Introduction - ION Manual

What is ION?

ION is the Factory OS for hardware companies: the system of record for your manufacturing process. Parts, the procedures that build them, the runs that execute those procedures, the BOMs they produce, the inventory they consume, the purchase orders that replenish it, and the issues raised along the way all live in one data model, with traceability from design release to the serial number of the unit that shipped. Hardware manufacturing is usually split across disconnected systems: PLM for designs, ERP for inventory and finance, MES for the floor, QMS for quality. The handoffs between them are where cost, delay, and recall risk live. ION consolidates the process into one product, so an operator scanning a serial sees its procedure and open issues, an engineer sees which in-flight runs a procedure change affects, and a quality engineer traces a field failure back to the exact lot and the operator who installed it.

The product spine

These load-bearing concepts appear throughout ION and this manual.

Concept	What it is
Part	The Parts Library entry: a part number, a revision, and fields. Not a physical unit.
Part inventory	A physical instance of a part: a serial, a lot, or an untracked quantity at a location.
BOM (mBOM / aBOM)	The mBOM is the planned parts list for a build; the aBOM is the serial-and-lot record of what was actually installed.
Procedure	A versioned sequence of steps that builds, tests, or inspects a part.
Run	One execution of a procedure against a specific part inventory, where floor work happens.
Purchase order	A buy of parts from a supplier. Receiving turns them into part inventory.
Issue	A defect, deviation, or quality event tied to a part, inventory, or run.

Design intent flows into a part, parts roll up into a BOM, a procedure says how to build that BOM, a run executes the procedure against real inventory, and the run produces an aBOM: your auditable record of what was built.

What ION isn’t

ION connects to CAD, ERP, and CRM systems but doesn’t replace them. It ingests design releases without authoring CAD geometry, owns inventory and consumption truth while the ERP keeps the financial ledger, and builds what sales has already ordered. That boundary keeps ION focused on manufacturing.

How this manual is organized

Section	What it covers
Build Hardware	Parts, BOMs, procedures, runs, locations, tools, and labels.
Manage Supply Chain	Purchasing, receiving, inventory, and kitting.
Track Quality	Issues, containment, Further Actions, and quality reporting.
Automate with ION	ION Actions, integrations, notifications, and analytics.
Administration	Users and permissions, authentication, settings, and importers.
API Reference	The GraphQL API, guides, and examples.

Start with your role

CXOs

Analytics, the data spine, and the questions ION answers about your operation.

Design engineering

Releasing parts and BOMs, authoring procedures, and keeping design intent connected to the build.

Manufacturing engineering

Process design, scheduling, NPI, resource planning, and acting on floor signal.

Production technicians and operators

Run execution, scanning, capturing data, and raising issues.

Purchasing and supply chain

Purchase orders, receiving, inventory, supplier data, and feeding consumption into MRP.

Quality engineering

Issues, dispositions, Further Actions, and upstream improvement.

Practice and get help

See ION basics for the tools you use everywhere: Search, chat support and tickets, the sandbox for practicing without affecting production, and supported browsers and devices.

​What is ION?

​The product spine

​What ION isn’t

​How this manual is organized

​Start with your role