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An assembly instruction is a 3D build guide for a made part. It divides the part’s CAD model into ordered steps that identify installed components and their motion paths. Operators follow these steps in the shop floor’s guided assembly view. Create instructions under Production → Assemblies. Select New Assembly Instruction, then choose a made-in-house Part with a STEP file on its Model tab. Alforse converts the model for 3D viewing when required, opens the editor, and begins generating draft steps.

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Versions and status

Each version is an independent copy of the instruction. On a published instruction, New Version creates an editable draft containing the existing steps. On a draft, Make Active publishes it and archives the previously active version.

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Steps

A new instruction starts without steps. Generate Steps runs the motion planner to determine a build order and collision-free path for each part. Planning usually takes one to three minutes. Add step manually creates a blank step. After steps exist, use Add Step to create another or drag a row handle to reorder it. Each step carries a status you change from the icon at the end of its row:
The planner menu next to Add Step can recompute motion paths without changing step order (Run Motion Planning) or replace all steps with a new plan (Regenerate Steps). Regeneration is blocked when any step was added manually or has status Done. Step-list icons identify planning concerns. A warning triangle means the planner found no collision-free path; the parts fade into their final position instead of moving. A hand means a placed part may tip and could require a fixture or a second person.

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Step details

The Details tab holds what the operator reads at this step: These fields save with “Save” at the bottom of the panel (or ⌘/Ctrl+Enter). Everything else on the step saves the moment you change it: components, hidden parts, playback settings, status, materials, tools, and slides.

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Components and hidden parts

Components lists what the step installs. Press “Add”, click parts in the 3D view (shift-click adds several), then “Done Adding”. Remove a part with the ✕ on its row. To expose obstructed work, select the eye on a row in the Components tab. This hides the part only for the selected step. The list shows hidden parts and restores them. A step cannot hide its own components. Parts hidden by an author are also hidden from operators.

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Playback settings

The Playback box sets how the step plays:

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Sub-assemblies

Some parts are put together on their own first and then fitted as one piece: a hub gets its bearing, circlip and brake disc on the bench before the whole hub goes onto the trailing arm. A models that: a named group of steps that is built by itself and then joins the main build. To start one, open a step’s menu and choose “Make Sub-Assembly”; that step becomes its first step. Add more by dragging steps onto it, or with “Move Into” in a step’s menu. “Move Out of Sub-Assembly” returns a step to the main list. The list numbers a sub-assembly’s steps under it, such as 4.1 and 4.2 under sub-assembly 4. Double-click a sub-assembly (or choose “Open Sub-Assembly”) to work on it alone: the list and the 3D view show only its steps and parts, and “Add Step” adds to it. “All steps” goes back to the whole instruction. Selecting a sub-assembly shows its name, its steps, and “Where it goes”: You can also set this from the other side: on a step, “Use Sub-Assembly” picks a finished sub-assembly to fit in that step. The step’s row then shows “Uses 4”. During playback a sub-assembly’s steps play in order on their own, and the finished unit arrives at the step that uses it: along its own path when it has one, otherwise gliding in from beside the build. A unit with its own path arrives before the step’s other parts move; when a step fits several, they arrive one after another. Pressing play with a sub-assembly selected builds it from its first step. “Ungroup” removes the sub-assembly and keeps its steps in the main list. “Delete Sub-Assembly” removes it together with its steps.

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Materials, tools, and slides

The BOM tab links the step to what it consumes: parts from the item’s bill of materials and the tools it needs. “Match BOM” in the Components tab matches 3D components to bill-of-materials items and fills in each step’s materials for you. The Slides tab adds photos, PDFs, or extra 3D models the operator sees on this step.

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On jobs and the shop floor

An Assembly operation picks its instruction on the item’s bill of process. A job copies the instruction’s steps when it is created. To bring a later edit into an existing job, use “Sync Assembly Steps” on the job operation: steps that came from the instruction are updated or removed to match, and steps someone wrote by hand on the job are kept. On the shop floor the operation opens the guided assembly view, which plays the same steps, hidden parts, and sub-assemblies. A sub-assembly itself is not a step the operator records; its steps are. The instruction’s steps come after any steps the operation already has.