Assembly without items

Background

Need: The goal is to design an assembly where parts are purchased directly based on drawings, without relying on the formal production item system. Examples of this include fixtures, jigs, and other production aids needed for manufacturing, where the required materials are not listed in the ERP system.

Another common scenario is outsourcing the entire assembly, where the items for the parts are not in Flow and are not necessary, as the subcontractor will purchase or manufacture the parts. However, even in such cases, a bill of materials is often required to ensure the subcontractor uses the correct parts or materials.

Job Description

A new assembly is created. If the assembly is a production device or similar that is not part of product management, only the model is created, without an item (as shown in the image below).

If the assembly is to be purchased from a subcontractor and requires an item, both the item and model are created simultaneously, as usual.

Model New Parts for the Assembly or Add "Hardware". Hardware can be found as shown in the image below using the "Component/Profile from Local Archive" function.

Create a Drawing from the Model with Projections and Forms. After this, log out of Flow.

Update the Parts List in the Drawing by pressing F5 or right-clicking and selecting "Update Drawing." The parts list will now come directly from the attributes of the model's parts, not from Flow. Information for the parts list (even if the correct part numbers are not used here) can be changed in the assembly model as follows:

After this, log back into Flow to return the design there:

After logging in, restore the model and its drawing (as well as the item, if one has been created):

Final Result

As a result, Flow contains a model and a drawing, but no items (as shown below). The drawing is then linked to the desired objects (production machines, products, projects, etc.).

If it is a purchased assembly, Flow will have an item, a model, and a drawing, but no parts list, as the components are manufactured by a subcontractor. From the perspective of product data management, this item is therefore a purchased component that is made according to the principal's drawing.