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Managing Part Numbering 2

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sfaz

sfaz

Industrial
Jun 22, 2011
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Hello,
i have been reading about part numbering in the forum, lots of info, so thank you about that.
we are thinking about implementing PDM workgroup using a "non-intelligent" consecutive part numbering system.

do you guys use any macro or software to retreive the next part number. or its a manual thing?

also what do you guys think about using service?

thx in advance.
 
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Hi, sfaz:

I use a custom database software to generate next part number. It is a one-click process. It generates the next part number in Windows clipboard so that I paste it without typing.

Best regards,

Alex
 
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sfaz -

The guy that runs 3dawn.com and solidworkstemplates.com wrote a macro for us that works well for assigning a dumb part number to a SolidWorks part - with one button click. It also will work in an assembly to assign the top level assembly number as well as any and/or all the parts in that assembly. He has contact info on both of his web sites.

Steve R.
 
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thx a lot for the info. ill keep on analyzing the possibilities, maybe we just need an excel spreadsheet to start to see how that works.

another question. we use part description for our names right now (i know, we are running out of names). what do you do with those files that already have a name? because im almost certain that we are going to have duplicated files when we try to add them into the vault.

Also if something is in design status but we dont know if its something that we are going to produce because the project or purchase might be cancel. should we upload everything into the vault using a consecutive number , or leave those uncertain projects in the local drive until its official.
we design and produce office furniture. we design a lot of special products for different costumers and some of them never see the light.

 
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sfaz,

For the parts with description only names, use Pack and Go to add a simple prefix to all parts and assys pertaining to a particular job/project/product. That will effectively separate them from similar/same descriptive named parts in other jobs.
 
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SFAZ You could catagory "stuff" ie: 001_xxxxxx as customer#1,002_xxxxx as customer#2, 002_xxxxxx as catagory ?, ect.. We did this at a place I worked,and worked quite well.You have 999 different catagorys so lots of leeway for projects in there own hole.
 
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I use a part numbering system with a company prefix, 5 digit part number, and a text description after the part number. This is because the last couple of bosses used a descriptive name as the file name and kept them in separate directories. Ugly.

--
Hardie "Crashj" Johnson
SW 2011 SP 4.0
HP Pavillion Elite HPE
W7 Pro, Nvidia Quaddro FX580

 
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hello, thank you for the help. i just got the approval for the PDMworks (i just had to tell them that the computers were going to explode if we didnt use PDM works, hehe). next step is buying a server and start organizing old and new info.

is their a macro or script that will GET a drawing name and then paste it the part name, so the part has the same name as the drawing.?

Sergio Faz
 
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You are going to want to be able to revise drawings without changing the part using revision levels. (It's a drafting thing.) When you revise the drawings you will want the drawings [file name] to reflect that revision so you can track them.
I use SWupBB from to automatically save a pdf every time I save a drawing file. I include the rev level and date code at the end of the file name so I can track my changes.

--
Hardie "Crashj" Johnson
SW 2011 SP 4.0
HP Pavillion Elite HPE
W7 Pro, Nvidia Quaddro FX580
 
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You are very wise to use a sequential non-intelligent part numbering system. SW Explorer will help you put the intelligence in by making it possible to search part descriptions which should be added to a part on creation. The future of manual part management is SWExplorer.

The simplest database to acquire part numbers from would simply be a a file with a list of numbers to which you add a new number each time a part is created. A more sophisticated database would be a file with two columns, a list of numbers and the description going with the number. But then you would have to guarantee that the descriptions in the file stayed synchronized with the description in the documents. So the simple list is best.

I am in the habit of renaming the default configuration with the part number of the model. This makes managing custom properties much easier. Once upon a time I had a macro that saved the part, numbered it and required the user to enter a description on save.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
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New Postctopher (Mechanical)
25 Oct 11 0:26
We don't generate enough P/Ns to make it automated. We just pick the next number from a Excel spreadsheet.
Click to expand...

Even a small number can be automated if done correctly. A database and macro can be set up to pull the next number in line and apply it while recording and tracking previously used numbers. I do this similarly in a SQL database and a small application I wrote now.
 
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Once I wrote a macro (still kicking around somewhere) that did the following:

To create a new document the user would click on the new document macro icon

1) Ask for a filename (this would be the part number and folder)
2) Ask for a description (this is where the meaningful, descriptive stuff gets entered)

The macro would then:
Create a new document.
Rename the default configuration after the part number (handy if you use config names in BOM as part numbers)
Enter the part number, users initials and date of creation in custom props
Enter the description in about three different places that SW expects it to be
Saved the new file without closing it establishing the part number to the world.
Returned control to the user.

This was especially nice when doing top down in assemblies because it prevented the dreaded rename assembly problems with in-context.

It would be an interesting exercise to get this to work for internal parts in an assembly.




TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
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Kellnerp,

I currently maintain an add-in that when you click "New Document" and select a part or assembly a prompt comes up with similar questions. The company I work for long ago chose to have a hybrid smart/dumb part number system. So a selectable prefix is chosen and the add-in will fill in the rest. This number is also recorded into my SQL database with all pertinent data.

It would be amazing if we could do this to parts/assemblies created inside the assembly but I do not believe this is possible for one reason. That reason is that any code you attempt to execute on an item during creation happens before the item is inserted into the assembly. I've tried to find a way to change the order of this to no avail. Solidworks simply pauses its execution to allow API to work. So I believe your dream of fixing your macro to work like that can't happen. I'd love to be wrong however.
 
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