Central Part Number Database?

cad_account

My company currently has a workflow in Solidworks, enabled by a macro, that pulls a new part number for a part and then saves that part number with associated properties to a central database. This way, part numbers continue in a sequentially increasing order, and we can search the database for information as needed. Is this something that can be done in OnShape, either via FeatureScript or built-in feature? If not, is this something that would be considered for future releases?

john_mcclary

I would assume you would need to create an app that uses the OnShape API.

May want to research that to see if it will work for you.

philip_thomas

Yup - @john_mcclary is correct.
Onshape provides a free, open and document REST API. This can be called from any app or webservice.

Imagined workflow

Paste URL of Part Studio into App
App pulls list of parts and shows suggested part numbers.
If approved, app pushes those part numbers to the document

Very simple, clean and easy.
If the URL is to a version, there are no possible complications because the bodies (parts) will never change.
If the URL is to a workspace, its possible that the number of parts could change (or re-appear) as a result of parametric edits (and therefore lose the part number assignment).

I hope this helps.

ps - the "Lou Bom" app in the appstore pretty much has all the code you would need to do this.

billy2

John is right, Onshape's API can handle your task.

Onshape's API works with rest calls not macros. It's not limited to your intranet, is more powerful and will open huge possibilities. It exists now, not a future capability.

If you need help, send me an email, will discuss,

mbattistello

If you just want to add the url to your database and get a PN back you could easily do this with a Bookmarklet. Bookmarklet are browser bookmarks that have javascript inside of them. You could submit the current url to your database, have it log it, and then have it return with a new PN. It would show as a button in your browser.

You could further extend this to having the database app use the Onshape APIs to communicate in the background to either add more meta data in Onshape or extract more data from your Onshape part. Once you have the full url you can use it to interact with your part via the API. 

oleg_shilovitsky

@cad_account

You can use openBoM as a centralized storage for all part numbers - for both engineering and standard parts. 

openBoM can generate part catalog directly from Onshape Part Studio. You can then use it to enhance Part information such as Manufacturer, Description, MPN ,SPN, etc. The information will be centralized between all BOMs and you can easy collaborate with contractors and suppliers. You can create an unlimited number of catalogs that will have customized property sets. 

Coming soon the way to define rules for part numbers (sequences). 

Contact me oleg @ openbom dot com. I will be happy to demo and help you. 

michael_bromley

oleg_shilovitsky I'm intrigued by the concept that openBOM could be a central storage location across many documents is that correct?  I have been searching for a solution to create a database of all parts that is searchable based on meta data.  Is this something that would be possible in openBOM?  Auto-generating part numbers based on an input sequence would be an awesome feature to have.  Currently I'm working with an excel spreadsheet that is completely manual for documenting and very prone to human error.

oleg_shilovitsky

@michael_bromley It is already possible. With some limitations of course. But we're actively working to enhance the ability of OpenBOM to manage part catalogs and help companies in the process of parts ordering and planning. Here is our press release from today - http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/09/prweb14711029.htm speaking about Order BOM. In the next few months we will introduce few essential features to improve Part Catalog management such as Part Number generator, Part Number sequence designer and controlling uniqueness of Part Numbers for catalogs and teams. 

Send me an email to oleg @ openbom dot com. I'd love to have an opportunity to discuss more

-Oleg

brucebartlett

oleg_shilovitsky said:

@michael_bromley It is already possible. With some limitations of course. But we're actively working to enhance the ability of OpenBOM to manage part catalogs and help companies in the process of parts ordering and planning. Here is our press release from today - http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/09/prweb14711029.htm speaking about Order BOM. In the next few months we will introduce few essential features to improve Part Catalog management such as Part Number generator, Part Number sequence designer and controlling uniqueness of Part Numbers for catalogs and teams. 

Send me an email to oleg @ openbom dot com. I'd love to have an opportunity to discuss more

-Oleg

Great to hear you're working on this Oleg, hopefully, a combination of generation and tracking across all BOM's. A lot of time is spent on this stuff and I am looking forward to some time saving robust solutions. 

Here's another thread on the topic https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/4944/part-number-auto-generated

oleg_shilovitsky

@brucebartlett

Thanks for sharing the link to Part Number related discussion!

Yes, Part Numbers will be searchable and OpenBOM will have a track of all number across all BOMs.

It is partially available already today. If you define PN in OpenBOM Part Catalog, you can trace appearance of this Part Number across all BOMs you generated. 

Our plan is to improve Part Catalog functions by providing "Next PN" function combined with Part Sequence designers. Also to make a mechanism to improve the way to manage Part Number uniqueness in Part Catalogs (today it is too wide open). 

I'd love to share when we will be ready for preview. Meantime, would be interested to know your feedback on our new "Order BOM" functionality. 

BEst, Oleg

3dcad

Great stuff.

Don't understand anything about API calls (can you ring those with a smart phone? ) but luckily Oleg seems to have this covered.

My issue with part numbers is that when I design something new, I don't want to reserve numbers yet since I don't know if it's going to be a production model or not ( at this phase I don't add anything to erp). After finished, I would like to have some numbers to be able to track the exact parts for prototype and follow any needed changes. Then if I get the product sold with or without additional changes, I wan't to add actual part numbers to connect parts with erp part numbers.

In the end all this should be automatic and all systems talk to each other but in the mean time I need to come up with some sort of proto-pn which will be updated after parts fed into erp.

oleg_shilovitsky

@3dcad

Rami, thanks for sharing this example! It is indeed something we are focusing on. Because Parts are defined in catalogs, OpenBOM is giving your a flexible way to define in catalog what source are you buying from including specific Part Numbers from a specific manufacturer.

 However, I wanted to ask howe do yo assign Name to Parts in Onshape. Is it something you do even you don't manufacturing the product? Or you keep it Part1 , 2,... 34? 

3dcad

@oleg_shilovitsky
In first drafts it's usually just p1, p2 etc.. but I try to rename according to piece at some point like Top, Side LH/RH, Bottom, Drawer front, Door etc..
In my dreams I also rename all the sketches and features for easy editing but unfortunately that happens very rarely when I'm awake

In erp parts also get the name of collection (which is decided with customer after sold) to separate from other similar parts. For example if collection name is Chigaco, we would name parts chTop50/60/180, chSide2dL/R where 50.. would be rough width for top panel and 2d would mean side height for 2 drawers. I try to come up with names that immediately tells our staff what size/sort of part is in question.  

As we usually have same parts in many different colors, part data does not include color but it's included in the table where part connects to product. So this actually makes the unique pn to be [productid][partid], but that's not something we would manage in bom.

Huh, it's funny how simple pieces of furniture turn out to be complicated piles of codes and numbers to keep track with..  

oleg_shilovitsky

3dcad said:

@oleg_shilovitsky
In first drafts it's usually just p1, p2 etc.. but I try to rename according to piece at some point like Top, Side LH/RH, Bottom, Drawer front, Door etc..
In my dreams I also rename all the sketches and features for easy editing but unfortunately that happens very rarely when I'm awake

In erp parts also get the name of collection (which is decided with customer after sold) to separate from other similar parts. For example if collection name is Chigaco, we would name parts chTop50/60/180, chSide2dL/R where 50.. would be rough width for top panel and 2d would mean side height for 2 drawers. I try to come up with names that immediately tells our staff what size/sort of part is in question.  

As we usually have same parts in many different colors, part data does not include color but it's included in the table where part connects to product. So this actually makes the unique pn to be [productid][partid], but that's not something we would manage in bom.

Huh, it's funny how simple pieces of furniture turn out to be complicated piles of codes and numbers to keep track with..  

Rami, thanks for sharing. It is logical and yes... BOMs are getting complex very fast  

First, some good news - we are working on OpenBOM feature to allow changes of Onshape Part/Assembly Names. It will make your life much easier with renames - you will be able to do it directly in OpenBOM. Probably will be ready in 3-4 weeks in production.

With regards to Part Numbers and different collections, you should learn how to organize data about parts in Part Catalogs. 

check these 2 articles
https://medium.com/@openbom/how-to-extend-onshape-parts-using-openbom-parts-catalogs-918f93096e58
https://help.openbom.com/2017/06/18/extending-onshape-parts-metadata-using-openbom-parts-catalogs/

The good thing about OpenBOM model is that you can store all information about Part separately as an Item and then connect this information to the information you're getting from Onshape Parts.

You don't have to create Part Catalog directly from Onshape, but you can create Part Catalogs and manage for each collection you have. Then you can create Order BOM for each specific collection and our Order BOM feature will pull information from right catalog and place it in Order BOM. 

I will try to write a blog with video to explain step-by-step how to do so. Otherwise, we can connect on webmeeting and I will demo it to you. 

Best, Oleg 

3dcad

@oleg_shilovitsky

You are right, I'm not yet familiar with catalogs.

I think the main battle is where to handle what data. Cad, Bom, Erp (incl. Sales, Production and Storage for material, components and products).

I'm sure everyone likes the idea of having only one truth.

Keep up great progress with OpenBom, once you get part naming implemented OB should be standard tool for every Onshape user at least to maintain data around models.

oleg_shilovitsky

3dcad said:

@oleg_shilovitsky

You are right, I'm not yet familiar with catalogs.

I think the main battle is where to handle what data. Cad, Bom, Erp (incl. Sales, Production and Storage for material, components and products).

I'm sure everyone likes the idea of having only one truth.

Keep up great progress with OpenBom, once you get part naming implemented OB should be standard tool for every Onshape user at least to maintain data around models.

I agree - one truth. In the past it was a question of databases and different system installation. Cloud brings a new opportunity to step above "data sync" to form a single truth. It is a bit philosophical, but truth can be formed in the way of connected information. We do it a lot in our consumer life connecting to write services and online information. Cloud systems can bring it to engineering and manufacturing. I want to have BOM connected to right pieces of design and then connected to catalogs and other places to be able to price components. Where is the truth in this model? 

I wrote few articles about it in the past. Check this one - http://beyondplm.com/2017/06/02/changing-engineering-software-paradigms-data-links/

michael_bromley

How is the progress on auto-generating part numbers?  Many of my concerns/questions are similar to @3dcad 's on this topic.  We are a small business working on implementing an ERP system which will require part numbers as well.  Our hope would be to create "non-intelligent" part numbers, essentially serial numbers and have all the vital information tracked via meta data.  The meta data could exist in ERP and/or in Onshape/OpenBOM.  My hope is to have a part number system that makes it easy for anyone in the company to request the next part number and have it issued.  Part numbers are free so if it is not used or is quickly obsolete it does not matter.  Our biggest concern is making sure that all part numbers generated are unique.

oleg_shilovitsky

@michael_bromley

OpenBOM will support Part Catalogs with automatic Part number generation in the next release (2-3) weeks from now. You will be able automatically map to Onshape Part/Assembly names in the first version. Then we plan to bring more sophisticated mapping. 

Contact me oleg @ openbom dot com for more details. 

Oleg