COMING NOVEMBER 2026 · KINDLE & PAPERBACK
The Lean BOM Blueprint
Bills of material that serve both lean flow and ERP planning.
Most planning problems don’t start in MRP. They start in the bill of material. This is a practitioner’s guide to designing BOMs that serve lean flow on the floor and the planning logic in your ERP.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The BOM is the planning logic. Treat it that way.
A bill of material is more than an engineering record. It tells planning what to buy and make, tells the shop floor how work should flow, and shapes the costs finance relies on.
This book turns more than three decades of plant and ERP experience into a practical framework for seeing where product structures create noise — and redesigning them with purpose.
The book grew out of John’s 2020 article, The Phantom of Manufacturing.
WRITTEN FOR
01
Plant and operations leaders
Build product data around the way value actually moves.
02
Planners and supply chain managers
Turn MRP messages into
a signal your team can trust.
03
Manufacturing engineers
Connect engineering intent with executable plant structures.
04
ERP and IT
leaders
Make the system support the operation instead of shadow processes.
“John Paulson’s The Lean BOM Blueprint is a much-needed game-changer for businesses seeking the next step to transition the body of knowledge to the 21st century. This must-read book is packed with innovative strategies and actionable examples. A definite contribution to the BOM process!”
Dave Garwood
Author of Bills of Material for a Lean Enterprise, R. D. Garwood, Inc.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Contents
A working structure for diagnosing BOM problems and building product data the whole operation can use.
Why the BOM is planning logic
01
Phantoms: flow tool or hiding place?
03
Routings, resources and real capacity
05
Master-data discipline that lasts
07
Afterword
09
Seeing the product as the plant builds it
02
The planning signals your structure creates
04
Costing that operations can explain
06
From diagnosis to redesign
08
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John A. Paulson
Before consulting, I ran division manufacturing operations with full P&L responsibility. Since 1998 I’ve advised manufacturers on JD Edwards planning, shop floor, product data and cost accounting across 14 industries. That combination is the perspective behind every engagement.