CAD Forum

I know i am trying to fit a round peg in a square hole but thought that i will ask for some opinion anyway...

We are trying to setup our bom table as follows: The part configuration grouping is set to Display configurations of the same part as separate item all time.
This grouping setting could not be changed due to our PDM requirement....

However, in some cases, I would like to have some specific part "grouped", even though they have different configuration.
For example, i have 3 same cable ties (eg: CableTie.sldprt) in the assembly that is modelled as different configuration to show different "wrapping" diameter, so instead of showing them as separate item, I would like to have them group under the same item, (BOM setting should not be changed)

Current thoughts:
A bad workaround that I can think of now is to form a subassembly (eg: CableTie.sldasm) to include all 3 cable ties (CableTie.sldprt), and then have the quantity overwrite in BOM. User will first insert the cable tie in the assembly like normal then move the cable tie into an empty assembly using drag and drog
Doing so will allow the bom to only show 1 line. If the same cable ties is also used at other assemblies, user can use the same subassembly (CableTie.sldasm) but different configuration... Other notes;
In CREO, there is something call "Flexible subassembly" that can act as a workaround for situation like this (mainly because the bom in CREO cannot group family table instance)



So... any idea/suggestion?

If the part number and description are the same for all 3 configurations, it should group them if you use the last option "Display configurations with the same name as one item". But you have to use the "User Specified Name" option under the configuration for part number.

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Wed Mar 24, 2021 5:05 pm If the part number and description are the same for all 3 configurations, it should group them if you use the last option "Display configurations with the same name as one item". But you have to use the "User Specified Name" option under the configuration for part number.

I am aware of that but I do not want to change the grouping option.
The reason is that we are trying to tie the bom item number to windchill and it need to have the bom to use "Display configurations of the same part as separate item" for it to work (Using other option will most likely cause an issue in the pdm...)

What we have been doing is, for the part in question, under configuration properties.
use "user specified name" and use the same name for all configuration of that part. under BOM table properties, select "Display configurations with the same name as one item"
This will group a part with 2 different config as one item in the BOM, while leaving things like screws, as separate line items!

This might be slightly beside the subject but...
One thing I've ran into already is; I had the "Part Number" in the configuration setting in the part set to "Document Name" and I had 2 drawing views in a drawing, one for each config. Then when I attempted to tie a Drawing View label to a property of that part, SW simply crashed, but if I set it to "configuration name" it worked. GoEngineer admitted it's a bug and said it is supposed to be resolved in 2021 SP03.

I think i forget to mention that we could not change the bom grouping setting due to our pdm requirement.
The bom must always be set to Display configurations of the same part as separate item.
I edited the main post to reflect this.