I am looking for suggestions on how to manage variation in Windchill, Creo, and our ERP system. The variations in this case are things that don't affect form, fit, or function. These may include material type (M2, D2, S7, Carbide), hardness (Rc), and coating (TiAlN, TiN, etc.).
So far I’ve managed to identify the following possible approaches:
1.) Track variations by revision (single model and drawing for all variants)
+ Only one model and drawing are required.
- Assemblies are going to load the latest (or as stored) revision. No easy way to choose which variant is used in the assembly.
- Geometry changes will require an entirely new set of revisions (equal to the total number of variations)
- Everyone is currently trained to only order and build to the latest revision.
2.) Duplicate the model and the drawing for each variation
+ Traditional way of working
+ Model and drawing are not dependent on any other objects
+ No special PDM or ERP functionality required.
+ CAD drawing shows exactly what the finished product should be
- Harder to keep duplicate models up to date
- Not part of the original parent assembly
- Variants are not referenced by other assemblies (required or where used)
- Each drawing has its own revisioning scheme
- Any geometry changes made to the original model have to be manually made to all the derivative models.
- Harder to track order history in ERP system (different objects)
3.) Duplicate just the drawing, but reuse the same model
+ Changes to the one model are visible to all drawings
- Have to manually update each drawing separately
- Drawing numbers would need to be different than CAD part numbers.
- Not every drawing would have a cooresponding model of the same name.
- ERP system would need to order by drawing number.
- Assembly would only show original version. Could not 'use' derivitives.
4.) Duplicate the drawing and make a family table out of the model
+ Essentially the same as #2.
- Ditto.
5.) Remove the attributes from the model and drawing and assign these in Windchill (and ERP system)
I’m guessing this would require using multiple WT parts linked to the same CAD model. If there are unique representations generated for each WT part, and the custom attributes could be watermarked onto the drawing, then we would theoretically be able to create all the variants without needing to make any changes to the CAD models or drawings.
+ Only one model and drawing are required.
+ CAD model and drawing don't have to be changed to create variants
+ Assembly is guaranteed to show correct version (there's only one)
+ Traceability in ERP will be across all variants (this is good).
- Variable attributes are not visible on native CAD drawing. Published representation has to be used instead.
- WT parts have to be created, used, and managed. Major user training.
? If the CAD model is changed, will all the different WT parts linked to it automatically update republish?
I should probably add that we currently use Windchill (PDM Link) as simply a file vault. We don't use WT parts, leverage the representations for any business processes, or have any workflows/release processes (in Windchill). We also are very Creo centric, meaning most users will almost never access Windchill outside of the embedded browser in Creo.
Thanks!