Single BOM showing all parts in 8 related assemblies?

[finisher]

Hi: I have a top level drawing with 7 related subassemblies all residing in separate drawings (8 drawings in total & a total of 87 parts). I would like to export the BOM info for all 87 parts directly into a single Excel file. Is there a direct way to do this without resorting to macros? If not, is there a macro available?

Ideally the export would also group the respective parts together as on an indented BOM.

Sorry if this has been answered b4 but if so I couldn't find it.

Walter SW2012 SP1.0

 

[Updraft]

You could create a new "Master Assembly" that has all the other assemblies in it and then make the BOM to your liking there and then export it to Excel in one action.

- - -Updraft

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If all the sub-assys are resolved in the top level assy, the Indented option should give you what you need.

A BOM can be created from the TL drawing and/or TL model assy, and can be saved to Excel format.

 

[finisher]

Updraft, Do you mean make a new,additional TL assembly inserting all 87 components? I understand that would work but too tedious when I already have the eight drawings perfectly structured.

CBL, I tried all 3 available options. 'Top Level Only' and 'Indented' provided the same BOM - only 17 items. 'Parts Only' provided a BOM with only 22 items, not the 80+ that I'm looking for.

My work around (which is in process) is to save all 8 BOM's as separate Excel files and then manually combining them into a single Excel file via C&P. I'm surprised SW has apparently not provided the functionality I'm looking for here. I can only imagine someone with a huge assembly wanting/needing to do this same thing.

Thanks both for your responses. Walter

 

[EEnd]

I believe that updraft was suggesting a top level assembly which contains the 7 related subassemblies (you said that you had a top level drawing which is technically different).

An indented BoM generated from that assembly should produce what you are looking for. If it does not the sub-assemblies might be flagged to not expand their children in a BoM. This can be controlled through a configuration property of the sub-assembly. Back in 2009 it was a checkbox labeled "Don't show child components in BOM when used as sub-assembly" in 2011 there is a radio button group with Show, Hide and Promote as options. You would want it set to show.

As of 2009, you can create the BoM within the assembly and export it from there without needing to create a drawing.

Eric

 

[finisher]

Eric,

Thank you very much for your response. Perhaps I should have made it more clear that these 7 sublevel dwgs report to the top level dwg in somewhat of a chained fashion. I will look into the indented option some more. Thanks also for the note about being able to create a BOM w/o first creating a dwg - didn't know that.

I have now finished the job - piecemeal as I indicated in my last post. I also found a VBA macro to merge in one shot the 7 exported tables into a single Excel file

Walter

 

[Updraft]

finisher,

Eric correctly interpreted my suggestion; simply drop your seven subassembly files into a new top level assembly file. This is only seven file insertions rather than 87. Since you are only interested in the BOM information then this is simply drag and drop with no mates required. This is very simple.

And yes, using the indented BOM provides a lot of information that is then easily manipulated in Excel.

As I reread your original post you already have a lot of this work done, i.e., it sounds like you already have a top level assembly file and it even has a drawing so you should just need to generate the BOM, either in the assembly file or the drawing, and then export it to Excel. It sounds like the only real issue is generating the top level BOM the way you want it.

If you do not have any suppressed components in your subassemblies you can Dissolve them into the top level assembly. This might benefit you by combining your BOM components similar to how you have the BOMs structured for the individual subassemblies. I have never had to use Dissolve since I've had enough options to control the appearance of the BOM with the available choices. (Besides, the Dissolve apparently only works if there are no suppressed parts and I usually have several configurations controlling suppression states.)

You should be close to achieving what you want, just work from the top level assembly you already have.

- - -Updraft

 

[finisher]

Updraft,

Thanks for the added clarification. Allow me if you will to further refine this particular drawing hierarchy and please advise if your last advice makes sense for it. With 1 being the top level dwg the hierarchy is as follows: 3, 6 & 8 report to 2; 7 reports to 6; 5 reports to 4; 4 reports to 3; 2 reports to 1 along with other items that appear only at level 1.

So it's not like all sub's report diretly to level 1. Oh, and no items are suppressed (no config's).

finisher

 

[Updraft]

finisher,

Last things, first - since your subs do not have any suppressed items you could Dissolve them. In that case, your subassy files will remain untouched, but their components and mates will be moved into the top-level file. If you do this for all your subs then you will have a single assembly with all components at the same level. I do not know if this will give you an assembly for a BOM arrangement that you desire, but if it does then this is one way of getting there.

Secondly, SWX gives you many options for a BOM. You can create your own BOM template and use that. I recommend you investigate the Help for "Bill of Materials PropertyManager" to learn more. I'll bet that you can find a way to generate the BOM you want from your existing top level assembly just by making the right template and selecting the right BOM options.

There are many ways to get what you want. By the way, can you post an example of what you want your BOM to look like? That would help all of us to give you advice that is more pertinent.

- - -Updraft

 

[SnowCrash]

Another way to do it is to cut and paste the seven bills together in Excel which would take about two minutes, but you would have to reconstruct every time you made changes.

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

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

finisher,

I just tested with an assy model that has 3 levels of sub-assys, and all parts were reported correctly.

You should not need to use a macro or any other workaround. The Parts Only option should expand all sub-assys and list their components. It should have the effect of appearing to dissolve all the subs. If that option is not working for you, there must be a setting which is preventing it, or your SW install is corrupt.

Which version & SP are you using?

 

[finisher]

Well guys, again thanks for the added inputs. CBL, I am using SW2012 SP 1.0. The only macro I utilized to finish this job was an Excel macro to merge the 7 Excel worksheets rather than cut & paste them.

To further clarify things my goal was to export the master BOM in a way that would not modify the drawings and their structure that I had already accomplished.

Updraft, I am interested in the dissolve functionality and will experiment with that when I return to work tomorrow (I've been out of the office).

finisher

 

[jassco]

Hi, finisher:

It does not make much sense of "exporting the BOM info for all 87 parts directly into a single Excel file".

As you know, parts (*.sldprt) do not have BOM.

Only assemblies (*.sldasm) have BOM. If you want a BOM, you create an assembly. You do not need any macros to do this.

If you take a different approach, you may not need this "BOM" at all.

Best regards,

Alex