Let's take a look at how and why companies are quantifying consumable products in BOM's within SolidWorks.
First off, let's assume that in order to get an account of such products in assemblies, customers are creating actual part models of such things. This might sound strange but when companies are using parametric designs to create complete and accurate BOM's to pass to ERP systems or purchasing folks this becomes a necessary step.
So to keep these folks happy, when should they re-order the grease that keeps the wheel from squeaking? If the standard recorded quantity is "1" each time the consumable was used in an assembly, this could mean that this item is ordered by the truckload. On the other hand, if the consumable product is not within the BOM, how do you quantify it?
Let's have SolidWorks create an accurate BOM. In this example, let's assume we need to quantify grease and we use approximately .005 ounces per application. We have an assembly that uses 4 applications.
Steps involved:
1. Create a custom property for a part named grease.
2. Name the property Amount.
3. Assign the value .005 to this custom property.
4. Select Amount in the BOM Quantity field of the custom or configuration specific tab of the part.
This quantity is also computed and accurately displayed in the BOM should you use this in Enterprise BOM or export this to an Excel file for import into your ERP/MRP program.
So hopefully this will give you some ideas on how to more accurately display and account for your consumable items in your next SolidWorks Assembly BOM.
Thank you,
Brian Reel
CATI
Not so good! While this is great for this grease "part" that is used 4 times on identical shafts, how do you handle using this circular grease "part" between 2 flat surfaces? Or how about a shaft that is twice the diameter of the shafts in this example, because now the raceway of grease is inside the shaft or on top of the shaft surface.
ReplyDeleteDo you create infinite configurations or recreate the part for the application every time and then what? Make it virtual?
This is an issue I've been fighting with for years but it is much further down the list of Solidworks issued such as #1.
Why the f**k does Solidworks insist on changing any or all my previous mates when I try to add a conflicting mate and how do I stop it from doing so. When I mate, the first mate is the most important but yet eight or ten mates later while mating the 4th additional part suddenly Solidworks tells me that it has changed other mates because (apparently) I attempted an illegal mate.