PTC has long been an advocate of the value of establishing a company’s Part (and Subassembly) Classification Hierarchy using its PDMLink product offering.Benefits are driven from the ability to find versus recreate a Part or Subassembly. These benefits include lowered cost of Engineering, both in time spent and validation of the seemingly new Part or Subassembly. This therefore includes reduced overall time to design and manufacture the Product by using the existing Part or Subassembly.

Therefore, it would seem logical that any company implementing PDMLink would include a fully defined Part Classification Hierarchy in their initial implementation. However, it is estimated that roughly 40% of PDMLink customers do not have a fully profiled Part Classification Hierarchy.

Instead, they have a “Parts Tower of Babel”; meaning a collection of Parts and Subassemblies that require that Engineers will not know if they have a specific bracket or machine screw or nut unless they physically open the Creo (or SolidWorks) design file and analyze it. This type of PDMLink implementation occurs when it is initially more important to centralize all the design files and that the classification process can be done later.

Now is the time to get that done so the benefits of Part and Subassembly reuse can begin immediately. Digital Solution Group (DSG) has successfully transformed Parts and Subassemblies from their Tower of Babel location to one that is fully defined per its Part Classification Hierarchy without affecting any of the existing design files they represent.

This In-place Part Classification Hierarchy transformation facility transforms black-box Creo (or SolidWorks) design files into one that have the proper classification. For example:

• A machine screw has length, head type, thread count, etc.
• A nut has its inner diameter, outer diameter, thread count, material type, etc.

Existing Parts and Subassemblies can be found using the attributes that apply to their specific classification. Hours of hunting for existing Parts or Subassemblies transform into seconds or minutes. Saving hundreds of Engineering hours by identifying an exist Part or Subassembly for reuse. It also ensures that if an Engineer can’t find what they are looking for using the attributes defining a given Parts or Subassemblies, then they truly know that none presently exist.

To learn how Digital Solution Group can transform your unclassified parts and subassemblies into a clearly define Part Classification Hierarchy contact brion@digitalsolutiongroup.net or call +1-603-566-5382.