WT parts first or CAD parts first?

[kaudibert]

How do you work with Windchill?

We are configured to have WT parts the same number as the CAD part for integration with SAP. Currently the auto associate function does not create a WT part that is the same number as the CAD part and we are told to rename the WT part to match.

Is anyone else dealing with this situation?

We work in CAD parts all the time and some functionality in pro will be more difficult, like rename in an assembly, if we have to create WT parts first.

Let me know how you work with WT parts, thanks

[soerton]

We create our WT Part & CAD thru Windchill. New Part -> New CAD Document. We have 60 designers so it is much easier to have them create the WT Parts for our upcoming ERP Connector.

Our WT Parts have a XXX-XXXXX number while our CAD has the 10-digit autonumber.

[kaudibert]

That's the plan here but you lose a lot of the CREO part creation functionality and it is more difficult to replace assembly parts. I think I found some ways to make it work in the "Using Creo Parametric with Windchill" publication from PTC

In Reply to Stephen Oerton:

We create our WT Part & CAD thru Windchill. New Part -> New CAD Document. We have 60 designers so it is much easier to have them create the WT Parts for our upcoming ERP Connector.

Our WT Parts have a XXX-XXXXX number while our CAD has the 10-digit autonumber.

[soerton]

We are actually using Inventor & Workgroup Manager. For our Creo users, they create their CAD that gets the 10-digit autonumber and another user further down does the auto-associate to get a WT Part with the XXX-XXXXX number.

[cc-2]

Hi

interesting topic.

I can't speak for Inventor but with Creo files which are uploaded into a EPMDocument, we configured Windchill to create and auto associate WTpart and it takes the same number than the CAD Number.

Indeed we are configured to have

EPMDoc Number = WTpart = Filename + extension

I would have assumed that when you use a Workgroup CAD Manager, Windchill can be configured the same regardless of the CAD application you use.

This is something you should clarify with your consultant/reseller.

I may end up with Windchill and Inventor so I am quite touchy at the moment about Inventor integration. Our Reseller keeps saying it works the same than with Creo.....

Please keep me posted.

Thank you

[soerton]

In Reply to NacNac MOTT:

Hi

interesting topic.

I can't speak for Inventor but with Creo files which are uploaded into a EPMDocument, we configured Windchill to create and auto associate WTpart and it takes the same number than the CAD Number.

Indeed we are configured to have

EPMDoc Number = WTpart = Filename + extension

I would have assumed that when you use a Workgroup CAD Manager, Windchill can be configured the same regardless of the CAD application you use.

This is something you should clarify with your consultant/reseller.

I may end up with Windchill and Inventor so I am quite touchy at the moment about Inventor integration. Our Reseller keeps saying it works the same than with Creo.....

Please keep me posted.

Thank you

Our configuration for the 2 auto-numbers is intentionally set up as our WT Part numbers match our ERP. Our CAD Document number is unimportant to us. We have the filename customization because we do not utilize a naming convention for a components. A search of our system would easily return 2500+ files called "PLATE, A". Our business is mostly one-off designs that are "never" the same.

It is a single WC configuration. From the Software dowloads section, I can download any of the WWGMs depending on my CAD Platform. I work in Inventor but when I was asked to do a test data import of NX data, I simply needed NX installed and the NX Workgroup manager. After that, my test NX Data import process was IDENTICAL to my Inventor Data Import.

Stephen Oerton

Windchill Process Specialist

[GregoryPERASSO]

Hi

Our WTpart numer use the same numbering schema as our ERP

Our CAD document have got a different numbering schema. their numbers respects a normalized convention so the CAD designer can easily find parts in Creo assembly tree

In my previous company, the CAD Doc have the same number as the WTpart. We have been working in both directions:

top down design by firstly creating Wtpart then CAD

Bottom up design by firstly creating CAD then WTpart

A supported hook can be customized in Windchill for the auto associate action. In order to create (or retrieve an existing ) the Wtpart with the correct number

have a look to the preferenrece: Site/Operation/Auto Associate/ Custom class for auto associate Part

-In Catia V5 WGM and Windchill 9.1 , there's other client hook that permit lot of things on CAD side. It seems does not exist anymore in 10

-Since 10, can create directly CAD documents from templates in the WTpart create wizard. So easy to align the numbers ....

regards

[jhall2]

We create the WTPart and the CAD part independently, sometimes one first, then the other.

However all PRT parts are re-named with the WTPart number, and we use the Edit Association under the Actions menu to Associate the two, all while still in the workplace. Drawings are autonumbered by WC with a D beginning, and that becomes our document number.

I wish it was a bit more automatic, but this works well for us. One more thing, we stopped using Auto-Associate because it would occasionally create unwanted WTParts, when the system couldn't find the WTPart we intended to Associate with the PRT file.

Our idea is that the WTPart drives all the information. One of the reasons we do this, is a large amount of legacy data that was never associated with WTParts in the past.

[vraut-2]

Instead of not using Auto-Associate, you can set preference Operation--> Auto Associate --> Create Associate New Part to Never .  If  you set this preference at  organization context or site Context then windchill will look for part number satisfying condition for Auto Associate, if it exist then it will associate other wise it will not.

Also if you want to create new parts on auto associate operation which will have same number as your cad part it is possible by some simple configurations in Operation --> Auto Associate ---> Auto Associate Numbering Parameter. But most of the time we have to pass lot more attribute while creating parts than simple name and number like part type, sub type, Units, Classification etc. If your WTpart soft type have these ,attributes and you don't want to pass default value to them every time then for creating WTpart through Auto Assoiciate operation you have to write custom class and set it's value in preference Operation --> Auto Associate --> Custom Class for Auto Associate Part.

[smehta-2]

HI Vinay,

I would like to add attributes to my WTPart while auto associate action. Do you have more detail on how to do that?