Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

I have had something come up that I am not sure how to handle. We purchase boxes of 12' trim that is entered into our ERP software by the FT. My Inventor iPart is set up to have a variable length and not to exceed (Range) of 12', however if I were to Place Component of 4 each 3 FT lengths into my model, my parts list shows 4 for quantity. If I Place Component of 1 each of 3 FT, 6 FT & 9 Ft the my Length collumn of my parts list would show varies.

The first instance should only account for 12 each or 12 - 1' sections which would meet my ERP needs, but my parts list shows 3 each for quantity. The second instance should account for 1.5 each or 18 - 1' sections which as well would meet my ERP needs, but my parts list shows 3 each for quantity.

What are the possible work arounds to handle this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[#2]

Sounds like your BOM Base Quantity is set to EACH for the part instead of G_L.

Look at TOOLS\DOCUMENT SETTINGS\BILL OF MATERIALS to change the Base Quantity.

[#3]

But won't that cause all items to go from each to length? We have the same issue. Most parts are integer quantities of each, and others such as pipe are lengths. We are looking for a solution also.

[#4]

I am curious what ERP Software you use (We use Microsoft Dynamics GP).  I have a similar issue when tracking footage of steel used for manufatuered parts.

[#5]

Just as a side note currently we override the QTY in the BOM from # of pieces to actual footage used manually.  So if we know the stock comes in 10' lengths and we see 120' in the BOM our purchasing dept knows to order 12 pieces.  We would like to get away from this and have the BOM show an actual total footage instead of manually figuring it out. 

[#6]

We end up doing manual BOM manipulation also, in both the ERP and Inventor. We stock pipe by the foot in our ERP system. When consume it in decimal length, for example 123.8 feet in the ERP BOM. Since we switched to 3D modeling software, and every piece gets modeled, we currently  use the base part number and length EX. FX3020-12.5. This would be a piece of 2" pipe 12.5" long. FX3020 would be a  length we buy the 2" pipe in. So in effect, we roll up the length manually, and put it on the ERP BOM in feet manually. It is far from optimal, but we have not been able to devise a better system yet.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

Mike:

It appears the only way to add G_L is to create a new User Parameter and then select that one from Document Settings/BOM tab/Base Quantity.

This did not seem to work. Am I doing something wrong?

[#8]

mmaes:

I have heard that Microsoft Dynamics is one of two options and that Microsoft may be at the top of the list.

[#9]

Create a parameter called G_L and have your "extrusion" use the G_L parameter.

If you select the Xarrow button on Base Quantity it will take you directly to your parameters.

[#10]

mpatchus:

I just figured it out a few minutes ago.

I Created G_L as a User Parameter, (in) is my Units, (Length) is my equation. I then checked the Export Parameter box.

Thanks for the help. That did it.