About Creating Factory Layouts

A factory layout is an Inventor assembly file that contains additional data used by the Factory Design Utilities add-in. There are two factory layout templates; one uses metric (mm) units and the other uses inches (in). Depending on which units you select during installation, one of them is copied to the default template folder and renamed StandardFactoryLayout.iam.

Clicking New Layout on the Factory tab, looks for and uses the StandardFactoryLayout.iam template file. If you click New on the Quick Access toolbar, the New File dialog box displays the Inventor template files. Click the Factory folder to see the Factory Layout (in).iam and Factory layout (mm).iam template files.

To create a factory layout with different units, you can access the template from the New File dialog box. If you want to change an existing file, you can specify the units using Document Settings on the Inventor Tools tab.

A new factory layout can also be created from an existing AutoCAD DWG file. If the AutoCAD layout contains any placed 2D assets or chainable assets from AutoCAD Factory, they are automatically replaced with their 3D equivalents when opened in Inventor Factory. The New Layout from DWG command creates a bidirectional associative link, called Layout Sync, between the AutoCAD 2D layout and the Inventor 3D layout.

Note: The New Layout from DWG command is accessed by clicking the New Layout drop-down menu on the Factory tab. If a factory layout is already open, click Factory tab Suite Workflows panel Create from AutoCAD .