Different Reference Designators for Same Child Part Reused Under Different Parents

[VS_12862168]

I am working on a Windchill product structure and need help with Reference Designators in a reuse scenario.

Here’s my structure:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Product Structure 1 (Top Level)
    |--Parent 1
         |--Sub Assembly 1
               |--Child 1 with Reference Designator (e.g., R1)
    |--Parent 2
         |--Sub Assembly 1
               |--Child 1 with different Reference Designator (e.g., R2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub Assembly 1 is reused under both Parent 1 and Parent 2.
Child 1 is part of Sub Assembly 1.
Sub Assembly 1, Parent 1 and Parent 2 are Configurable Modules whereas Child 1 is a WT Part.

I want to assign different Reference Designators to Child 1 depending on which parent it is under (R1 for Parent 1 path, R2 for Parent 2 path).

However, when I try to edit the Reference Designator in the Occurrences tab, the value remains the same across both instances of Child 1.

Question:
Is it possible to assign different Reference Designators to the same child part reused under different parent paths in Windchill using OOTB solution?

[avillanueva]

I do not think this is possible since Occurrences are tied to the usage link which is tied to Sub Assembly 1. Is it possible of restructuring the BOM where child 1 is directly part of the parent?  Asking field, I do not think a gathering part has any impact here right?

[VS_12862168]

That's right. Gathering part has no impact here.

In our case, the ideal solution would be if I am able to assign different values to the Reference Designator field.

Restructuring is also an option which we plan to implement as a workaround if it doesn't work out.

However, it will complicate things for our end users, and we will have to put additional efforts into Product Structure maintenance.

[avillanueva · Accepted solution]

You could make the case for a Windchill idea but I do not see this as succeeding since it might violate standards on reference designators. More research here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_designator While mainly used in schematic designs, if its truly the same sub-assembly, I am not sure how the reference designator can be different? Perhaps your team is mis-using the functionality.

[VS_12862168]

Yes, I understand the concept of Reference Designator, and I know this is not the correct way to use it.

However, we had an internal configurator platform (Customized) which allowed the engineers to have different values for the Reference designator for the same child at multiple occurrences. Now, moving our configuration platform to Windchill (O&V), the Engineers are looking for the same functionality. At the same time, trying to avoid restructuring of our Product template (150% BOM) which in turn will increase the maintenance efforts for Product Creation & Maintenance team. Therefore, just exploring whether there is any other field/usage attribute (apart from Reference Designator) which I can use as an alternative to cater our needs.

I really appreciate your help and suggestion 🙂