Decimal Coin Quantity

3D Design Assembly
1

Hello,

I'm looking to manage decimal quantities of components (e.g., 0.1; 2.5; 12.7) in a SolidWorks assembly.

Background:

  • Our design office is divided into a mechanical and an electrical division.

  • We want to integrate electrical components into our Audros PDM in order to standardize tools and bills of materials.

  • In our SolidWorks assemblies, we now add the electrical components (drives, terminal blocks, cables, labels, etc.).

  • Historically, electricians managed their bills of materials directly in the GSTOCK ERP, which allows decimal quantities, especially for cables sold by the meter.

The problem is that SolidWorks seems to limit BOM quantities to integer values. I therefore need to assign decimal quantities to certain items (e.g., 0.1 m; 2.35 m; 12.5 m).

I have studied several avenues, but none of them satisfies me:

  1. Use a custom property to store the quantity.
  • This requires having as many references as possible quantities, so an infinity.
  • The referencing will no longer be equal to that of the ERP.
  1. Create virtual parts with the quantity in their properties.
  • The plans and nomenclatures are correct.
  • However, articles are no longer managed in Audros.

Have you ever encountered this need?
Is there a standard method in SolidWorks or feedback for managing components that are purchased or consumed in decimal places?

Environment:

  • SolidWorks 2019
  • Audros 2015
  • GSTOCK

Thank you in advance for your help!

2

Hello;

image

Or, you can add a " welded construction" function (even if you don't use it) in your construction tree to be able to use the " length " from the properties of the welded parts list as a quantity variable.

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3

Thank you for your answer Maclane,

For the first part of the answer, it will require creating as many parts as there are cable lengths. This is something I want to avoid, first to avoid a large amount of reference, then because I would like the reference of the article to match the one in the ERP...

For the second, it is specific to our company, but our routine, which allows us to create the manufacturing files, recognizes the mechanically welded part from the function of the same name, in order to send them to the corresponding workshop. When creating electronic articles with such a function, I am afraid that the welder will end up with cables and chutes without knowing what to do with them :sweat_smile:

4

Hello,

I would tend to say that Solidworks routing, Circuit works (available in bundle in SW premium) or better Solidworks electrical must know how to handle this kind of problem.
Otherwise effectively as suggested by @Maclane , the welded construction or structural system must allow to circumvent the problem by considering each cable as a profile.

A (very reloud) variant could be: to stop managing cables by the meter in the CAPM and manage them by mm or cm (which allows to have integer values...)

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