for those of you keeping score at home, i am in the process of revamping part, assembly and drawing standards and templates here at my small design company. part of this involves inspiration i've gained working contract at larger-scale companies.

my current company (global manufacturer using siemens solid edge and teamcenter) uses the concept of a "non-graphical part". any fluid part that is difficult to model (i.e. tape around the perimeter of a part) is represented in the BOM in quantity only. they do this by creating a new part, adding all the relevant properties (part no., etc.), and saving the file without creating any features.

when the part is loaded into the assembly it's simple fixed to whatever position it gets loaded into. then, in solid edge, you can open a properties dialog box and override the quantity. this new quantity is what appears in the BOM.

so for instance in the BOM it will say "TAPE-ADHESIVE TRANSFER /// QTY 91.17 FT" because you entered that 91.17 in the assembly file's properties.

is there a way to do this in solidworks? at its most basic i would be able to add ONE part file to an assembly, but override the quantity value that's carried over into additional documents (whether they be higher-up-assemblies or drawings)

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