About Substitute Parts

A substitute part is a component that is a suitable replacement for another part in only one assembly in which the original part occurs.

For example, Widget B is a substitute part for Widget A if it can replace Widget A in one assembly but not another. (You cannot assume that Widget B is also a substitute part for Widget A.) Substitute parts do not serve the same form, fit, and function across all of its assemblies.

See Alternate Parts.

See Also
Adding Substitute Parts
Substitute Parts

Substitutes can be created and managed only at the assembly level. Before a substitute can be added, the system checks whether the selected part is an assembly by checking for the existence of a BOM. If not, the system displays a blank list on the Search results page.

Note: Substitute parts cannot be created for configured parts.

When created, substitutes inherit the Find Number and Reference Designator from the BOM. If you change either in the BOM, they are automatically updated on any of its substitute objects.

When a BOM item is disconnected from the assembly, all substitute objects that reference that Find Number or Reference Designator are deleted.

When Manufacturing BOM Management is installed, substitutes inherit the manufacturing responsibility and plant-specific attributes of the substituted part for that assembly. This includes substitutes defined as edit items or substitutes with an end item override enabled attribute of "Yes."

If you change the manufacturing responsibility for a part, all substitutes defined for that part will inherit this change. See Manufacturing BOM Management User's Guide: Manufacturing Responsibility.

Substitute parts are controlled from the assembly to which they belong and not from the substituted parts themselves. If the part is under change management (that is, with a production policy), then the related change object controls any changes to the substitutes.

Substitutes are applied per Find Number. The same part may have different substitutes for each of the Find Numbers by which it is referenced. Separate substitutes are defined for each Find Number.

On premises only: Substitutes can also apply per Reference Designator if configured by the Business Administrator. The same part may have different substitutes for each of the Reference Designators that it is referenced by.

The substitute part can have a different quantity and Reference Designator values than the substituted part. However, the default substitute quantity is the same as the Find Number quantity. In addition, the default substitute quantity is one for each Reference Designator.

When Manufacturing BOM Management is installed, you can edit the plant-specific attributes for substitutes from the EBOM Common view or MBOM Plant-Specific view pages. Changes made to substitutes related to a CA will be saved as a BOM Markup. See Manufacturing BOM Management User's Guide: Viewing Bill of Materials-MBOM Plant-Specific View or Viewing Bill of Materials-EBOM Common View .

When an assembly is revised, all the existing substitutes are copied to the new revision.

When a BOM item is disconnected from the assembly, all substitute objects that reference that Find Number or Reference Designator are automatically deleted.