Assembly instructions
Step-by-step 3D build guides for a made part, authored in the ERP from its CAD model and played to operators on the shop floor.
An assembly instruction is a 3D build guide for one made part. It breaks the part's CAD model into ordered steps, each naming the components it installs and how they move into place, and plays them to the operator in the shop floor's guided assembly view.
You author instructions under Production → Assemblies. Pressing "Add Assembly Instruction" asks for a single field, the Part: a part made in-house that already has a 3D model on its Model tab (a STEP file). Carbon converts the model for 3D viewing if it needs to, opens the editor, and starts working out draft steps straight away.
Versions and status
Each version is its own copy of the instruction. On a published instruction, "New Version" makes an editable draft copy of it, steps and all. On a draft, "Make Active" publishes it and archives the version that was active before.
Making a version active updates jobs in progress.
Every job operation that points at another version of this instruction is moved to the new one and has its steps synced, as long as the operation isn't done or canceled and its job isn't locked. Operations on finished jobs keep the steps they were built with.
Steps
A new instruction starts empty. "Generate Steps" runs the motion planner over the model: it works out a build order and a collision-free path for each part, which usually takes one to three minutes. "Add step manually" starts from a blank step instead. Once steps exist, "Add Step" in the list footer adds another, and dragging a row by its handle reorders the list.
Each step carries a status you change from the icon at the end of its row:
The planner menu next to "Add Step" can recompute the motions in the current order ("Run Motion Planning") or replace every step from a fresh plan ("Regenerate Steps"). Regenerating is refused while any step was added by hand or is marked "Done", so checked work is never overwritten.
Two icons in the step list flag steps worth a second look. A warning triangle means the planner found no collision-free path, so the step's parts fade in at their final position instead of moving in. A hand means a part may tip once placed, so the step may need a fixture or a second person.
Step details
The Details tab holds what the operator reads at this step:
@ to mention a part from the item's bill of materials.These fields save with "Save" at the bottom of the panel (or ⌘/Ctrl+Enter). Everything else on the step saves the moment you change it: components, hidden parts, playback settings, status, materials, tools, and slides.
Components and hidden parts
Components lists what the step installs. Press "Add", click parts in the 3D view (shift-click adds several), then "Done Adding". Remove a part with the ✕ on its row.
Some steps are hard to see because of parts that are in the way, such as a fixture or a cover fitted earlier. The eye on a row in the Components tab hides that part on the selected step only. The step's list shows what is hidden and brings parts back. A step can never hide its own components, and hidden parts are hidden for operators too.
Playback settings
The Playback box sets how the step plays:
Building a group off to the side
Some parts are put together on their own first and then fitted as one piece: a hub gets its bearing, circlip and brake disc on the bench before the whole hub goes onto the trailing arm. models that.
On each step of the group, set "Build off to the side" to the step where the group goes in, such as "Joins step 8". During playback those steps build the group next to the model, and at the join step the finished group glides across and fits into place. The join step lists the steps it brings in, and each built-aside step shows a small stacked-boxes icon in the step list.
One level only.
The first step is the base and is always built in place. A join step can't itself be built off to the side, and a step can only join a later step. If a reorder puts a step after its join step, the link is cleared and the step builds in place again. "Regenerate Steps" removes these settings too.
Materials, tools, and slides
The BOM tab links the step to what it consumes: parts from the item's bill of materials and the tools it needs. "Match BOM" in the Components tab matches 3D components to bill-of-materials items and fills in each step's materials for you. The Slides tab adds photos, PDFs, or extra 3D models the operator sees on this step.
On jobs and the shop floor
An Assembly operation picks its instruction on the item's bill of process. A job copies the instruction's steps when it is created. To bring a later edit into an existing job, use "Sync Assembly Steps" on the job operation: steps that came from the instruction are updated or removed to match, and steps someone wrote by hand on the job are kept.
On the shop floor the operation opens the guided assembly view, which plays the same steps, hidden parts, and groups built off to the side.