TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key Takeaways
- A reliable BOM process keeps engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing aligned through component selection, design release, and production changes.
- Duro’s Altium 365 integration creates structured engineering BOMs from released projects and brings part choices and supporting files into PLM.
- Review sourcing constraints throughout development. Availability at the start of a project does not guarantee availability for the next build.
- Treat substitutions according to their impact. A distributor change, a newly qualified manufacturer part, and a PCB redesign need different reviews.
- Duro connects BOMs with revisions, change orders, and the broader product record, giving teams a shared place to manage approved information.
The PCB layout is finished. The BOM has been exported. Your contract manufacturer is preparing a quote. Time to open the champagne (or more likely, microbrew)?
But hold the phone. Purchasing finds that a critical component can’t arrive in time so your manufacturer sends an email suggesting an alternative. Engineering checks the replacement, updates a spreadsheet, and sends a heads-up email. Meanwhile, someone else is working from the previous export.
But now the component shortage has become a coordination problem. Which part is approved? Does the replacement require a design change? Which files should the manufacturer use? What happens to the order already in progress?
For Altium users, the practical answer is to connect the design workflow to a shared product record. Duro’s Altium 365 integration carries released design information into PLM, where the broader hardware team can manage sourcing, review changes, and coordinate releases.
With Duro now part of Altium, that connection builds on an established partnership. Engineers can keep working in Altium while the people responsible for purchasing and manufacturing gain access to the product information and decisions they need.
Here’s how this works, in practice.
What Good Altium BOM Management Requires
A bill of materials (BOM) identifies what goes into an assembly. Managing that BOM means maintaining its relationship to the design, sourcing decisions, release status, and subsequent changes.
For example, take a component identified by its company part number. Engineering needs to know the required specifications and its place in the circuit, purchasing needs the qualified manufacturer parts and purchasing options, and manufacturing needs the approved assembly information for a particular build.
Those are all different views of the same product decision. When they live in disconnected files, the team has to reconcile them manually.
A useful BOM process makes six things clear: part identity, quantity and assembly context, sourcing information, revision, approval status, and change history. But the real question is whether a colleague can find the right answer without asking an engineer to reconstruct it.
Product lifecycle management provides the structure for connecting these records over time. For an electrical engineering team, that means the PCB BOM remains connected to the decisions made after its first release.
How Altium and Duro Work Together
Altium already gives engineers tools to manage components during design. ActiveBOM supports manufacturer part solutions, supplier choices, pricing, availability, and BOM checks within the project. Use those capabilities to evaluate the design before manufacturing.
The role of Duro’s PLM is to extend that work into the wider product lifecycle. Its Altium integration can generate a structured engineering BOM in Duro when a project is released, bring part choices into sourcing, and publish associated schematics, PCB information, Gerbers, and manufacturing files. Duro also assigns company part numbers to the transferred BOM parts and production files.
That provides a consistent starting point for cross-functional review:
- Purchasing can reference the released components.
- Operations can see the associated product information.
- Engineering can manage subsequent revisions and change orders in the same PLM environment.
This is especially useful when the PCB is one part of a larger assembly. The electronics release can become part of the product record used by the rest of the organization.
Duro can help Altium users establish ownership as you connect the tools, as well as to define where design edits happen, who maintains sourcing records, and how an approved change reaches the next release.
Review Sourcing Before the Board Is Ready to Order
Component sourcing deserves attention throughout development. A part may be easy to buy during schematic capture and difficult to obtain by the time the team schedules production.
Your team should review critical components when selecting them, revisit them during schematic review, and check again before releasing the assembly or placing a new production order. Also, you should include purchasing early enough that lead times and order quantities can influence decisions while changes are still manageable.
Duro’s sourcing module brings distributor data into one view to help teams assess cost and availability. That gives engineering and purchasing a shared basis for discussing a component’s sourcing constraints.
Pro tips: Give special attention to single-source components, parts with long lead times, and components that would require substantial redesign to replace. For lifecycle concerns, review the manufacturer’s current information alongside the supply-chain data available in your tools.
Record candidate alternatives while the circuit and its requirements are fresh in the designer’s mind. Finding a possible replacement early creates time to evaluate it. Qualification still depends on the application; similar headline specifications or a matching footprint do not establish interchangeability.
Manage Substitutions According to What Changes
“We need another part” can mean several things. The right response starts by identifying which information and engineering decisions are affected.
Proposed change | What the team should resolve |
Same manufacturer part from another distributor | Purchasing terms, availability, and supplier requirements |
Another manufacturer part proposed as an equivalent | Application-specific qualification, approval, and how it is represented in the product record |
Replacement requiring circuit or layout changes | Design updates, verification, affected assembly records, and release revisions |
Temporary substitution for a limited build | Authorization, build scope, instructions, and the conditions for ending the exception |
Duro’s revision comparison tools help reviewers inspect changes to sourcing information, documents, and assemblies. That makes the review more useful than receiving a new revision label with no explanation of what changed.
Pro tips: Keep the distinction between a company part number and a manufacturer part number clear. The company part number identifies the item in your product records. A manufacturer part number identifies a specific manufacturer’s component. Your internal rules should determine whether a qualified alternative can share an existing company part number or needs a separate item.
For example, purchasing the same specified component from another approved distributor may only require a sourcing update. Introducing a different component requires engineering to assess it against the actual design requirements, even if the supplier describes it as a drop-in replacement.
Document the result so another engineer can understand the decision later. Include what was evaluated, any restrictions, the affected assemblies, and the required approvals. Procurement should be able to distinguish a proposed option from one authorized for use.
Control BOM Changes After Release
Once an assembly is released, its approved record becomes a reference for purchasing and manufacturing. Subsequent changes need a clear relationship to that reference and to the builds they affect.
Typically, your team would start by recording the reason for the change and identifying the component or assembly, the proposed modification, and the consequences for existing inventory, open orders, and planned production. These operational questions should be resolved as part of the handoff.
Duro’s change orders provide a structured process for proposing modifications, assigning reviewers, and recording the outcome. A review can bring together engineering’s assessment with the purchasing and manufacturing decisions needed to implement it.
Pro tip: Before approval, check the component’s wider use. Duro’s Where Used feature identifies the assemblies and products containing an item. A component that looks local to one board may also appear in another product that needs its own review.
Compare the revisions, confirm that the supporting files match the proposed release, and make the implementation instructions explicit. State which builds should use the change and how the team will handle material already purchased. Record those decisions in the change process and the relevant purchasing or manufacturing system.
Teams defining this process for the first time can use Duro’s change order template to establish the information a reviewer should receive.
Does Every Substitution Require a PCB Revision?
The answer depends on what changes and your company’s revision policy.
Distinguish the bare PCB, the populated PCB assembly, and the sourcing information associated with a component. A new qualified source can have a different impact from a modification to the circuit or copper layout. Changes to population or assembly instructions may affect the assembly while leaving the bare board unchanged.
Define those distinctions before an urgent shortage forces the discussion. Then apply them consistently in Altium, Duro, and the release instructions. A clear policy lets reviewers identify the records that need updating and preserves an understandable history.
An Example of a Late Component Change
Imagine a controller board approaching its next production run. Purchasing discovers that the specified voltage regulator will miss the schedule, and the contract manufacturer proposes another device.
The following example illustrates how the team can use a connected workflow between Altium and Duro.
Identify the affected product records
Engineering locates the component in Duro and checks its use across assemblies. The review establishes whether the proposal concerns one controller board or several products using the same item.
Evaluate the candidate in its design context
The electrical engineer assesses the replacement against the circuit’s requirements and determines the necessary verification. If the change affects the schematic or PCB, the design work happens in Altium and the resulting release must include the updated outputs.
The evaluation may also identify implications for assembly, firmware, or testing. Those become part of the review rather than assumptions left for the manufacturer to discover.
Document and review the change
The change order captures the reason, affected records, supporting assessment, and proposed implementation. Purchasing confirms that the candidate can support the planned order. Manufacturing reviews the relevant instructions. Engineering confirms the qualified configuration.
Coordinate the next build
After approval, the team makes the applicable release available and confirms how it affects existing orders and inventory. Purchasing and manufacturing receive a consistent reference for the configuration they should use.
The useful result is a decision that can be traced later: what was approved, why, which product records changed, and which build was intended to use it.
Connect the PCB BOM to the Complete Hardware Product
A board rarely ships by itself. Its product may also include an enclosure, cable harnesses, fasteners, labels, and other assemblies. A change that resolves the electronics team’s problem can still affect the rest of that product.
Duro supports centralizing mechanical and electrical BOM information, giving teams a shared product structure across disciplines. This helps them review the PCB assembly in the context of the hardware they actually deliver.
The handoff can extend into business and manufacturing systems. Duro’s integration catalog includes connections with NetSuite ERP and First Resonance’s ION manufacturing platform. Configured integrations help carry product information into the tools downstream teams use.
For a concrete procurement example, the Duro and Datum Source integration connects part information and flags open change orders for buyers. That gives purchasing a signal to consult engineering when a change may affect an order.
Pro tip: Decide how those handoffs should work for your company. Approval in PLM should lead to a clear action: an updated purchasing reference, manufacturing instruction, or release package available to the people implementing the change.
Why Duro Is a Natural Choice for Altium Teams
For an Altium team that needs to coordinate BOM changes across engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing, Duro brings the essential workflow together.
The established Altium connection reduces manual recreation of released project data. Sourcing information supports earlier conversations about procurability. Revision history and change orders preserve the context behind updates. The broader product structure connects electrical work with the rest of the hardware.
Duro also gives growing teams room to adapt their processes. Its cloud-based platform supports configurable workflows, and its API-first architecture enables additional integrations and automation around product data.
Joining Altium strengthens an existing relationship between the companies. The practical value for customers comes from connecting design work with the product decisions that follow it: what to approve, what to buy, and what to build.
Ready? Start with One Assembly and One Real Change
Ready to get started using Duro? Here’s a simple way to get your feet wet:
Choose an active PCB assembly with a familiar sourcing or revision problem. Establish who owns the part records, what constitutes a released assembly, and which reviewers need to approve a change.
Connect the Altium release to Duro, review the sourcing information with purchasing, and take one actual change through the process. Confirm that someone outside engineering can find the approved information and understand what to use for the next order or build.
That first workflow provides a foundation for expanding to more assemblies and downstream systems. See how Duro can support your Altium BOM workflow and bring your current challenges to the demonstration.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I manage an Altium BOM after releasing a PCB
Maintain a clear approved assembly record and route subsequent changes through a documented review process. Duro connects the BOM with revisions, supporting documents, and change orders so the team can review modifications and coordinate the next release.
What does Duro add if I already use ActiveBOM
ActiveBOM supports BOM and sourcing work within the Altium design project. Duro provides the wider PLM environment for managing product structures, approvals, revision history, and collaboration with purchasing and manufacturing. Together, they support the path from component selection to controlled product changes.
Can Duro bring Altium BOMs and manufacturing files into PLM
Yes. The documented Altium 365 integration supports creating a structured eBOM from a project release, transferring part choices into Duro sourcing, and publishing associated design and manufacturing files.
How should I handle alternate manufacturer parts
Have engineering evaluate alternatives against the application’s requirements. Record the qualification, restrictions, and approval, then represent the alternative according to your company’s part-numbering and revision policies. Make sure purchasing can identify which options are authorized.
Does a component substitution always require a PCB revision
It depends on the change. A sourcing update, an assembly population change, and a modification to the bare PCB can affect different records. Apply your revision policy to the actual impact and keep the design, assembly, and release information consistent.
Can I use Duro without standardizing on Altium
Yes. Duro remains available as a standalone, CAD-agnostic PLM. Review the integration approach for each tool in your environment so you know how its data will enter Duro and how approved changes will be communicated.
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