Production Catalogue

The Production Catalogue helps you and your team transition parts from prototyping to production. Many preliminary versions of your parts are created during the prototyping phase,. Once product design and specifications are finalised, the Production Catalogue helps your team identify, organise, and reorder production-ready parts.

Cataloguing a part allows you to assign production part numbers, revisions, and descriptions, standardising naming conventions to improve order accuracy. In addition, cataloguing parts helps prevent accidental changes to specifications and designs.

Cataloguing a part will distinguish production-ready parts from prototyping variants. When you catalogue a part, we create a 1-to-1 relationship between your part number and our Protolabs 11-digit part number. Once catalogued, the part will appear in the Production Catalogues of all team members who have access to that part. In addition, parts that are catalogued will have their configuration locked to prevent accidental changes.

No. We manufacture all parts based on your specifications. The Production Catalogue is a tool for identifying, naming, and organising production-ready parts but does not affect our manufacturing processes. 

No. The Production Catalogue is a tool to reorder your production parts in an easy and reliable way across team members. You can continue to order parts from Protolabs without using the Production Catalogue.

There are many opportunities within the platform where you may catalogue a part. This feature is found on all part option menus and is labelled "Catalogue for Production". When cataloguing a part, you will be asked to assign your part number, revision, and description. Once catalogued, the part will be labelled as a production part to all team members who have access to the part.

Yes. If you need to update the part name, you can edit the assigned part number, revision, and description under your part options. 

If the part configuration or design has changed, you will need to remove the old part from the catalogue and add the new part in its place. 

Removing a part from your Production Catalogue also removes it from the Production Catalogue of team members who have access to the part. It also removes the "Production" label and unlocks the configuration, allowing for part changes. 

The part may still be ordered and used as it had been prior to being catalogued. If the part was removed in error, it can be re-added at any time. 

Currently, the only way to share catalogued parts with others is to add them to a quote and forward. The ability to share Production Catalogues will be coming soon in a future release.