Driving Multiple Part Structures from a Single CAD Model Using Multiple Owner Associations

Integration with Other Applications > Managing CAD and Part Relationships in Windchill > Managing Multiple Windchill Part Structures Sharing the Same CAD Structure > Driving Multiple Part Structures from a Single CAD Model Using Multiple Owner Associations

Overview

The ability to create multiple Windchill part structures driven by a shared CAD structure (that is, allowing multiple Windchill parts to have an owner association with a single CAD model) enables a method of managing BOMs in cases where attributes such as color, material, finish, and the like, vary among part structures that are geometrically identical.

This method is not materials management in Creo, but a way to take a single CAD definition and drive the start point of several part structures. The key feature of multi-owner functionality is that the same geometry and same quantities exist in all the alternate part structures.

Benefits of Driving Windchill Part Structure from CAD Structure

The benefits of driving Windchill part structure from CAD information include the following.

• Reusing CAD model definition in Windchill part; for example, attributes and geometry.

• Reusing CAD model BOM definition with Windchill part structure (structure, quantity)

• Shared information is automatically maintained during updates.

• Easy access to results; for example, access to CAD model and drawing viewables from the Windchill part

• Attributes are propagated on each of the parts

• CAD models and drawings are shared by all of the parts

• Viewables are shared with all of the parts

• Structure is automatically updated by the build action

If you are trying to manage a very high degree of product complexity, you may want to use Windchill Options and Variants functionality.

For more information, see Windchill Options and Variants Capabilities

How Is Multi-part Functionality Used?

The following are two anticipated high-level workflows.

• New Product

1. Design a color-neutral CAD model

2. In Windchill, build the first ‘alternate’ (an owner-associated structure) using current auto-associate.

3. Use Edit Association to create a new alternate.

4. One or more separate, alternate part structures are created, and the models are associated with one or more alternate part structures. Naming identifies the alternate option. Viewables are reused.

For more information, see Creating Alternate Structures in a New Product.

• Existing Product

1. Use Save As to create new alternates.

2. Manually edit alternate attributes on parts.

For more information, see Using Save As to Create Alternate Structures in an Existing Product.

In the case where a user has access to only one of several multi-owner part structures, multi-owner options are not available.

Enabling Multi-part Functionality

Multi-part functionality in Windchill is currently enabled by setting a hidden server-side preference, as follows.

1. To allow multi-owner, a Windchill administrator must first load preferences, using:

> windchill wt.load.LoadFromFile -d %WT_HOME%\loadFiles\uwgmcommon
\preference.uwgm.xml

2. Set the allow.multiple.rep.associations preference value to true at a site or organization level, using:

> windchill wt.preference.SetPreferenceUtility -u adminUser -p admin
Pass -name allow.multiple.rep.associations -value true -container
"/wt.inf.container.OrgContainer=Demo Organization"

Support for setting this preference is at the site or organization level only. Setting the preference per context or user could have unexpected results.