This document discusses phantom bills of material in Oracle. It defines phantom components as those that can be assigned to bill of material subassemblies and are treated as directly connected to the parent assembly. Phantoms are planned like other assemblies by Oracle MRP but ignore certain planning constraints. Phantom material costs roll up to higher assemblies but routing costs do not. The document provides examples of how phantoms simplify bills of material by eliminating intermediate subassembly levels and jobs. However, care must be taken as phantoms are sometimes misused to improperly flatten bills of material.

1. Phantom Bills of Material
Their meaning and purpose

2. Phantom Supply Type (what Oracle
says)
• Phantom components can be assigned to bill of material component subassemblies and
subassembly items in Oracle Bills of Material and Oracle Engineering. Components of phantom
subassemblies are used as if they were tied directly to the parent assembly. Phantom supply types
cannot be assigned to jobs and repetitive lines/assembly associations in Work in Process. See:
Phantoms.
• Phantoms behave normally when they are top level assemblies, such as when master scheduled or
manufactured on a discrete job. As subassemblies, they lose their distinct identity and become a
collection of their components. Phantom components (not the phantom itself) are included on
discrete jobs and repetitive schedules and are listed on the Discrete Job and Repetitive Schedule
Pick List Reports.
• Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning plans phantom subassemblies with lot-
for-lot lot sizing. Otherwise, phantoms are planned like other assemblies. You must set the lead
time of a phantom to zero to avoid lead time offset during the planning process. Oracle Master
Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning ignores demand time fences, planning time fences, and
order modifiers when planning phantom subassemblies.
• When assembly costs are rolled up in Oracle Cost Management, the material costs, but not the
routing costs, of phantom assemblies are included in the cost of the higher level assemblies that
include those phantoms.

3. Common Terms
• Sometimes you hear Phantoms referred to as
“Blow Through” bills. The is because when a
phantom is encountered, the system
effectively blows through it to the
components below.

4. Reasons to use, and not use Phantoms
• Create a logical break in the BOM for service
levels
– You may need subassemblies you wouldn’t
normally sell but are needed for service
replacement
• Flatten the current BOM
– You may have unnecessary levels in you current
BOM, do NOT use phantoms to flatten it. A
phantom should only be used if the subassembly
can have an identify of its own.

5. Typical BOM Levels
Level 1 • Finished
Assembly
• Subassembly
Level 2 (intermediate
stage)
• Component
Level 3 (raw
material)

6. Changing the Supply Type to Phantom
Level 1 • Finished
Assembly
• Subassembly
Phantom (intermediate
stage)
• Component
Level 2 (raw
material)

7. The Result
Level 1 • Finished
Assembly
• Component
Level 2 (raw
material)

8. Simulating a Job without the Phantom
• Here you see how to Simulate a job

9. Results of the BOM
• Here we see the job calls for the MC97160
subassembly. We would have to generate
another job to build it.

10. Updating the Supply Type
• It is a simple step to update the Supply Type

11. Results of the Routing
• We see the operation to assemble the
SB10460.

12. Simulating a Job with the Phantom
• Here you see how to Simulate a job

13. Results of a Job with the Phantom
• We now see the job called for the components of the
MC97160. Effectively this job requires no other jobs to
build the assembly.

14. Results of the Routing
• Here we see the Routing did not change. There
are no operations to build the MC97160.

15. Conclusion
• We can see there is a very narrow use for
Phantoms. It is very common to see them
misused. It is not a feature to reduce work
orders.
• Some times it is used for logical breaks in the
assembly to make the bill easier to understand,
even if there is no intension to build
subassemblies from them.
• When using phantoms, consideration must be
made for resource costing. The routing of a
Phantom is NOT considered in assembly.

16. Resources
Training Videos
http://www.larrysherrod.com
Oracle User Guides
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E18727_01/index.htm
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17. THANK YOU!