printing724
Electrical
- Oct 26, 2006
- 17
Does anyone have experience they can share in using SW/ToolBox in conjunction with an existing inventory/BOM/purchasing system?
We are moving from 2D to SW 2007 network with ToolBox. Toolbox scares us a little.
We already have an extensive database of purchased parts (fasteners, bearings, etc.) that is used for BOM & purchasing. Part numbers are not intelligent, the description field is. We have the ability to associate drawing files to parts and open them directly from the database user interface.
Option 1 is to create a library of part-specific drawing files and access them thru the database.
In option 1, I do a text search in our database on "6203" or "id17". From the lists that result, I select the one I want "6203-2ZNR,brg id17od40w12 2shield snap ring", which gives me a ball bearing with 2 shields and a snap ring of the appropriate dimensions, plus vendor info, price, stock level, bin location if we have them here, etc. I click on the drawing file displayed with that part, it opens in SW, and I drag/drop it into the assembly I am working on.
Option 2 is to use Toolbox to create or place the bearing in SW, then perform the association in our purchasing database (have to do that anyhow to buy it). This adds time every time a part is used, and increases the chance of error (I dimension a 6204 in the drawing but call out a 6203 for purchasing).
I welcome feedback. We hope we're not missing anything, only want to do this once.
We're leaning toward option 1 despite the up-front cost of creating and maintaining 6,000 plus part drawing files. If we can automate the process, we will.
A starting point would be a library we could purchase as standalone files rather than creating one by one from a package with configuration tables.
Thanks for your help...
We are moving from 2D to SW 2007 network with ToolBox. Toolbox scares us a little.
We already have an extensive database of purchased parts (fasteners, bearings, etc.) that is used for BOM & purchasing. Part numbers are not intelligent, the description field is. We have the ability to associate drawing files to parts and open them directly from the database user interface.
Option 1 is to create a library of part-specific drawing files and access them thru the database.
In option 1, I do a text search in our database on "6203" or "id17". From the lists that result, I select the one I want "6203-2ZNR,brg id17od40w12 2shield snap ring", which gives me a ball bearing with 2 shields and a snap ring of the appropriate dimensions, plus vendor info, price, stock level, bin location if we have them here, etc. I click on the drawing file displayed with that part, it opens in SW, and I drag/drop it into the assembly I am working on.
Option 2 is to use Toolbox to create or place the bearing in SW, then perform the association in our purchasing database (have to do that anyhow to buy it). This adds time every time a part is used, and increases the chance of error (I dimension a 6204 in the drawing but call out a 6203 for purchasing).
I welcome feedback. We hope we're not missing anything, only want to do this once.
We're leaning toward option 1 despite the up-front cost of creating and maintaining 6,000 plus part drawing files. If we can automate the process, we will.
A starting point would be a library we could purchase as standalone files rather than creating one by one from a package with configuration tables.
Thanks for your help...
