About Bulk Items

Bulk items are nonsolid representations of components within an assembly. Bulk items represent objects that do not require solid models but must be represented in the Bill of Materials (BOM) or in Product Data Management programs. Examples of bulk items include glue, paint, or multiple component items such as rivets or screws. Bulk items are identified with

in the Model Tree. Bulk items can contain special relationships to support the associative calculation of bulk quantities according to the assembly context.

Parameters for bulk items can be predefined in the corresponding bulk model. The bulk model is a subtype of a part and is identified as a .prt file. You can manipulate (add, remove, and modify) bulk part-level parameters and relations. In addition, you can create family table instances of a bulk model.

When you add bulk items into an assembly, the part-level parameters and relations are associatively copied to the bulk item component level. If you select User Input, you can define different values to parameters for every occurrence of a bulk item in any assembly. You can summarize parameters from multiple objects by using Parameter Sum. The representation of the bulk quantity in the BOM is controlled by the BOM_REPORT_QUANTITY parameter.

A bulk template is the start model used when a new bulk model is created. You can use bulk template parts to create new bulk model. In bulk templates, parameters and relations can be defined and used each time the bulk template is applied. You can create a bulk item template for commonly used parameters.