Assemblies

An assembly is a collection of parts that is built together. Assemblies can be built from units of any item in your parts catalog, but are usually built based on a bill of materials (BOM) you've defined.

Assembly is the final step in the parts workflow before parts become a production asset:

List all assemblies

To see a list of all assemblies, navigate to the assemblies page. Here you will see a table with each assembly, along with the following information:

• Reference number. Assembly reference number (assigned by Hardfin)

• Product. The product that the assembly is based on

• Location. The location where the assembly was built

• Build date. The date that the assembly was built

• Actions. Actions to take on the current assembly

Assembly list page

Viewing assembly details

The details of any assembly can be viewed by clicking on the assembly. Assembly details break down across 3 sections:

• build information (an overview of the assembly and its build history)

• parts used (a detailed listing of the parts and serials used to build the assembly)

• notes provided as part of the assembly process

Example assembly build information

Example assembly parts information

Add an assembly

You can create an assembly by clicking the "Create assembly" button.

"Create assembly" window

When you choose a product, the assembly interface will pre-populate with your bill of materials (BOM) information, if available. You can fill in all the details of your assembly, including:

• assembly location

• build date

• planned serial number (optional)

• parts used

• parts quantities

• any serial numbers known for serialized parts (optional)

Example "create assembly" with details

When an assembly is created, the associated units are drawn down immediately from parts inventory at the location where the assembly takes place. If any additional modifications are needed, the assembly should be updated or disassembled.

Exceeding available inventory

Note: Users are allowed to exceed available inventory when building an assembly.

You are allowed to exceed available inventory counts at a given when building an assembly. This is not recommended. However, it is permitted to ensure that separate duties can be carried out effectively.

Team members assembling units (operations workers) are usually not the same team members (operations supervisors or finance team) responsible for inventory reconciliation. So assembly creation is the one place where the Hardfin platform allows inventory counts to go "negative" in order to ensure that assembly workflows are not blocked by a delayed inventory reconciliation. If the team members on the ground have the parts to do their job, delayed inventory counts should not slow them down.

In the event that negative counts are created, Hardfin automatically tracks them for future reconciliation as soon as new units are transferred to the assembly location. For more information, see batching and traceability.

Register an asset

An assembly can be registered as an asset by clicking the "Register as asset" button on an assembly row.

Registering an assembly as an asset opens a window that provides the key details about the assembly, offers an opportunity to confirm the asset serial and add an asset description. The serial numbers of each part can also be updated or confirmed.

Register assembly as asset window

If the product has metadata fields associated with it, the option to specify metadata for the new asset is also provided. This is most commonly used to specify additional asset details, such as firmware or software versions.

Finalizing asset registration

When you register an assembly, you finalize the creation of a new asset from the assembly components, with the corresponding details you have provided. Once an assembly has been registered, the assembly links to the registered asset and the assembly itself can no longer be updated. If any additional modifications are needed, they should be made as modifications to the asset.