Dream? Maybe the dream isn’t a system that reads your mind. Maybe it’s a system that doesn’t fight you when you try to grow.

Jonathan’s question is the right one: how do you cover most of your needs with standard apps — and then adjust them, easily, without turning your system into a nightmare every time an upgrade rolls around?

At OpenBOM, we designed our platform around that principle. We don’t pretend everything works out of the box, forever. Instead, we give you a real working start — and the tools to make it your own.

So if you’re tired of choosing between “quick and easy” or “fully customizable,” you don’t have to. We’ve combined both. It’s not a dream. It’s OpenBOM.

Want to experience it? REGISTER FOR FREE and check it out? 

Best, Oleg