Re-using parts vs creating new in multipart studios (concerning production and erp data)

3dcad

Before I create improvement request of some sort, I would like to discuss this with others handling cad data and production data.

My work is panel based furniture so mainly we cut panels in certain size (x, y, z), add edges and drilling - this forms a part which has part number. In addition to part number there is material and color but this is handled in erp when connecting part to product.

Onshape multipart-studios are so good that in many cases it's easier to create new parts than add already existing parts into assembly. But this is not good for managing part numbers and production data.

Then there are configurations and feature scripts creating new parts / editing existing parts so fast that it just doesn't always make sense to re-use old parts in cad model. And then we have parts that form themselves according to other parts and it is possible that some dimension / setup creates similar part that is already made for something else earlier.

Not using these brilliant features would draw us back to traditional single part design + separate assembly with all the mating work for static parts. This is not even an option as that required so much work that it was easier to design the product on paper & shop floor and afterwards import parts from cnc to cad.

While trying to manage hundreds even thousands of different active parts in production it would be super important not to create new parts that are exactly the same or could be the same as already existing part. At the moment this is manual checking if we already have similar part and use that instead of creating new when adding new product data to erp.

It seems mcads are mostly designed to create new products from scratch rather than using existing parts with some additional new parts to create new products - which would be way better for production & warehouse.
It is possible to re-use parts but it is not as intuitive as creating new. No help from computer to suggest you already have part that would suit here or that 'you just modeled a part that is already existing with pno 1234 - use this instead?'

I would like to hear others thoughts about this. Do you struggle with similar stuff?

Do you always re-use existing parts or just create new and handle similarity outside cad?

Do you think Onshape should consider if they could be part of solution by creating tools to find similar parts?

3dcad

@NeilCooke
How do you add part number to configurable part (say a 2x4 timber with configurable length) when configuring on assembly insert?

NeilCooke

@3dcad The best way to do this is to open the BOM tab after insert. If a PN already exists, it will show, if not, you can add it.

3dcad

@NeilCooke
That does the trick, thanks! Now if I only could add selected parts to drawings from BOM.

Do you have any thoughts on original post?

tim_hess427

@3dcad - What, specifically, makes using an existing part harder than making a new part? Is it hard to know if it exists? Is it hard to find the existing part when you know it exists? Is it too difficult or tedious to add the part when you know it exists? 

I agree that re-using parts is definitely better than re-creating from a data management/production point-of-view. 

If you're just trying to figure out if a part exists already, it seems like good planning and data management in your ERP system (or in part properties in Onshape) would go a long way. If many of your parts are standardized, you should be able to record the important parameters (Length, width, height, hole configuration, etc. ) in properties and search form them that way. 

Personally, I think most of the parts I work with are specialized and/or complicated enough that the chance of me accidentally recreating a previous model is pretty low. However, I can see in your situation, there's a much higher chance of that happening. 

Also - what you mean by "Now if I only could add selected parts to drawings from BOM."?  Are you trying to add a specific sub-set of parts from an assembly to a drawing? It sounds like "display states" is what you might need there. 

Edit* - Just wanted to add that I think being able to search for "similar" parts in Onshape would be really awesome! I'm imagining something like a reverse image search in google. (But if I'm honest, not a huge priority)

3dcad

@tim_hess427 said:

-- What, specifically, makes using an existing part harder than making a new part? Is it hard to know if it exists? Is it hard to find the existing part when you know it exists? Is it too difficult or tedious to add the part when you know it exists? 

All the above. Well it's not tedious to add part into assembly but it's not very intuitive either to crawl through documents to find a single part.
And then do the in-context editing for other parts and then mating. 

Compared to creating it in part studio and include in group when creating assembly.

Same story with derived parts.

It is also hard for human or group of humans to know what already exist, our memory is not optimal for that sort of stuff as we tend to forget old and new things. Computer would handle this sort of tasks better.

-- I agree that re-using parts is definitely better than re-creating from a data management/production point-of-view. 

Exactly, think of having 1m long 2x4 in storage with 30 different part numbers and still your erp says that your running out of it. Or situation where you have tube in length 120mm and 125mm in storage but model requires 123mm - most likely you could use existing but it's up to you noticing this. 

-- If you're just trying to figure out if a part exists already, it seems like good planning and data management in your ERP system (or in part properties in Onshape) would go a long way. If many of your parts are standardized, you should be able to record the important parameters (Length, width, height, hole configuration, etc. ) in properties and search form them that way. 

I mean more like 'accidentally' creating same part with different part no. This is not beginners problem but after few decades the repository holds many things already designed.

Personally, I think most of the parts I work with are specialized and/or complicated enough that the chance of me accidentally recreating a previous model is pretty low. However, I can see in your situation, there's a much higher chance of that happening. 

Don't know what business you are in but I suppose almost every business have brackets, supports, tubes, etc.. 

-- Also - what you mean by "Now if I only could add selected parts to drawings from BOM."?  Are you trying to add a specific sub-set of parts from an assembly to a drawing? It sounds like "display states" is what you might need there. 

If you have configurable dimension in part, then you make assembly with certain dimension and need manufacturing drawings for each part in that assembly. You need to manually check the dimension used in assembly and feed same parameters while inserting configurable part into drawing to make them match. 

This should be handled by Onshape to enable 'insert part with same config as used in assy x'. And if configurations change in that assy, drawings should update automatically. 

Current workflow is tedious at the moment.

-- Edit* - Just wanted to add that I think being able to search for "similar" parts in Onshape would be really awesome! I'm imagining something like a reverse image search in google. (But if I'm honest, not a huge priority)

Agreed, this discussion is not about urgent problem that needs to be fixed in next update but more like painting the future with more and more small batches of various stuff designed in multiple configurations that someone still needs to be able to efficiently produce and (hopefully) provide spare parts.

Even if production and warehouse is unmanned fully automated with robots - it doesn't change the fact that stuff needs space.
So part matching and smart recognition that with small change same part could be used in multiple products will be important feature and I suppose it will be more than couple lines of code that can be done 'once needed'..

tim_hess427

@3dcad - Good discussion. My production parts (consumer products) don't have much things like brackets, and tubes, but we do use off-the-shelf hardware. I can see how, down the road, if I want to use an M3 screw, whether or not we already have one that's close enough in our system. Maybe I want to use a 12mm screw, but we already have a 14mm that will work just as well. So, I can see how I might be in a similar situation there. 

I think I can help you out on one point though - When you have a configured part in your assembly, you can right-click on the instance in the assembly, and create a drawing from that menu. The created drawing will automatically reference the configured part. Alternatively, if you need the part drawing sheet inside the same drawing package as the full assembly, you could create a display state with only that configured part available (although, it may be tedious to create lots of display states), then use that display state in one of your drawing sheets.  ** This workflow may fall apart if you're using release management. I haven't thought through how that would affect things in your scenario. **