Op specs are part of the Production module, and only for a company where an administrator has switched on Op spec forms (Administration ▸ Companies & Modules ▸ By company ▸ Production). You also need one of the roles below in that company.
Can I use it?
| Role | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Production Planner | Write and change op specs, sign them off, and issue orders against them. Prepare certificates for customers. |
| R&D Manager | Write and change op specs, sign them off, and look after the set-up (forms, test list, machine setting lists, new products). Keep the customers' certificate templates. |
| Lab Technician, Lab Supervisor, Lab Manager | Read op specs, record lab results for an order, and approve somebody else's lab results. Prepare certificates for customers. A Lab Manager also issues and withdraws certificates and keeps the customers' certificate templates. |
| Technical Manager | Approve the quality review of an order, and acknowledge machine deviations. Prepare, issue and withdraw certificates for customers, and keep the certificate templates. |
| Production Admin | Everything above, plus the company's op-spec settings. |
| Platform administrator | The only person who can import op specs from spreadsheets, and delete an import. |
| Production Viewer, Editor, Supervisor | Read op specs. A Supervisor can also sign quality-review lines and acknowledge machine deviations. |
Words used in this guide
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Op spec | How one product is made. It has a number (the spec number) and a revision (rev 1, rev 2 …). |
| Draft | An op spec that is still being written or checked. Only a draft can be changed. Nothing uses it yet. |
| Published | Signed off and in use. It can no longer be changed - a change means a new revision, which starts as a draft. |
| Sheet | One paper form (one tab of the spreadsheet): for example the raw materials form, a process form, a finishing form, the lab test form. |
| Pass | One run through a machine. On a process sheet each pass is a column. |
| Alternate | A second way of making the same stage, for example "if the first line is down". Orders use the normal (primary) way unless the planner picks the alternate. |
| Substitute | An order that runs on an op spec made for a different product. Allowed, but it has to be confirmed and it is flagged everywhere. |
| Lab record | The lab's test results for one order. |
| Quality review | The sign-off of an order's most important qualities. |
| Certificate | A certificate of conformance: one page for a customer that says the rolls in a delivery meet the specification, with the lab's results. It gathers results the lab already recorded - nobody types them again. Numbered COC-year-number. |
| Concession | Sending a result that is outside its limit anyway, with a written reason (usually the customer agreed). The reason is printed on the certificate. |
| Deviation | A machine that ran outside its op-spec setting for longer than a few minutes. |
| Import (or batch) | One go of loading spreadsheets into ThreadWare. Every op spec it created carries the import's number, so the whole import can be taken out again. |
Where to find it
- Production ▸ Item Configuration - the op specs themselves: the list, and each op spec when you open it.
- Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Lab & Quality - lab records and quality reviews.
- Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Certificates - certificates for customers, and the customers' certificate templates.
- Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Spec Deviations - machines running off the op spec.
- Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Orders & Op Specs - orders issued without an op spec, or on another product's op spec.
- Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Op Spec Set-up - forms, test list, machine setting lists, new products, settings.
- Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Op Spec Import - loading op specs from spreadsheets (platform administrators).
- Production ▸ Planning ▸ Issue Order - choosing the op spec for an order.
Load your op specs from the spreadsheets
You do not have to type your existing op specs in. Op Specs ▸ Op Spec Import reads
the spreadsheets you use today (.xls or .xlsx, one workbook per op spec) and turns each one
into a draft.
- Choose the files. Up to 50 files at a time, each up to 10 MB. Have more? Do it in several goes - see Do I have to stop at 50 files?
- Preview. Nothing is saved yet. For each file you see what was found (the spec number, the product, the customer if the form names one, each sheet) and a log of anything odd. The log only names the sheet and the cell (for example "32, P12") - never what is written in it - so you can send it to support without sharing your data. Info lines are just telling you something; Warning lines are worth a look once the spec is in; an Error means that file will not load.
- Machines. If a sheet names a machine ThreadWare does not know, pick the machine it means from the list. ThreadWare remembers the answer for next time. If you leave it, the step keeps the name as text.
- A spec that is already there. If a file's spec number and revision already exist, choose skip the file, or import it as the next revision (it arrives as a draft of rev + 1).
- Import. Every op spec arrives as a draft in Item Configuration. Nothing is used by planning or orders until somebody checks it and signs it off.
Check and sign off an op spec
- Open Production ▸ Item Configuration and click the op spec.
- There is one tab per paper form, in the same order as the paper. Go through them against the
paper:
- Raw materials - the materials of each layer and their percentages. A layer whose percentages do not add up to 100 % is marked in orange.
- Process and finishing sheets - the passes are the columns and the settings are the rows, just like the paper. Click any value to change it. A grey dash is a setting the machine has, but this op spec does not fill in.
- Lab tests - one row per test with its limits. A row in red says needs review: the limit on the paper could not be read (the words as printed are kept beside it). Type the limit into Min and Max, then set the status to Set (or choose "to be defined"). The op spec cannot be signed off while any test still says needs review.
- Critical characteristics - how important each quality is, and whether the lab tests it.
- On each process sheet, fill in the Rate / hour row for every pass. Planning needs it to work out how long an order takes, so an op spec cannot be signed off without it.
- Press Save draft as you go.
- Press Sign off & publish. Say in a sentence what changed (for a first revision: "First issue"). ThreadWare suggests which forms changed. Your name, role and the date go on the op spec's amendment record and on every printed sheet.
Changing a published op spec. Open it and press New revision. You get a draft copy of everything (rev + 1). Change it, then sign it off; the old revision is kept as history and orders already issued keep the revision they were issued with.
An alternate way of making a stage. On a process tab press Add alternate. It copies the normal way so you only change what differs, and asks when to use it ("if the first line is down"). The chips at the top of the tab switch between them.
Printing. Print gives every sheet as a PDF laid out like the paper form; Print this sheet on a tab gives one sheet. The amendment record prints on its own.
Issue an order with its op spec
In Planning ▸ Issue Order, once you pick an order an Op spec box appears:
- The product has an op spec - it is already chosen. If a stage has an alternate, choose which way this order runs. The planned time is worked out from the op spec.
- The product has no op spec yet - the box says so and is already set to Issue this step without an op spec. Just press Issue. You may type why (for example "op spec not loaded yet"), but you do not have to - unless your company has made the reason compulsory.
- You want to use another product's op spec - choose Reference another op spec, find it, tick the confirmation and say why. This is a substitute: it is shown on the order, on every printout and on the lab record.
The next steps of the same order follow the first step automatically. If the Issue button is grey, the box tells you what is missing.
Open the order afterwards: the card Op spec for this order shows what each step runs on, whether it is a substitute, the lab record and quality review, and any machine deviations. Print ... as issued prints the op spec with the order number on it.
Record lab results
- From the order's card press Start a lab record (or in Op Specs ▸ Lab & Quality, type the order number and press Start). The columns are the op spec's tests.
- Add the sampled rolls of the order (or a sample without a roll) and type the results. Each result turns green (within the limits) or red (outside) as you type.
- A test that is not on the op spec but is needed for this order: Add an ad-hoc column.
- To count a result differently from its colour, press the small hammer next to it and give the reason.
- Submit for approval, then another lab person presses Approve. The person who typed the results cannot approve them. Approved records are saved as a PDF with the order. Excel saves the record as a spreadsheet at any time.
The quality review of an order
From the order or its lab record, open Quality review and press Start the review. Each important quality of the op spec is one line: add a comment, tick sign on save, and Save. When every line is signed, the Technical Manager presses Approve.
Certificates for customers
A customer receives a delivery of rolls and wants a page that says "these rolls meet the specification, and here are the test results". ThreadWare builds that page from the lab records of the orders the rolls came from: nobody types a result twice. One certificate is for one product, one delivery of one customer, with rolls from one or more production orders.
Make a certificate
- Go to Production ▸ Op Specs ▸ Certificates and press New certificate. Pick the customer from the customer list (or type the name when they are not in it) and the product. Only products with a submitted or approved lab record are offered.
- Type the customer's order number, the delivery note number and the dispatch date.
- Press Add orders and add the orders the delivery came from. Each one shows whether its lab record is approved or still waiting for approval.
- For each order, tick the rolls being sent. A small flask shows the rolls the lab tested.
- Press Save. The Test results as they print box then shows exactly what the customer will see, and a yellow box lists anything that still stops the certificate from being issued.
Only the ticked rolls' results count. If the lab tested roll 3 but you are not sending roll 3, its result is left out. A lab sample with no roll behind it (for example "Sample 2") counts for its whole order, because there is nothing to tick. If none of the rolls you send was tested for a test, that test has no results and the certificate cannot be issued - send a tested roll too, or ask the lab to test one of the rolls being sent.
Issue a certificate
A Lab Manager, the Technical Manager or a Production Admin checks it and presses Issue. Unless the company switched it off, this must be a different person from the one who prepared it (the same setting as for approving lab records). Issue needs every order's lab record to be approved: a record waiting for approval shows in the draft, but blocks Issue until it is approved.
When issued, the certificate gets its number (COC-2026-0001), your name and the date, and it is saved as a PDF. From then on it cannot be changed. Press PDF to print it or save it and send it to the customer. The order's page lists the certificates that cover it.
A result outside the limit
If a result on the certificate is outside its limit, Issue asks for a concession reason - for example that the customer agreed in writing. The certificate is then issued with the failing results shaded and the words "Accepted under concession: your reason". If you do not want that, cancel and either take that order off the certificate or ask the lab to correct its record (a lab record override needs a reason, as always).
Correct an issued certificate
An issued certificate is never edited. Press Withdraw, give the reason, and leave start a corrected copy ticked. The old certificate is marked Withdrawn (its PDF is kept) and a new draft opens with the same customer, orders and rolls. Correct it and issue it: it gets a new number and prints "This certificate replaces COC-…". Because the person who withdrew it started the copy, someone else issues the copy when the second-person setting is on.
Customer templates
The Customer templates tab on the Certificates page decides how each customer's certificate looks. The company default is used for every customer without their own template; until somebody saves it, it is the built-in one (a summary of every lab test). A template sets:
- the layout: a summary per test (how many were tested, the average, the lowest and the highest) or every roll's value;
- the tests shown, in order, each with the customer's own name, unit and number of decimals. None listed means every lab test. A test is found on the lab record by its quality characteristic, or else by the lab's name for it;
- the title, the statement printed under the results, the footer and the signature title;
- whether the limits and the standard deviation are printed.
A Lab Manager, the Technical Manager, the R&D Manager or a Production Admin changes templates. A template that certificates used is switched off rather than deleted.
Machines running off the op spec
While an order runs, ThreadWare compares each op-spec setting that is linked to a machine reading with that reading, every two minutes. If the value stays outside its limits for 5 minutes (not counting set-up), a deviation opens; when it comes back it closes. Set wrong means the value the operator entered is off; running off-spec means the machine itself is off.
Op Specs ▸ Spec Deviations lists them, the open ones first. A supervisor or planner presses Acknowledge and says what was done. On an order's card, Settings against the spec shows afterwards how each setting behaved over the whole run.
Delete things and start again
ThreadWare keeps anything that has been signed or used, because it is a record. Everything else can be removed. Find what you want to remove in the table:
| What you want to remove | How | When it is not allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Everything one import loaded - to load the files again, or because the wrong files were chosen | Platform administrator: Op Spec Import ▸ Import batches ▸ the import ▸ Delete import. Read the list of what will go, type the import's number, confirm. Then check the clean check: every line should read 0. | See Why can't I delete an import? below. |
| One op spec that is still a draft | Item Configuration ▸ open it ▸ Delete draft. | - |
| A published op spec | It cannot be deleted. Open it and press Withdraw: planning and new orders stop using it, and it stays as history. | Always kept. |
| A lab record | Open it ▸ Delete draft. | Only while it is a draft, and only by the person who started it (or a Production Admin). |
| A form, a test, or a machine setting in the set-up | Op Spec Set-up ▸ the tab ▸ click it ▸ Delete. | If an op spec uses it, it is switched off instead, so old op specs still read the same. |
| A machine name the import remembered wrongly | Op Spec Set-up ▸ Names learned ▸ the bin next to it. The next import asks again. | - |
| Quality reviews, deviations, the order link history, the amendment record | These are records of what happened and are never deleted. | Always kept. |
Why can't I delete an import?
Before anything is deleted, ThreadWare checks the import and lists every reason it will not delete it. You will see one or more of these:
| The reason says | What to do |
|---|---|
| ... were edited after the import | Somebody saved changes to some of its drafts, and deleting would lose that work. If you do not need those changes: delete each of those drafts yourself (Item Configuration ▸ open ▸ Delete draft), then delete the import. |
| ... are no longer Draft | Some of its op specs have been signed off. A signed-off op spec is a record and is never deleted, so this import stays. Delete its other drafts one by one if you need to, and load corrected files as the next revision. |
| ... production order(s) are linked, lab record(s), quality review(s) | The op specs are in use. The import stays. |
| The Production half of this delete is done ... | The delete stopped half-way (a network drop, say). Press Delete import again; it finishes the job. |
| ... have a later revision made outside this import | A newer revision of one of its op specs exists - made by hand with New revision, or by a later import (import it as the next revision). Delete that newer draft, or that later import, first. |
Deleting several imports? Start with the newest and work back. A newer import that brought in "the next revision" of an op spec stops the older import from being deleted until it is gone.
What else goes with an import. Deleting an import also removes the forms, tests, machine settings and remembered machine names that the import created - unless something outside that import uses them by now, in which case they stay and the clean check says so. So when you import the files again, you may be asked to match the machine names again.
Load new or corrected files
- New op specs - just import them (they can be in any number of imports).
- A corrected file of an op spec you imported earlier, nobody has touched it yet - delete that earlier import, then import the corrected file. (Deleting takes out the whole earlier import, so include the other files of that import again too.)
- A corrected file of an op spec that has been worked on or signed off - import it and choose import it as the next revision. It arrives as a new draft revision next to the old one.
Do I have to stop at 50 files?
Only per go. One import takes up to 50 files, but you can do as many imports as you like, one after the other. Each import is its own batch with its own number, so if one goes wrong you delete only that one. A sensible way to work: import 20-50 files, check a few of them, then do the next lot.
Op spec set-up
Op Specs ▸ Op Spec Set-up (R&D Manager and Production Admin):
- Templates - your paper forms: their number, name, form revision, the sign-off line printed at the bottom, and any extra columns.
- Quality characteristics - the list of tests and qualities. Add new ones here; the lab test and critical characteristics tabs pick from it.
- Machine settings - each machine's list of settings, the machine readings (tags) they are compared with, the allowed tolerance, and how they print. Settings with the same print line print on one line, for example "12/80%".
- Names learned - machine and setting names the import was told about.
- Development items - a new product that is not in the ERP yet gets a code starting DEV-. When the ERP code exists, press Re-link and every op spec moves to it.
- Settings (Production Admin) - whether Issue Order checks op specs; whether a step may be issued without one and whether a reason is then compulsory; the deviation hold time and tolerance; whether a lab record needs a second person to approve it.
Questions
The import log says LimitUnparsed. A lab test's limit is written in a way ThreadWare does not read yet. The test is loaded with the words kept and marked needs review, so the op spec cannot be signed off until someone types the limit on the lab tests tab. Tell support how the limit is written (the numbers can be replaced by 9s) and the importer will be taught. Limits with both ends in one cell, such as ">70 <110", are read already.
Certificate tabs (COC, COC1). (Not the certificates for customers above - this is about the spreadsheets.) A tab named COC, COC1 and so on holds the same lab form as tab 32. If the file has a tab 32, that is used and the COC tabs are left out. If it has no tab 32, one COC tab is used as the lab form: one with tests before an empty one, and of two filled ones the newer (the higher form revision, otherwise the higher-numbered tab). The log says which tab was used and why the others were left out.
The preview says more than one tab is form 32 (TemplateRepeated). The file has two tabs of the same form that are not COC tabs. An op spec holds one tab per form, and ThreadWare will not guess which one is right, so the file cannot be imported as it is. In Excel, hide (or delete) the tab that is not part of the op spec, save, and preview the file again: hidden tabs are skipped.
A tab matches no known form (TemplateNotIdentified). The tab is not one of the op-spec forms (a notes page, say) and is simply left out. Nothing to do, unless it should be part of the op spec - then tell support what it is.
Why is the Issue button grey? The op spec box is missing something - it says what, under the box.
I changed a draft but the printout is the old one. The printout is of the last saved draft. Save first.
Why is Issue grey on a certificate? Either you prepared it and a second person must issue it, or something is missing - the yellow box above the certificate says what. After changing orders or ticks, press Save first: the checks and the preview are updated when the certificate is saved.
A roll I ticked shows no results. The lab did not test that roll. The summary uses the results of the ticked rolls the lab did test (and any sample without a roll); on an every roll certificate the untested roll is printed blank.
Can the chatbot help? Yes - ask "how is item X made", "which op spec did order Y run on" or "has a certificate gone out for order Z".
Related guides
- Production - orders, planning and Item Configuration in general.
- Administration - switching op spec forms on for a company; giving people roles.
- AI Assistant - asking about op specs and orders.
- All guides