Assignments
Use
Assignments are used in manufacturing, and sometimes referred to as “Engineering Intent”. In the manufacturing field, it is important to track the parts used in work that has been done to assemble parts together. For example, when applying fasteners, or perhaps gluing a section together, the author of the work instructions wants to ensure that all fasteners are mentioned in the series of steps, and that all glue sealant locations are used. They also want to ensure that these items are not applied more than once.
Assignments go into a specific layer called an Assignment layer.
There are a number of steps involved in adding an assignment. Firstly, you select the parts that will be consumed by the process. For example, these parts might be points in a joint definition, or locations in a sealant definition. Then you add an assignment, and choose a category (assignment type); for example, “consumed”. These words can mean different things, but as an example, “partially consuming” a fastener location in step 1 might imply drilling the hole ready for the fastener, and “consuming” the same point in a later step might imply connecting the fastener.
You can also select where the associated metadata comes from. For many fasteners, the metadata about hole size or other instructions is not stored on the fastener, but on the parent and another special instruction node. To find these nodes, you can:
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Manually select them
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Assume the metadata is on the node
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Choose a rule which defines the location of the nodes containing this metadata
Typically, you would use the third option; that is, choose a rule defining the metadata location. For example, the point used in the Assignment comes from a joint definition. Choosing the Joint Definitions rule provides information on where to find the nodes that contain the metadata. The metadata collected is displayed in the section below. Rules are defined in a rule file. The rule file can be hand edited for specific requirements.
This metadata can be used if the description field contains substitution rules, otherwise the information is carried on to its destination as is. SAP 3D Visual Enterprise Generator can also make a report ensuring that all points are used and no duplicates are used or “overconsumed”.
Assignments support visual manufacturing workflows.
Activities
Creating an Assignment
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Open the Steps and Procedures panel, and select the required parts to be consumed by the process.
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Right-click the required step and select Add Assignment from the menu.
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Select a category for your assignment type. For example, Consumed.
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Select the location of any associated metadata.
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Select the type of highlighting that will be used for the consumed parts in the scene and click OK.
The step will now have a summary line added to it. This will show the summary of all parts that have the selected assignment type, and will allow you to highlight them by clicking on it, or to select them by double clicking in it.
Adding Additional Objects to an Assignment of the same Type
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Select the required parts to be consumed by the process.
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Right-click the required step, select Properties. and select the Assignments tab.
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Highlight the required assignment, and choose Add Selection.
The selected assignment will now contain the additional objects.
Removing Selected Objects from an Assignment
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Select the required parts to be removed, either in the Scene tree or the Assignment layer.
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Right-click the required step, select Properties. and select the Assignments tab.
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Highlight the required assignment, and choose Remove Selection.