existing assembly, cooperation edit NX10 TC10 1

[IvanNX]

Hi everyone, I need some advice here,

My team have task to do some model editing of really big assembly, with few subassemblies. Issue is that all parts have numbers that should not be changed, and part lists should be preserved if possible (with strong message, do not change part lists in any assembly), only option that is free is to add new parts if necessary to existing assemblies and to modify models of existing parts. There is 5-6 people who will work on this. With this constrains I am not sure how to make it possible for all of us to work in same time without messing up saves, as in many cases we will have to work on parts that depend on each other in some way but we have to work on these in same time.
Any good sugestions on how to do it?

Example: there is subassemblies A, B, C, D, E. One person have to edit parts in B, so he/she have to load A, B and C subs as part design in B is connected to interface points of A and C, in same time other person have to work on D (maybe even C) and for that he/she have to load (B,) C, D, E, so how to make these working and that everybody have insight on what changes are done by other persons?

_____________________________
Enjoy your work and have fun!

 

[MikeHyde]

Have a look at Part Modules. I haven't used it but we did look into it for a while as a way for multiple user to work on one part.

https://docs.plm.automation.siemens.com/tdoc/nx/10.0.3/nx_help/#uid:index_modeling:id1624599

Mike Hyde

http://www.astonmartin.com

NX10.0.3 with TC11.2.1 and Vis 11.2

 

[cowski]

With this constrains I am not sure how to make it possible for all of us to work in same time without messing up saves, as in many cases we will have to work on parts that depend on each other in some way but we have to work on these in same time.
Any good sugestions on how to do it?

Since you are using TC, you should not have to worry too much about messing up each others files when saving (i.e. Bob should not be able to overwrite Dave's file while he is still working on it). As for coordinating the work, if you all work in the same building, the best bet is to have a quick team meeting to discuss what needs to be done and who is responsible for what. When a major change is done, that person can send a quick email to the team so that the team can reload the affected files if need be. Quick daily meetings for status updates/next steps are very useful.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[Dave K]

Use "Save work part only" instead of "Save", so you don't accidentally save a file someone else is working on.

"Save" will save all modified parts in your session, even if you didn't modify it intentionally.

-Dave

NX 9, Teamcenter 10

 

[petulf]

We have changed the customer default for check-out/Check-in policy to "Manual Check-out Required for save, Manual Check in" which considerably lessens the chance of accidental changes to work in progress datasets.

 

[IvanNX]

Thank you for advises, MikeHyde was closest to what I need. I know that check out part will be protected from changes made by other users, each person can check out files they will work on and keep them check out until job is done, but it is not the point, point is that they will edit things in same time, and they need to sincronize these edits as good as they can, and as this is experimental assembly, we can not predict where these changes will occur.
to try different example, if we work on car engine assembly, one person works on gear box design, one person works on clutch box design and other one on engine block, all of them have to use same crankshaft, flywheel, inner parts of clutch and gearbox for their design (just imagine they have to share all this, like if what is inside of gearbox is important for engine block design, just for example). They all already have 90% of design done, but now they have to work on finishing design, so they have to be able to know how other persons will do their part of job so they can sinc for final design. And important is that full assemlby is from some wierd reasons done so all parts are in it without sub-assemblies (it is not just simple "pick up subasssembly and work on it"). How can admin set their work so first person have engine parts plus all inner parts, plus interface points towar clutch, second person have clutch box with all inner parts, plus interfaces toward engine and gear box, and so on. So how to pick up overlapping collections of parts and give it to different persons, and in same time not to make permanent sub-assemblies for that (as we need as much as possible, if it is possible, same assembly structure as it is, with no new sub-assemblies).

_____________________________
Enjoy your work and have fun!

 

[Toost]

I imagine Part Modules isn't relevant for this case. Part modules is for when multiple persons work on the same single file, - read :"very complex single piece files" such as engine blocks and...

At this site all within the same department has write access to each others files.
The automatic checkout will prohibit "the second user to modify a part" the possibility to write.
( The first person that makes a file "modified" in NX will checkout the file from TC)
One can do a manual checkout in TC of a number of files and thereby block others from being "first to modify".

"Save work part only" is a smart move, but has to be remembered that it is the one to use.
"Ctrl+S" is cemented into the spine , isn't it ?

The Manual checkout option can have negative consequences if not all users are "Fully aware" that they MUST checkout ( if not all users has this option active) I have seen a case where the owner of the specific part, first forgot to checkout, then spent several work hours and when he was to save, somebody else with the automatic checkout had written a newer version to Teamcenter.

Remember that you can create "work assemblies" for your own purpose,
i.e you have this :
major_assy
|-subassy1
|-subassy2 etc etc

You create :

My_work_assy
|-major_assy
|-subassy1
|-subassy2 etc etc

Then you can store Component Groups in "my_work_assy" which you use to open the relevant files for the day. ( Non- open files cannot be modified or saved by mistake)
When the work on this product is done, you can delete "my_work_assy".

When somebody in the team has made significant changes and saved, you send a group message on the MS/Communicator ( Skype)
and then everybody else go File - Close - Close and Reopen selected parts - "select those updated files".
NX will then "refresh " what you have on your screen with the latest data .

Regards,
Tomas

 

[SDETERS]

Have you looked into using wavelinks in your parts. Wave geometry from your assembly into your parts That you need to reference from the assembly?

 

[petulf]

"The Manual checkout option can have negative consequences if not all users are "Fully aware" that they MUST checkout ( if not all users has this option active) I have seen a case where the owner of the specific part, first forgot to checkout, then spent several work hours and when he was to save, somebody else with the automatic checkout had written a newer version to Teamcenter. "


Yes, to mitigate that sort of thing check-in/check-out behavior should be locked on site level and not be user changeable. Our main issue with manual checkin/checkout is that users think that check-in is the same as save (In I-deas check-in saves the changes to the database).

 

[IvanNX]

...
Remember that you can create "work assemblies" for your own purpose,
i.e you have this :
major_assy
|-subassy1
|-subassy2 etc etc

You create :

My_work_assy
|-major_assy
|-subassy1
|-subassy2 etc etc
...

This is close to what they use now, but from some reasons they do not update main assembly so they are missing some updates in general picture.
Anyway, I tried to make solution for dummies, but it come out that I will have to make sure they do it correct way, instead of easy way.

_____________________________
Enjoy your work and have fun!