How do you handle bolt counts (over 9000) in large assemblies?

I'll tell you how we're currently doing it, what I'd like to be able to do, and my concerns with what my options are.

  • Currently, we're manually counting each hole.  Granted some of the counting isn't in singles.  Some math can be used to reduce the repetetiveness.  However, we're still using at least 8 hours to manually count bolts.
  • I'd like to have the bolts, washers, nuts, caps and any other accessories required in the assembly.  Having the physical parts would allow the BOM to output  a bolt count that is almost always going to be more accurate than the manual method.
  • I'm concerned with how adding over 9000 bolts will affect the performance of an assembly that's already taking excessive amounts of time to rebuild.

How would you recommend we go about solving this problem?

SolidworksGeneral