Multi-level Part Structure
Note: There is a newer version of this specification see VEC 2.1.0
The basic idea is the same as for Multi-level bill of materials (BOM), where a product is defined in a parent-child, top-down method. It lists all raw materials, semi-finished goods and sub-assemblies that are required to build the product in a hierarchical way. A component in such bill of material can consist of child components, which in-turn can have their own child components, and so on.
However, a regular bill of material just defines quantities of parts required (e.g. 4x P1, 1x P2, ...). Since the VEC not only describes the quantities of materials required to build a product, but also the way how the materials should interact (e.g. a specific terminal on a wire end in a defined cavity), the VEC requires an extended approach.
The diagram above illustrates an example for this and will be explained from bottom to top. P1 and P2 are basic components (parts with a part number). P1 could be a wire, P2 a terminal. To define some sort of composite component, the occurrences A, B and C are necessary (VEC class OccurrenceOrUsage). Those are required to specify the details of the composition with relationships among the occurrences and usage specific properties (e.g. wire length and contacting relationships). A composite component P3 is defined as consisting of occurrences A, B, and C.
The composite component P3 is used together with P4 to build P5. Again, occurrences are required. However, a single occurrence E for the composite part P3 is not sufficient, to specify the detailed composition of P5. Individual occurrences A', B' and C' of the sub-components of E are required for this. For example, to correctly specify the usage of a pre-assembled cable in a harness (a wire with connectors already attached to it), references to the sub-components are necessary (e.g. routing of the wire, position of connectors).
The PartStructureSpecification is used to define composite components based on occurrences (e.g. P3), the PartWithSubComponentsRole is used for the instancing of such composite parts (e.g. E: P3). For details see the next diagram.