A Phantom BOM is a non-stocked sub-assembly in a Bill of Materials. During MRP and work order explosion, the system skips the phantom parent and plans its child components directly. No stock is held for the phantom item.
Why It Matters
Real assemblies need real stock tracking. But sometimes you want to group components logically (a hardware kit, a wiring set) without creating a physical sub-assembly. A phantom BOM gives you that grouping for engineering clarity while MRP still plans the underlying components, and stores does not get confused by a ghost item.
Example with Indian Context
An electrical panel maker defines a phantom BOM called HARDWARE-KIT-A with 20 components: 12 screws, 4 washers, 4 nuts. Every panel BOM references HARDWARE-KIT-A once instead of 20 lines. When MRP runs, it skips the phantom and generates indents for the 20 child components. No stock ledger entry exists for HARDWARE-KIT-A because it is never physically assembled and stored.
Related Terms
How ERPDrive Handles It
ERPDrive supports a phantom flag on any BOM parent. MRP and work-order explosion automatically pass through phantoms to real components, and no virtual stock is created. Engineers get clean BOMs, stores see only real items.
See It in Your Factory
ERPDrive handles phantom BOMs as a first-class workflow alongside BOM, MRP, quality, and GST. Book a 30-minute demo.
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