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A part is a definition, not a physical object. The physical units that exist against it are inventory, and one part can back many inventory records across locations, each a serial, a lot, or a plain quantity. You curate the definition in the Parts Library and act on the physical units in Inventory. Bills of materials, procedures, runs, purchase orders, and issues all reference parts. To reach a part’s on-hand stock, see Search parts and reach inventory.

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Identity and revisions

A part number and its revision together identify a part. The same part number can repeat only under a different revision. A revision captures an engineering change. Creating one makes a new part record linked to the old, so history stays intact: runs and BOMs already built against the earlier revision keep pointing to it, while new builds pick up the latest. You retire an old revision by archiving it once nothing in flight still needs it. A revision scheme sets how revision values count up, such as A, B, C; 1, 2, 3; or 00-1, 00-2. You define schemes once for the org and assign one to each part, and a new part starts at the scheme’s first value. To move a part onto a different scheme, either cast it to carry the current revision into the new sequence, or reset it to start over at the new scheme’s first value. For the steps, see Set a part’s revision scheme.

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Fields

A part’s status (Released or Archived) shows in the page header and changes with the Archive or Release action, not as a field. Supplier part numbers live in the Suppliers section of the part page; see Manage parts.
Your org can add custom attributes to parts for data the built-in fields don’t cover. See Custom attributes.

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Tracking types

A part’s tracking type, set in the Tracking field, decides how ION identifies and traces each unit:
  • Serial: every unit gets a unique serial number.
  • Lot: units move in batches under a shared lot number.
  • Untracked: ION tracks only the count.
Tracking type reaches into receiving, inventory, installs, run history, issues, and traceability, and each type behaves differently across all of them. Set it before any inventory exists, because switching once stock is on hand is constrained. For the downstream differences, number generation, and switching rules, see Serial and lot tracking.

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Lifecycle

A part is Released when you create it and Archived when it leaves production. ION never deletes a part, because runs, issues, BOMs, purchase orders, and inventory all point back to it. Archiving preserves that history and hides the part from active pickers, such as BOM and PO lines. You can release an archived part again at any time.