Filter by entire grouping, not just single value

[Karroog]

Hi All:

I have a spreadsheet I am using to keep track of widgets that are being reworked. I currently have the spreadsheet separated by multiple workbooks, each workbook is a different manufacturing facility. The last workbook is an "overall numbers" section that is capturing the overall numbers within each plant. I have a running list I will be filling in.

At times I will need to present an overall progress chart and I was trying to find a way to filter out the overall numbers workbook to be seperated by the plant. However within its current setup it would only show the total numbers for the entire plant and not break down each production line. So if I filtered by "plant 1" it would literally only show me the that row of items and not the entire plant breakdown. I am going to be handling around 20 to 30 plants, so I want to keep all the overall numbers in one location, and just break it down by plant when necessary for ease of use.

One option I have thought of was to put in the first column the name of the plant in each cell and filter it like that. I would then filter by "plant #1" and then all print lines and jobs would show up within that specific plant, but thats a bit of a pain because than everytime I add a print line or new products I will need to add that information again within the corresponding cell.

I have attached a spreadsheet as an example, any insight would be a big help.

[FDibbins]

You could use a helper column, with this copied down.
=IF(OR(A3="",LEFT(A3,5)="Group"),J2,A3)
You could then filter on that column