ATek Steel Solutions: Mult and nest materials

You can use ATek Steel Solutions to mult and nest materials outside Tekla PowerFab.

First, you need to set up Tekla PowerFab and ATek Steel Solutions to work together. Then, you can send the parts to be cut and the inventory as work orders from Tekla PowerFab to ATek Steel Solutions, and import the multing and nesting results back to Tekla PowerFab.

For information about relevant permissions, see Define permissions for external multing and nesting integrations.

Set up Tekla PowerFab to work with ATek Steel Solutions

Go to Maintenance > Integration Settings > Atek Steel Solutions.

The Steel Solutions Settings dialog opens.
Select the Enable Atek Steel Solutions checkbox.

Note that you need to set up ATek Steel Solutions to work with Tekla PowerFab as well. To do so, go to Tekla PowerFab settings in ATek Steel Solutions.

For instructions, see Atek Steel Solutions Integration.

Send a work order to ATek Steel Solutions

A work order is a multing or nesting request. A work order contains the CNC files to be cut, and the available and orderable inventory on which you can mult and nest materials.

Open an advance bill, estimating, or production control job, a requisition, or a purchase order.
Click the contextual ribbon tab.

For example, if you are working on an advance bill job, click the Advance Bill ribbon tab.
On the menu, select Combine.
In the Select Combining Run dialog, click a desired advance bill option to select it.
The options are:
- Mult: combines linear items, like beams and angles.
- Nest: combines items that have area, like plates or gratings.Mult & Nest: combines all items.
At the lower left corner of the Combining Run Filters dialog, click Optimizations.
Depending on which items will be combined, do one or both of the following:
- On the Mult Settings - Linear Material tab, set Multing Software to SteelSolutions.
- On the Plate Nesting Settings tab, set Plate Nesting Software to SteelSolutions.
Click Save.
To combine the materials, click the button at the bottom of the Combining Run Filters dialog, or press F4.

In the Combining Run Results dialog, all parts show as not combined.
Click Save Combining Run.
Click the Combining Run ribbon tab.
On the menu, select Export Parts for Nesting > Export to Steel Solutions.
In the Export Parts for Combining dialog, adjust the settings according to your needs:
- To include existing inventory materials in the export, select the Include available inventory checkbox.
- To include inventory materials that are on order in the export, select the Include orderable inventory.
- In the CNC Files list, select how you want to include CNC files in the export.
Click Export Parts.

Tekla PowerFab exports the parts to be multed and nested.

You can now open ATek Steel Solutions and import the XML file that has been created by Tekla PowerFab. For detailed instructions on multing and nesting parts, see the ATek Steel Solutions documentation.

After the parts have been multed and nested, you can import the information back to Tekla PowerFab.

Import multing and nesting results back to Tekla PowerFab

Before you begin, ensure that you have the right combining run open in Tekla PowerFab.

In the Combining Run Results dialog, click the Combining Run ribbon tab.
On the menu, select Import Nested Parts.
Browse to find and select the XML file that contains the multing and nesting results.
Click Open.

The multing and nesting results are imported back to Tekla PowerFab.