BOM Quantities and Units

[patchworquill]

It seems BOM-atoms should include quantities and units needed for various supplies. Adding them in brackets at the end of a description (see line 53 of surge-english for an example) feels like a hack.

The implication at present is the maker or manufacturer of parts needs "sufficient" quantity, but making what quantifies as sufficient for a given product is in fact part of the product's correct, complete model. Additionally, all quantities need units of measure, so that should be added as well.

Every BOM I've worked on has had this field, so it's absence feels like a potential oversight.

I found this description by OpenBOM which contains some additional fields as an example. Additionally, they make the distinction between a reference and an instance, which is useful language to adopt to clarify the distinction between the item in the "catalog", and an instance of the item in a BOM.