Assigning Heat Numbers to Individual Items

To assign individual heat numbers in a fabrication drawing, select Edit, Edit Bill of Materials or press Ctrl-E. Enter heat numbers in the Heat Number column as shown below. If you have not previously entered heat numbers for received material (see later in this article), the heat number checks will fail, causing the heat numbers you have entered to be discarded. To skip the check, be sure to select the Heat No. Check as None, as highlighted below. Press Done, and then resave the drawing.

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Enter Heat Numbers of Received Materials via Inventory View

Another approach is to first enter heat numbers of received materials via the inventory control function of SpoolFab. You can do this after having saved a minimum of one fabrication drawing (but ideally you do enough drawings first so that all materials are represented). Get into Fabrication Material Control. If any drawings have been added or edited since the inventory was last updated, select Tools/Inventory Update Only. Then select Tools/Job Inventory/Pricing /Items. This brings up the Inventory view as shown below.

You can enter the heat numbers in any order. Usually it is best to enter them as you receive the material.
Double-Click on the Received quantity for the desired item. Or put the focus on the Received quantity and press F2. A Receiving Report form appears as shown below.

Enter the received quantities and their corresponding heat numbers. The other parameters are optional. Repeat this for all items received, or at least for the items that feature on the drawings for which you want to assign heat numbers. Where a quantity has been received but the heat numbers are not yet known, you can enter HOLD as the heat number for now. Those quantities will show in the Held column of the Inventory view, and you can enter those heat numbers later, when they become available.

Preassign Heat Numbers

Bring up a fabrication drawing. Select Edit/Assign Heat Numbers (shortcut: Shift-F12). Available heat numbers will be assigned to the items on the drawing. If your layout includes the display of heat numbers, you can press F4 to make them visible as shown below.

Or you can press Ctrl-E to bring up the Edit Bill of Materials window, which includes assigned heat numbers. If you have a lot of heat numbers to assign, you could Resave, then move on to the next drawing on the selected list by pressing Shift-PgDn, then assign its heat numbers also.

Preassign Heat Numbers in a Batch Operation

You can automate the heat number assignment process by running a batch operation as follows:

Select the drawings for which you want to assign heat numbers. You can either do this in Fabrication Material Control, or you can get into Fabrication Drawings, select File, Make New List, and make the selection there.

Then select File, Batch Operation, check the boxes labeled Resave dwgs and Assign Heat Numbers, as highlighted below.

Click the Proceed button and SpoolFab will carry out the heat number assignment for all spools on the currently selected list. The above approach is best suited to a situation where the spools have not yet been palletized.

MTR and PMI Numbers

If you have entered MTR and/or PMI numbers, you can opt for them to be auto-filled during heat number assignment. This option can be set in the Job Setup for Fabrication Drawings, as shown.

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