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DRAG/REORDER/RENUMBER ITEMS IN BOM SEPARATE FROM FEATURE/INSTANCE LIST

Brendan_LeipeltBrendan_Leipelt Member Posts: 13 PRO
The way we build models is not the way that the shop builds the real world project. It seems like it would be a simple change to make the Assembly BOM have some kind of reorder/drag for exporting purposes, or arrange and re-number. Currently we build models from one corner out in every XYZ so the BOM ends up looking crazy out of order. So we end up just doing the best we can in the Excel export later outside of Onshape. I would MUCH prefer to streamline it in the Onshape BOM before exporting. This would also help very much with comparing material grades and making sure everything in the BOM is listed and detailed correctly. 

To give a daily example, when building a bridge you have the top length of steel (top chord) and then the bottom length (bottom chord) and then the vertical pieces in between (Vertical 01, 02, etc). These then repeat with further numbers (Top Chord 03, Vertical 09) further down the bridge as they are patterned out to the other end, while other parts come in and out of play down the length of the bridge. On a 250ft bridge where there might be 17 or 154 different unequal parts, it's innefficient to have the BOM read: Vertical 09, Hex Bolt xx, Vertical 13, Top Chord 04, Diagonal 07, etc etc. This causes us to try and reorder the info manually in Excel, or barring that, the Fab guys downstream to have to search around through the pages to follow a natural order. 

Asking because last forum mention seems to be 2019 and 2021 seems a good 2 year lapse to bring it up again.

Comments

  • NeilCookeNeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,671
    From the title is sounds like you know that the BOM follows the order in the instance list? Does reordering the instance list not produce the result you want?
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEAI
  • Brendan_LeipeltBrendan_Leipelt Member Posts: 13 PRO
    Right yes, sorry. So ideally I would prefer to leave the instance list as-is because it's quicker to see at a glance the order things were done previously in the project. Many times a different set of hands needs to update something or change the model within the same department. When you have to go back and make changes in a file someone else built and you're trying to figure out the reasoning behind the moves they made, I wouldn't want the instance list to be reordered from how it was made. It would be nice to be able to reorder the BOM independently while leaving the instance list alone.
  • NeilCookeNeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,671
    Fair enough - please create an improvement request
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEAI
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