Load methods of manufacture with DMT
Loading methods of manufacture is one of the most common DMT jobs, and one of the easiest to get tangled in. A method depends on a chain of records, and each DMT template expects the records above it to exist already. Load them in order and it’s routine; load them out of order and every row fails.
Load order
Section titled “Load order”| Step | Template | Creates | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Part | The part master | Part classes, product groups, UOMs set up |
| 2 | Part Plant | Site-level settings for the part | The part, the site |
| 3 | Part Revision | The revision the method hangs on | The part |
| 4 | Bill of Operations | Operations on the revision | The revision, operation codes, resource groups |
| 5 | Bill of Materials | Materials on the revision | The revision, the material parts, and the operation each material relates to |
Operations come before materials because each material row names its related operation, the operation sequence it is issued to. If that operation isn’t there yet, the material row fails.
- Load Part for every part involved: the top-level parts and every purchased or manufactured part used as a material.
- Load Part Plant for each part and site that needs site-specific settings.
- Load Part Revision for the manufactured parts, leaving the revisions unapproved while you load methods.
- Load Bill of Operations. Number operation sequences with gaps (10, 20, 30…) so you can insert operations later without resequencing.
- Load Bill of Materials, giving each material the operation sequence it relates to.
- Review a few methods on screen (in the Engineering Workbench or Part Maintenance), then approve the revisions, either by hand or with an update load of Part Revision.
Subassemblies
Section titled “Subassemblies”A single-level method is straightforward. Multi-level methods, where a material is itself a manufactured part with its own method, need more planning:
- Load bottom-up. A subassembly’s own part, revision and method should exist before the parent that uses it.
- Decide per subassembly whether it’s a separate part pulled in as a material, or an assembly built inside the parent’s method. The two load differently, and mixing them up is the usual reason multi-level loads “go screwy”.
- Run the first parent end to end in Pilot and inspect the whole tree before loading the rest.
- Keep one workbook with a tab per template. The keys (part, revision, operation and material sequences) must agree across tabs, and seeing them side by side catches mistakes.
- For repeat work, script the five loads in order (see Automating DMT).
- To change an existing method rather than build one, update only the columns you need. To move materials between operations, see Resequence operations.