You have a purchased assembly. You build the CAD parts and assembly. The CAD parts create wtParts but are not real since they are only for drawing/communicating with the vendor. You cannot buy them separately. Those wtParts to create the purchased assembly would be a gathering part. Others might use them differently, but that is how I've been using them. For some of the BOM reports, it will filter out the gathering parts.
Thanks,
Brian Toussaint CAD Administrator
Hoshizaki America, Inc. "A Superior Degree Of Reliability" 618 Hwy. 74 S., Peachtree City, GA 30269
Its kind of a multipurpose tool. You can use it for whatever you want. The key is that it doesn't show up in a report. You could use it to clean up your top level BOM if there were a ton items like hangtags or other stuff cluttering it up. Basically to informally group stuff together
Example: A Gathering Part would be a WTPart of CAD Assembly of Wheel and Hub cap. Engineering always uses these together, so to aide in CAD design they are in a CAD assembly, but we always represent them in SAP as individual line items.
Brian, I reread your original message. That is an interesting method and I like it. I thought you were using the Gathering Parts for the purchased Assembly when in fact you are using them for the components which of course only exist for design purpose.
That being said, the example below has some typos in it. Gather Part isn't a Phantom Part. There is another type for Phantom Parts and they function to show for things like a Kit and do show in BOM reports.
I'm not sure what instigated the thread, nor how your currently managing BoMs, but I can share we have steadily worked to seperate the definition of Engineering "requirements" (in Windchill) from the Operational execution "decisions" (in SAP). We believe this approach scales well and supports everyones "needs".
The Eng requirements are defined "Make vs Buy agnostic". Meaning the requirements do not define sourcing and are the same regardless of source. The exception is when a specific supply chain is required due to something proprietary.
The Assy has no requirements and is only for modularity.
In the Purchased Assy example:
If multiple supply chains, and one includes inhouse assembly, the components would not be phantomed in MRP.