We are an OEM of hydraulic power units. Most of our units are unique, but we do have steady customers who order the same units every year usually with minor revisions. Recently we have been trying to consolidate parts of these units into kits so that the quoting process becomes more modular. These kits are not in our system yet, so we have to enter them manually before we do all of that. This is a painstaking process of creating bills of materials from my drawing block names in these kit assemblies, which are already documented in 3D models. I used to count each block and do a spreadsheet, then give it to my boss to create the kit in our inventory system.
I have recently discovered that I can do a data extraction to save monumental amounts of time in this BOM creation. It has inspired me to go back and name my blocks more appropriately to further streamline this process.
I created my first BOM this way today, saving the data extraction in the appropriate folder and exporting the data to Excel. This experience showed me which blocks still needed care, and that some of the same parts were actually differently named. It's a bit sloppy, in retrospect, so I began building up my block library, making sure each block had the correct part number and that everything adheres to a uniform naming structure. Obviously, this is going to result in a HUGE overhaul of our assembly drawings, in which some of the blocks are shamefully named things like "elbow fitting" and "cap screw." Its going to be a big task, so I could use all the tips I can get - to do this the best way possible the first time so it can also be the last time.
I noticed as I was doing this and beginning to change the drawings the bill was ultimately created from, that notifications regarding the particular data extraction were popping up asking me if I would like to update the extraction. This has made me curious - how much does AutoCAD really know about these blocks, and how is all of this linked together?
My first question is this - based on what I observed with the updated data extraction after modifying one of its blocks, ultimately, if I changed the name of that block drawing, would it be updated in the data extraction if I wished? If I were not prompted by the popup, how else might I manually update the data extraction? If I were to do another data extraction based on the existing, now-updated data extraction, and re-exported the data to Excel, would the new model code changes be reflected in the BOM?
My second question is this - if my observations/speculations are correct regarding question 1, wouldn't that mean that the data in the extraction is linked through the assembly drawing, back to the actual block file? If I have a universal drawing block that is used in a drawing, does AutoCAD remember that file path to the block? As in, if I were to update the name of the block in the folder to include a model code and description, is there a command in AutoCAD that will update the drawing block as well to whatever changes are made to the linked file?
That's to say, if I were to do a revision on a part's geometry, could I do something like REDRAW in the assembly to update the blocks geometry and possibly the name? Because right now my only solution is the RENAME command to manually enter the new block names as they appear in my standard library. I do this to assure that I have accurate quantities in my BOMS, and it seems to me that blocks are identified by their name and not so much the original block file that was inserted. This is generating confusion for me because based on the way the extraction is updated suggests that AutoCAD knows the original file, and perhaps even its path.
Could someone impart some knowledge on this? Perhaps there is an even better way to handle BOMs?
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