In our products we would like to be able to select interchangeable parts. Let me discuss quickly why this is useful and our motivation. We may want to allow purchasing of two parts for lead time (availability) or cost reasons. Or we may manufacture a product in different locations with one part number preferred at one location and vice versa, but both part numbers are acceptable. The reason to have two unique part numbers is that the parts may not be interchangeable in all designs, so on a design-by-design basis the interchangeability must be determined. Therefore, one part number cannot have multiple manufacturer part numbers.
Here is a concrete example of how this could work. At location Q45 there may be two different transistors that can be used. Each transistor has a unique part number and the BOM should show that either part number can be placed at location Q45. Some method of allowing multiple part numbers for one location must be provided.
Is there an existing way to do this within the DEHDL - Allegro flow?
I have used the word "interchangeable" above instead of "alternate" to avoid any confusion with the Alternates feature of Variant Editor. I know how to use Alternates in Variant Editor and that is not what I want.