Adding a new product BOP to an existing plant BOP

Teamcenter provides the ability to automatically allocate processes and operations based on the allocations that were made in the original product. If a new product is being produced that is similar to an existing one, the new and existing product can share many similar processes and operations. Take, for example, a new model of car that is very similar to an existing model. The processes and operations required to install the mirror are the same in both models; therefore, their logical designators are given the same value, and it is expected that the mirrors of the new model should be installed at the same process station as the existing one. If the mirror installation processes are allocated to process station 1 for the existing model, the new model’s mirror installation processes should also be allocated to process station 1.

The automatic allocation is based on the logical designator and is assumed to be a one-time action. A preview is provided (in the form of a CSV file) displaying which process/operation will be allocated and to where. The original product BOP containing the allocated process and operations is considered the reference product BOP, and the product BOP with the unallocated processes is considered the source product BOP.

The automatic allocation functions as follows:

• Teamcenter traverses the plant BOP structure and finds the first level of objects that has an origin. It then picks the object having the same origin from the reference product BOP. Teamcenter searches for the logical designator of this object in the source product BOP and if it finds it, this object and its children are considered for automatic allocation and allocated at same level. Once the allocation level is found, Teamcenter does not continue to check the children.

• The parents of the candidate lines are also considered part of the allocation level.

• An object can only be allocated once to an allocation level, even though the allocation level can have more than one allocated instance pointing to the same origin or having the same logical designator.

• The same process can be allocated to different allocation levels multiple times but only once to the same allocation level.

• If you try to automatically allocate again, only the processes that are not already allocated to the allocation level are considered candidates for allocation. This check is based on origin and not on logical designator.

• If multiple processes with the same logical designator are found in the plant BOP, only the first is considered for allocation.

• Changing the source or restructuring the source product BOP affects which candidate is found for allocation and can result in multiple allocation.

In the following examples, processes and operations are manually allocated from a reference product BOP, PBOPSID1 to a plant BOP, PLANTSID1. Then a new source product BOP, PBOPSID2, is created that shares many processes and operations with the same logical designator as PBOPSID1. The examples show what happens when the processes and operations from the new product BOP, PBOPSID2, are automatically allocated to the existing plant BOP.

Example 1

PBOPSID1, the reference product BOP, contains a process with a logical designator, pro1, that is manually allocated to a process area in PLANTSID1. In the source product BOP, PBOPSID2, there is a process with a matching logical designator (pro1) and an operation with a logical designator that does not match the reference product BOP.

The allocation level in this example is the process with the pro1 logical designator in the PLANTSID1 structure.

Teamcenter allocates the process with the pro1 logical designator from the source PBOPSID2 to the plant BOP. Also, all its operations are allocated, including the one whose logical designator does not match, and the order of the processes and operations is maintained.

Example 2

PBOPSID1 has a process with logical designator, pro1, that is allocated to a process area in the plant BOP. In the source product BOP, PBOPSID2, there is no process with matching logical designator, but there is a subprocess with a subPro1 logical designator that matches allocated lines in the substructure of the reference product BOP, PBOPSID1.

In example 2, Teamcenter searches downward in the plant BOP structure until it finds a process with the same logical designator as a process in the reference structure, PBOPSID1. In this case, it finds the pro1 logical designator, but because there is no counterpart of this process in PBOPSID2, it searches no further and does not allocate anything.

Example 3

The operations opr1-opr5 are manually allocated in the reference BOP, PBOPSID1, to the plant BOP. The source product BOP, PBOPSID2, does not contain a process with the pro1 logical designator but does contain a subprocess with matching logical designator (subPro1). This subprocess, however, is not allocated from the reference to the plant BOP.

In this example, the allocation level is the level containing the operations with the opr1-opr5 logical designators. When Teamcenter searches for these operations in PBOPSID2, it finds three of them, opr1, opr3 and opr4, and allocates them. The order of the processes is maintained.

Example 4

PBOPSID1 has a process with logical designator, pro1, that is allocated to a process area in the plant BOP. There is another process with logical designator pro2 that is allocated to the plant BOP as a child of the process with the pro1 logical designator.

The allocation level is the process with the pro1 logical designator. Teamcenter does not allocate the process with pro2 as it is below the defined allocation level. The children of the process with pro1 are allocated.

Example 5

A process with pro2 logical designator is allocated multiple times from the reference product BOP to a process area in the plant BOP. There is a process in the source product BOP, PBOPSID2, that has a matching pro2 logical designator.

Teamcenter allocates the process with the pro2 logical designator only once from PBOPSID2 to the plant BOP.