Does anyone effectively use FOA in SE?

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

I've messed around a little bit with Family of Assemblies in Solid Edge, but it seems to be kind of a convoluted mess. Unless I just don't fully grasp it. From what I see it doesn't really seem worth the hassle to use for different configurations. Does anyone out there actually effectively use it?
I'm using SE local data management which doesn't help.

[bnemec]

We had tried it a couple of times through the years. I agree, it's not good. The last time we used it we actually had a good understanding of how the assembly behaved and the application fit the tool.

But like normal (with several CAD systems) when combining features we ran into trouble. You know to open model/assembly from draft, double click a view? Give that a try on a drawing view using a member of a FOA then edit the assembly and save. But do it on a test assembly file! At least in 2019 it would corrupt the FOA file. It would all be there, but the FOA "table" was lost and only that one member assembly would be accessible. GTAC was able to fix them for us when it happened until we figured out what was causing it. Maybe they fixed it since then.

Also, we only used it on top level assemblies. I don't think we would have tried it on subassemblies.

[matt]

What's the problem? Is there something specific?

[KennyG]

There are a few things to remember when using them:
If something applies to all members, set the Apply to All Members switch, and then don't forget to turn it off when editing individual members.
There are certain features that can only be applied to All Members, so they will be disabled till the switch is turned on.
If changing the relationships and the components they are connected to per member, do not edit the existing relationship references to the faces of the swapped component. Use new relationships for it.

Basically, got to remember you are building a 150% structure and you use the FoA functions to hide the 50% for each member.

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

There are a few things to remember when using them:
If something applies to all members, set the Apply to All Members switch, and then don't forget to turn it off when editing individual members.
There are certain features that can only be applied to All Members, so they will be disabled till the switch is turned on.
If changing the relationships and the components they are connected to per member, do not edit the existing relationship references to the faces of the swapped component. Use new relationships for it.

Basically, got to remember you are building a 150% structure and you use the FoA functions to hide the 50% for each member.

It's full of nuances but it does work, actually quite well. The "Apply to All Members" switch is very crucial!!!
When I came across this it actually became useful. I hadn't realized you could replace parts like this.

I setup an assembly and then used a FOA table in my drawing. It worked well.

Obviously if you want to have a part no for each assy, you can't because it's all in the same file but in my case it doesn't really matter.

Like they say, "Always check the nut behind the wheel first!"

Now FOP they did correctly! Much better than SW!!

[KennyG]

@Jaylin Hochstetler You may want to check out Property Manager while in the FoA file. You can have a different a Document Number specified for each member, thus having a different Part Number for each.