BoM, export, Custom Properties and part Identification

[Anonymous]

Okay I'll try be as clear and concise as possible.

I have a rule that exports my assembly BoM to an excel Spreadsheet. In the BoM I have a column that shows what each item is made of which makes sorting in Excel a lot easier.

I have another rule that allows me to fill an iProperty in with anything through a text input box. That property also has a column in the BoM for further sorting in excel, this is used for sub assemblies so the location of the part is easier to establish.

The issue I have comes when the part is in more than one sub assembly in the main assembly, the property in the BoM turns to *varies* and becomes obsolete for what I need it for.

An example, I have 4 walls, and each wall has 2 vertical Rolled steel channels. If I call each wall Wall A, Wall B, Wall C, Wall D, the channels are shared as they're all identical essentially the same part just multiple occurrences of it. In the BoM it'll no longer tell me which walls the part is in, just *Varies*.

My question is, what are my options besides each identical part having a unique part number? Do I have any other options? Thoughts? 

[Anonymous]

Is it your custom property that turns to "varies?"

Is it something where one is a string one is a number, etc?

[Anonymous]

They're all words, just different words and yes its the custom iProperty that turns to *varies* because the parts in two different assemblies.

[MechMachineMan]

If they TRULY are IDENTICAL parts, then they only need the same part number as they are exactly the same.

If they ARE NOT IDENTICAL your issue is probably stemming from the fact that these UNIQUE PARTS have IDENTICAL PART Numbers. You can override this by tweaking the row merge settings in the BOM, but it is generally better to provide a UNIQUE part number for a UNIQUE part - whether it be the same material, just cut to a different length, or not.