Assembly Part Numbers

[djw2k3]

Hi,

I have the situation where I have a relatively large assembly (40+ parts). In the manager/feature tree, the parts are in the ideal order. When I open the assembly in SW Explorer the order changes >:-<(??).

In the course of design parts get changed/inserted/deleted and part numbering gets mucked up. I want the assembly in SW Explorer so I can simply go down the list and rename parts in a numerical order ie - P1A01, P1A02.... etc etc nice and easy.

Or does anyone have a kick arse macro that will do this type of thing automatically??

 

[macPT]

djw2k3

Why do you need an certain order for the components to appear in the feature tree? I think that the order they have is related to an internal number that SW gives to the part when you insert it in the assembly. Changing the name will not change this number. The problem will grow as you insert/delet components. I don't recall any API ralated to this.

If you need to have a doc. (BOM) for simple use in the assembly plant, for example (now I agree that this can be important), mabe it is simplier if you export the BOM as XLS and reorder as needed, prior to printing.

Regards

 

[TateJ]

You can open the BOM from within your drawing and sort it by your PART NUMBER column.
But the ITEM numbers will stick to parts with which they were originally associated.
In other words, you can sort by PART NUMBER, but your ITEM NUMBERS will be mixed up.
Try this compromise...
Open your BOM and save it as separate spread sheet, but leave it in your drawing also - sorted by ITEM NUMBER.
Then sort the seperate file by PART NUMBER.
Then print both the drawing and the seperate BOM (cut list?).
BUT - this is important - make sure both print with a time/date stamp in the footer.
This way anybody can compare the footers and be assured that the cut list is as current as the drawing.
Because now there's no associativity between the two.
See if this will work for you.

Consume mass quantities...
tatejATusfilter.com​

 

[djw2k3]

thanks for the replies,

Thanks for the advice. I see a few people have had some fun trying to sort out a BOM

The reason for reordering the parts in feature tree was so I could get a good linear part numbering system going. The &quot;item&quot; number SW assigns to a part in an assembly drawing is related to the position in the feature tree.

During design part numbers no longer exist and new ones need to be assigned, having the order in SW explorer the same as the feature tree in assembly makes renaming the actual parts in SW explorer relatively straightforward.

I guess I'm trying to keep parts in the assembly tidy, ie no skipping from part 3 to 6, with part numbers 4 & 5 unassigned etc.

thanks again

djw

 

[EdDanzer]

The items in an assembly show up in the BOM in order they are inserted. To sort the BOM, save it as an Excel file, then manipulate it in Excel.
40 parts is a small assembly to me, 500 parts would be medium, 1,000 the lower end of a large assembly.
Any assembly over about 30 parts will usually require manipulating the BOM in Excel to be able to use it.

 

[macPT]

djw2k3

I think you should not make your numbering system dependent on the feture tree order. You should have an independent numbering system (you can check other threads where we already have discussed this and changed ideas, and try to follow those that fits your organization).

The reason for not following the design tree is that it can change any time (for example, if you change your product either for optimization, for quality reasons, for upgrading,...) you will loose the your data structure.

Regards

 

[MadMango]

In defense, some companies like to have their item bubble numbers &quot;in order&quot; or sequential. Moving components around in the FM is the only way to show them in this state without using custom item numbers.

Not that my company does this, but I have seen it. &quot;The attempt and not the deed confounds us.&quot;

 

[StarrRider]

EdDanzer

Unless SW has changed drastically in 03, the BOM order is based on the order the parts are in the browser. There is no limitation or relationship between the BOM and the insertion order.

The exception to this is when user derived patterns are used in the assembly. In that case, the BOM will follow the browser order until a part is used in a pattern, then each part in that pattern is added. Control returns to the browser order until the next pattern is encountered.

A company I worked for insisted that the parts in the BOM be in numerical order when an assembly was first released. All that is required is to reorder the parts in the browser, which takes a lot of time when there are several thousand items. I objected to this at the time and only partially because I considered it a ‘make work’ issue.

Sorting the BOM is not a valid method if the BOM is used in the drawing. Sorting changes the order of the Item Numbers. You should also consider that not all BOM templates are created equally. Some can be edited and manipulated while others simply cannot. The BOM for the company mentioned above could not be viewed or edited in SW. That was annoying at first but we eventually saw this as a good thing. Changes were never made to the BOM and a BOM was never ‘FIXED’. If a change had to be made, it was made so that it would always work. When a BOM got screwed up it was simply deleted and a new BOM was inserted.

SW Explorer (2001+) does seem to follow the insertion order and not the browser order. I've no idea why this is the case or how to change it.

Lee