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Windchill PartsLink
Windchill PartsLink is an integral option for Windchill that allows you to standardize parts, perform high-speed parametric classification searches, and promote reuse of components across your engineering organization.
Windchill PartsLink Benefits
Using Windchill PartsLink you can expect:
• Increased engineering productivity—Find what you need quickly and easily through keyword and parametric searches, visual navigation on classification structures, and through Classification Search capabilities.
• Reduced product cost—Reuse parts and designs resulting in fewer duplicates, less inventory carrying costs, less part management and maintenance costs, fewer suppliers, and higher product quality.
• Faster time to market—Find, analyze, and reuse parts, resulting in faster design. This ensures certainty of component selections and better sourcing decisions.
Windchill PartsLink Terminology
The following terms are associated with classification administration:
Binding Attribute
The binding attribute is an attribute added to a part type that allows the part to be classified. You can have one or more binding attributes.
For more information, see Classification Binding Attributes.
Root Node
This node is the parent node for the entire classification structure.
The classification structure starts from the child of a root node. The root node can only have one child node.
Classification Structure
Classification Tree
The classification structure, or classification tree, is the full classification hierarchy defined in the Manage Classifications utility.
There is only one classification structure per system.
For more information, see Classification Structure.
Classification Node
Class
The classification structure is comprised of classification nodes. Each node represents the category against which a part can be organized.
In the user interface, a classification node is labeled Class.
For more information, see Classification Nodes.
Branch Node
Parent Node
A branch node is a classification node with at least one child node of its own. A branch node is also referred to as a “parent node.”
Leaf Node
A leaf node is a classification node that does not have any child nodes.
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A “leaf node” and a “child node” are not necessarily the same thing. It is possible for a node to be both a child node and a parent node at the same time. Leaf nodes are at the very bottom of the classification hierarchy.
Classification Attribute
Classification attributes are attributes that have been defined for a classification node.
For more information, see Classification Attributes.