Work instructions for prototyping companies
In a prototyping company, every job is different. That's the strength, but also the problem. Knowledge about how something was built lives in the head of the employee who did it. The person who works on it next time starts from scratch.
Every order is different
"We start from scratch for every project"
Work instructions barely exist at most prototyping companies. Either they live in a Word document that is three versions behind, or the instruction is the experience of the assembler who did it last time. With every new job, even one that resembles a previous one, the wheel is reinvented. Bills of materials arrive separately from mechanical and electrical, and nobody has the complete overview. Quality issues are resolved, but not documented. The knowledge you build up per project disappears when the project is done. While that accumulated knowledge is precisely the foundation for better quotes, faster lead times, and less rework.
With Baseboard, you record a digital work instruction per project: which steps, which parts, which decisions were made. The link with BOM management ensures that the MBOM always aligns with the work instruction, even when parts are replaced or processes are adjusted. This way, you build a file per project that you can use as a starting point next time. New employees can get started without having to ask anyone how it was done, and issues are recorded so they don't recur.
When a prototype scales to series production, the documentation is already in place. No reinventing: the work instruction from the prototype stage forms the basis for the SOP. Changes have been tracked, decisions have been documented, as-built is recorded per serial number. The transition from prototype to production becomes a step in Baseboard rather than a new project.
