Part Classification

[ptc-4638672]

Good Morning,
The company I work for currently uses Windchill 10 PDMLink and we are currently researching the functionality of a part classification system. Out of this we wish to develop a hierachy as follows

1. Commodtity; Example: Hardware

2. Hardware; What kind? Screw

3. What type? Length; head type, etc.

4. What parts is that used in?

I have been doing a bit of research on the website and am not familiar with some of the jargon and am not the best with navigation within Windchill. Is there any suggestions of processes that anyone could provide?

[MikeLockwood]

Do you own and have PartsLink & Classification in place?

[ptc-4638672]

We currently do not have the PartsLink addition to Windchill 10. That is something that we are looking to possibly invest it, but I am unaware to possibly obtain the same results using part attributes and BOM association within the current Windchill without PartsLink. Is this feasible or would PartsLink be the best route to go?

[MikeLockwood]

We own PartsLink and have it installed for test, but not yet in production. It's definitely worth looking at closely before making a decision. It may be possible to do some things with attributes, but may not be best long-term.

[ptc-4638672]

What advantages do you see with PartsLink? Is it user friendly or is it technical in operation? Also, are you aware the functionality exists to classify existing parts within Windchill? We have an extensive catalog and would want to classify them so that creating new parts and documents will be easier.

[MikeLockwood]

Leaving it to PTC to comment at this point. We haven't yet found very many who are fully using PartsLink.

[DiviLohiya]

PartsLink is designed for the very use case you stated. It lets you define the taxanomy/schema, classify parts and then use taxanomy browse high speed parametric search to find parts which were classified.

PartsLink is already integral to Windchill and you can create, classify as well as search for classified parts within Windchill. Today adminstration of schema is done using counterpart which is a client tool but small changes to schema can be done by using classification admin inside Windchill. In future - we plan to bring ability to completly adminster and manage schema inside Windchill.

Here is a link to a users guide available from reference document which will give you better overview

http://www.ptc.com/WCMS/files/124643/en/WCClassAdminGuide.pdf

[ptc-4638672]

I am having difficulty accessing the link that is in the previous post; alternate method? Furthermore, I have a question regarding parts that already exist and dont have a classification system. With PartsLink, would these parts need to be manually classified or is there a way PartsLink could auto-classify according to attributes?