Building a Simple Bill of Materials (BOM) Cost Calculator in PHP

When working with manufacturing systems or ERP prototypes, one common requirement is calculating product cost based on a Bill of Materials (BOM). Many small factories or prototype systems still rely on complex spreadsheets to calculate product costs. I wanted to create something simpler and lightweight, so I built a small Mini BOM Costing Tool using PHP. What the Tool Does The script allows you to define a product structure using BOM components and automatically calculate the total production cost. Instead of relying on databases or heavy frameworks, this tool uses simple JSON data, making it easy to modify and integrate into other systems. Key Features Automatic cost calculation BOM tree structure visualization JSON-based data storage Lightweight PHP implementation No database required This tool can be useful for: Small manufacturing systems ERP prototypes Cost analysis experiments Learning how BOM costing works If you want to explore the full working script, you can get it here