In SolidQuirks you can converts parts and sub-assemblies inside of an assembly to "virtual parts".
What this does is places those items INSIDE the assembly and they no longer need to exist on the server!!
The best example of why you would use this is importing vendor files, for example a hydraulic cylinder, into your system. You only want ONE part number to track in PDM, ERP, etc, and you don't want a bunch of files clogging up the server with random file names.
The Virtual Part/Assembly solves this problem. You can maintain your assembly with any flexible placements but you don't have any file management.
Additionally, you can open and modify or use the virtual parts as usual. If you like the piston rod in the cylinder for another purposer, just open it and save it as a new file name.
How would you do something like this in Creo? I'm dealing with imported assemblies that I want to keep some flexiblity but only want to manage one file.
This exact concept is being discussed by PTC product management here:
There's a hidden config.pro option that enables this in Creo Parametric 5.0 but it's not set up to work with Windchill.
Thanks, why would Windchill care if the files are embedded in the top level assembly?? Should be ideal because no file management should be necessary.