CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
With the trend of technology growth in the world of today, virtually every facet of human work
has been affected, even the remotest of it all, and the production circle cannot be left out.  This
project was carried out to verify all the manual processes involved in the bill of material
processing system and to seek a way of automating the system for effective operations.

With the fact that there is a continuous move towards technological advancement that enhances
productivity of labor and free human beings of tasks done more economically by machines. 
Computer and its applications have become indispensable and vital tools in economic, industrial
and social development of the advanced countries of the world. Nigeria as a developing country
cannot afford to lag too far behind in this kind of revolution.  Therefore there is every need to
know in every discipline the areas, which attracts computerization and why they need it.

The concept of material requirement planning (MRP), which embraces the computerized bill of
material processing system (COMBOMP) have been in existence in many organization though in
a traditional approach and in anticipation, it is believed that the introduction of computer into the
scene may greatly improve reliability, validity, accuracy and timely processing of data.

The initial stage in every engineering process is to conceive an idea and then transcribe this
imagination / mental pictures on paper, and the material(s) involved in the production are studied
and the computerized bill of quantity are determined in a manual form, but in the new system the
computer is used to translate the master production schedule into a detailed plan for all materials
required to produce scheduled products. The material subsystem for each product (computerized
bill of material) is multiplied by the number of units scheduled to be produced. The amount of
material on hand, the materials needed to be purchased and a schedule of purchase is then
calculated. This helps to minimize investment in material(s) inventories while still adhering to
the master production schedule.

1
The industrial age is moving into a dramatic form of computer development and every
organization is trying to adopt the need for automation and computerization because of the
reliability and validity of information derived from the database. Though most organizations are
lagging behind and it is not a thing to write about that COMPUTERIZED BILL OF
MATERIALS has not been computerized in most of our manufacturing companies. In spite of
this, we believe that this project work, which is properly probed and compiled, will serve as a
stepping-stone on how to rectify the anomaly of manual processing.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Most companies are suffering some setbacks due to their procurement system. Most often, low
quality goods are purchased and they end up losing money. Also at times, they lack a steady
supply, resulting to lack of materials for production, hence the need for computerization of bill of
material processing system.
No doubt that the use of traditional system has created a lot of problems in the production
process of any material(s) in any organization. The quantity and amount of materials and sub-
assembly needed to produce a product cannot be traceable because of these disadvantages stated
below.
i. Poor information storage method: The use of office files and cabinets is not a good form
of information storage as this might lead to record or file loss
ii. Insecurity of data: Data could be prone to vandalism and unauthorized accessibility.
iii. Lack and improper documentation of data related to products and materials.
iv. It takes longer time in accessing records in manual system than in an automated one.
v. Because of inaccuracy of data, management decisions are always unproductive and also
forecasting may not be well determined.

1.3 AIMS & OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The aim of this project is to create a bill of materials for an organization in helping them account
for each materials used for the production / manufacturing a product.
The specific objectives of this project include:

2
 i. To create a computerized bill generation process for raw material processing in an
organization.
ii. To serve as a means of safeguarding information, this will serve as reference for making
management decision, forecasting and also budget management decision expenditure
against production processing, which includes: ONLINE BILLS OF MATERIAL as its
emphasis.
iii. To keep records of sales volume, stock list and summary report.
iv. To safeguard information through effective monitoring of access to the filing system
(database).
v. To know when materials are almost out of stock in order to make an order so as not to
show the production pace of the laborers.
vi. To curb every error made in the manual or handwritten material billing process.

1.4 MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY

A Bill of Materials or BOM is a comprehensive list of components required to make a product,
as well as instructions required for gathering and using the required materials. A BOM can be
used for communication between one’s self and manufacturing partners. When manufacturing
activities are outsourced, it is especially important to create an accurate and revision-controlled
BOM. Any time the BOM is handed off to a contract manufacturer, it should be correct and
complete; otherwise production delay is inevitable. Therefore there is a need to come up with a
computerized BOM for efficient and accurate list of materials that makes up a product.

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of this project work covers all the areas of bill of materials processing systems, which
include the cost of individual material responsible for production, the stock control or inventory
areas. Investigation has presented some of the problems and deficiencies of the method such as
difficulty in editing already filed document using correction fluid which makes it appear rough,
time wasting in searching for file or retrieving of information habitual ways of stealing and
hoarding materials in shop / warehouse because of lack of documentation of materials used in
production and knowing the cost of each material involved in production.

3
Considering the above problem and difficulties, it is better to introduce a computerized approach
which may be better than the manual if well designed and implemented. This is to enable the
level of job enrichment and to produce increased administrative efficiency. Some other
constraints encountered during this project design include the following:

i. Financial Constraints: The design was achieved but not without some financial
involvements. One had to pay for the computer time. Also the typing and planning of the
work has its own financial involvements.

ii. High Programming Technique: The programming aspect of this project posed a lot of
problematic bugs that took me some days to solve. Problems such as database
connections using Python and SQLITE database posed a lot of challenges.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This project is geared towards eradication of all the deformities and loopholes of the manual of
computerized bill of material processing. Thus, developing a new system to handle all the work
involved in (COMBOMP) electronically, supplying all the deficiencies of the existing system.
Consequently, upon the elimination of the deficiencies and rectifying the anomalies encountered
in the existing system, overshadowing its operational in capacity by developing a computer-
based solution of storing information for billing. The application of computer in the
computerized bill of material processing will make for quick and easy collection, processing,
storage and retrieval of information as regards to the (COMBOMP) in any organization.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

i. Computerize: To convert information to a form that is stored or processed by a
computer.
ii. Bill: A printed or written statement of the money owed for goods or services.
iii. Information: What is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence
of things, or facts provided or learned about something or someone.
iv. Materials: A substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can
be pure or impure, living or non-living matter.

4
 v. Inventory: The term for goods available for sale and raw materials used to produce
goods available for sale.
vi. Data: Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis.
vii. File: A folder or box for holding loose papers together and in order for easy reference.
viii. Database: A structured set of data stored in a computer especially one that is accessible
in various ways
ix. Budget: An estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.
x. Forecasting: A technique that is uses historical data as input to make informed estimates
that are predictive in determining the direction of future trends.