10 Reasons for Transitioning to CATIA V6 (Part 4 of 5)

7. 3D BOM management

Typically a PLM system will allow you to create a separate BOM tree from the CATIA structure with the BOM manager overseeing the reconfiguration of this BOM to the real purchased BOM. However they are often using only attributes about the parts, like part number and description, to work with. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform has numerous advantages here:

• The CATIA V6 designer can declare within CATIA itself which components they have used which are not to be included in the BOM or are phantom assemblies, reducing the amount of time spent querying which parts are necessary in the BOM
• The BOM objects themselves are linked to the 3D representations of the CAD models, allowing the BOM manager, or indeed any database viewer with access to the BOM, to view what the parts of the BOM look like in 3D using their web browser. They can even add their own mark-ups to these 3D representations. This reduces the time the user wastes capturing screenshots and creating presentations to share with colleagues
• The BOM can be compared to other BOMs (such as other versions or variants) in order to compare the two. As well as comparing the tree structure in a table view, the comparison tool also provides a side-by-side 3D viewer of both trees, again in the web page, allowing the user to visually inspect the differences.

8. Proper assembly representation management

In many industries, it is often the case that assemblies are not merely the sum of their parts. Various operations are only performed after the parts have been assembled (drilling new holes, grinding down faces etc.) In most CAD systems, CATIA V5 included, it is awkward to represent both how the parts are made individually whilst also showing the finished assembly. This usually involves creating a “Phantom” part to represent the finished assembly. This is improved in V6 where geometry can be inserted directly against the assembly, with a special function called “Derived Representation” which copies all the required geometry of the assembly into one representation. This allows the post-assembly operations to be specified without needing to take out dummy part numbers.

Similarly, the ability to insert geometry directly against assemblies removes the need to create “Skeleton” parts to contain construction geometry for assemblies (patterns, package boundaries, centrelines etc.)