Sub-assembly parts in PartsBox represent the stock resulting from building projects. When a project is built, the stock of the corresponding sub-assembly part is incremented by the build quantity. These sub-assembly parts can then be used as components in other projects, enabling the construction of complex, multi-level assemblies.
PartsBox's sub-assembly parts feature is particularly useful for managing the production of complex products that consist of multiple sub-assemblies and parts, each produced or sourced separately. Consider an example of building LED desk lamps, which are composed of:
In this scenario, you would create separate projects in PartsBox for each sub-assembly:
Each project represents a fully assembled submodule of the final lamp. After creating these projects, enabling the corresponding sub-assembly part for each one is a single click. Building these projects adds stock to their respective sub-assembly parts. Manual stock adjustments are also possible for items already in inventory.
With sub-assemblies defined and built, managing the final product assembly is straightforward. Create a new project for the complete product (e.g., "LAMP V1") and add the sub-assembly parts as components:
PartsBox calculates how many complete lamps can be built based on the current stock levels of the sub-assemblies. When a build of the final product is executed, stock is deducted from the sub-assembly parts.
In situations where multiple versions of a sub-assembly need to be treated as interchangeable (e.g., "Control Module v1.1" and "Control Module v1.2"), PartsBox's meta-parts feature provides a solution. By defining a meta-part containing both versions of the control module and using this meta-part in the lamp project, PartsBox treats the modules as substitutes for one another.
While hierarchical BOMs can be suitable for working with a single BOM, they can be limiting when managing production across multiple projects with shared sub-components. PartsBox's sub-assembly parts offer several advantages:
By leveraging sub-assembly parts, PartsBox provides a flexible and powerful approach to managing production, enabling efficient handling of complex, multi-level assemblies and reuse of submodules across projects.