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Manufacturing Suite

Production variants, lots, devices, packaging, and vendor dispatch

The Manufacturing Suite covers everything from defining what you are building to shipping finished products. It connects your engineering files to the production floor and tracks every device from creation to delivery.

Production Variants

A variant is a specific version of your product intended for manufacturing. For example, you might have:

  • "Rev B - US Market (120V)"
  • "Rev B - EU Market (230V)"
  • "Rev C - OEM Version"
Each variant defines:
  • A name and description
  • Linked production files from the Manufacturing Vault
  • Associated test templates
  • Packaging specifications
To create a variant:
  1. Go to Manufacturing → Production Variants
  2. Click New Variant
  3. Fill in the variant details
  4. Link the relevant production files (these come from the Engineering Suite via the Manufacturing Vault)

BOM in the Manufacturing Suite

The Manufacturing sidebar's BOM link goes to the same Engineering BOM page (/projects//engineering/bom) - the URL /manufacturing/bom is a redirect kept around for old bookmarks. There's no separate manufacturing-side BOM view; the engineering BOM and the released BOM snapshot in the Manufacturing Vault cover the two perspectives the team needs.

Manufacturing Vault

The Manufacturing Vault contains all files that have been allocated from Engineering. These are the production-ready documents your manufacturing team needs:

  • Assembly drawings
  • Gerber files
  • Test procedures
  • Firmware binaries
  • Mechanical drawings
Note: Files in the vault are read-only. They are controlled by the Engineering team. If a file needs to be updated, the engineer updates the original and re-allocates it.

This separation ensures manufacturing always works from approved files while engineers maintain control over the source.

Production Lots

A production lot (or batch) is a group of devices manufactured together. Lots help you track production runs and organize your output.

To create a lot:

  1. Go to Manufacturing → Production Lots
  2. Click New Lot
  3. Select the variant, enter the quantity, and add any notes
  4. Save the lot
Each lot has:
  • Status tracking - See whether the lot is planned, in production, testing, or completed
  • Discussion threads - Log events, issues, material changes, or decisions directly on the lot. This creates a complete history of what happened during production.
Tip: Use discussion threads liberally. When something goes wrong six months later, you will be glad you documented that the capacitor supplier changed mid-batch.

Devices

Every unit you manufacture gets tracked as an individual device in S3Suite.

Creating devices

  1. Go to Manufacturing → Devices
  2. Click Create Devices
  3. Select the variant and lot
  4. Enter how many devices to create
  5. Serial numbers are generated automatically

Device details

Each device record includes:

  • Serial number and unique identifier
  • Variant and lot it belongs to
  • Test reports - Run tests against a template and record the results. Each test entry captures who tested, when, and every step result.
  • Field service notes - Log any servicing, repairs, or observations about the device

Test reports with templates

When testing a device:

  1. Open the device
  2. Click Add Test Report
  3. Select a test template (defined in the Engineering Suite)
  4. Fill in each step - pass/fail, numeric values, text observations, checkboxes
  5. Submit the report
The test history stays with the device forever, giving you full traceability.

Packaging

Manage packaging assets for each variant:

  • Define packaging specifications
  • Upload packaging artwork, labels, and box designs
  • Link packaging materials to specific variants
  • Track packaging versions alongside product revisions

Send to Vendor

When you are ready to send production files to a manufacturing partner, S3Suite streamlines the process.

How it works:

  1. Open a variant page
  2. Click Send to Vendor
  3. Select the vendor type (PCB manufacturer, assembly house, etc.)
  4. S3Suite automatically suggests relevant files based on the vendor type - for example, Gerber files for a PCB vendor, or assembly drawings for an assembly house
  5. Review and adjust the file selection
  6. Pick the vendor from your vendor list (see Vendors)
  7. Choose how to send:
- Email - Files sent directly to the vendor's email - Export ZIP - Download a ZIP package to send manually
Tip: Keep your vendor directory up to date so the Send to Vendor flow is always one click away. See the Vendors guide for setup.
Risk ManagementManufacturing Vault