November 2020

It’s Friday after Thanksgiving and I’m having a VERY tough time waking up from food coma. It seems that the lack of friends and family around just meant that I had more to eat. I hope wherever you are, you are safe and full too!

That comatose feeling clearly didn’t extend to the team because this month, they performed miracles. We’re in the final phases of testing a feature that I believe is transformative for us, not just for us but for the whole industry. Give me a minute to explain.

What is it?

We’re releasing what we call Prep Workflows. Users will already be familiar with the Production Workflow feature. This allows users to load a number of sequential process steps (and respective work instructions as well as specimens) can be added to a template and associated with a line item. This is a fundamental organizing principle of the production process which determines the sequence, machine type and cost of a part. Previously, the pre-production process was not as well organized. Users could simply select between a line item (each geometry of an order) being “Pending” and “Confirmed”. Of course, you all know that there are many steps that are conducted when an order is first reviewed, such as:

​

• Mesh Healing

• Creating an offer and receiving a PO

• Deciding on Support, Orientation and nesting strategies

• Final Parameter determination and simulation 

• Approvals and Reviews

To organize these process steps and others, we’ve added the ability to assign workflow templates to line items. Each includes multiple sequential process steps, each of which can include multiple process steps including any of the ones listed above. You’ll also be able to add a description and expected timings (both processing and dwell times are estimated, and actuals recorded).

You can also assign specific user groups to process the process step. Only when all steps are complete is the object cleared for scheduling and production. You can add specific users to these user groups, which can be defined by administrators. This feature means that only authorized users are able to process the relevant steps and record details – this makes sure that only administrators complete the “review” stages for example, or only finance managers “sign off” on a PO. Of course, all these actions are recorded in the traceability report. 

Why is it important?

The immediate benefit is clear:

• improved efficiency (fewer people trying to figure out what’s going on with a part)

• process adherence (ensure that the right people are doing the right thing at the right time)

• traceability (which includes the job costing baseline you need to improve your processes in the future)

​

But for Authentise, this release has greater relevance for two reasons:

• The concept of User Groups is much required throughout the platform. You’ll see us roll out these permission sets to more areas – such as production process steps – soon. 

• Transparency will end up being the most valuable enabler. That is because the transparency enables insight into each production step, and with it the ability to automate it. If that sounds cryptic it’s because it is meant to. We’re working on some very special integrations that will allow engineering steps that are usually the most time intensive portion of the pre-production process to be automated using third-party algorithms. Those of you familiar with our 3Diax modules can probably see where we’re going with this.

​

As we’re leveraging the recent changes for more systemic impact, we’ll also be making incremental improvements that make the Prep Workflow feature even more user friendly and valuable. Watch this space.

So, that’s enough from me. I’ve got to get baking: Our team is having a Secret Cake Giving – team members post recipes on slack anonymously and somebody else on the team has to bake it for all to see. What are you doing to stay together while keeping a safe distance?

Hope to see you again soon!