The manufacturing lifecycle
Start from the outcome and the project’s actual stage. A proven part that needs a new supplier and a product still being designed need different plans.
This is a workflow guide. GET /lifecycle returns the stages, and GET /actions/kinds returns currently registered actions and their input schemas. A stage can be available, coordinated or planned. Use availability to distinguish a supported API call from work that needs a partner or the Maglev team.
1. Discovery and product strategy
Section titled “1. Discovery and product strategy”Agree the intended use, users, target markets, volumes, timing and tradeoffs. Record confidentiality requirements and NDA status. An engineering estimate should state assumptions; a statement of work (SOW) should name deliverables, responsibilities, exclusions and acceptance criteria.
Useful output: a confirmed brief, open questions, a scoped estimate and an agreed next step. The founder interview can collect a small initial brief today.
2. Engineering and readiness
Section titled “2. Engineering and readiness”A product requirements document (PRD) connects the desired outcome to measurable requirements. Design and detailed engineering turn those requirements into a consistent BOM, drawings, CAD exports, electronics, firmware and tests.
Pre-production prototype testing can expose failures that need investigation, design changes and retesting. Regulatory and certification requirements influence these decisions early; they should not first appear at shipping time.
Useful output: revisioned design inputs, test evidence, unresolved risks and an accountable owner for each decision.
3. Manufacturing planning and quoting
Section titled “3. Manufacturing planning and quoting”Design for manufacturing (DFM) asks whether the design can be made consistently using the selected process. Suppliers need enough specification to price the same job: material, finish, tolerance, quantity, revision, test needs and permitted alternatives.
Compare factory costs, tooling/setup, lead-time assumptions, Maglev services and delivery costs separately. Track quote validity and exclusions. A machine-readable capability estimate is not a supplier-issued quote.
Useful output: a reviewed RFQ package and comparable supplier responses. The catalog /run endpoint stores a request. Project actions can prepare delivery drafts; live approval is a separate step that can dispatch them.
4. Tooling, supply chain and line setup
Section titled “4. Tooling, supply chain and line setup”Resolve tooling specifications and ownership, component availability, alternate-part rules, assembly sequence, fixtures, programming and test procedures. Build the line/process that will reproduce the approved design.
Useful output: controlled work instructions, supplier commitments, tooling records and a readiness checklist tied to the design revision.
5. Validation and sample approval
Section titled “5. Validation and sample approval”Teams commonly distinguish engineering validation (EVT), design validation (DVT) and production validation (PVT). Project definitions and acceptance gates vary; unit count alone does not determine the stage.
Engineering validation tests whether the approach works. Design validation examines the intended design against its requirements. Production validation examines whether the intended production process can repeatedly make acceptable units.
Useful output: test results, deviations and approval of a specific sample/design/process configuration. Changing the configuration may reopen an approval.
6. Production and quality
Section titled “6. Production and quality”Coordinate production materials against the approved BOM. Incoming quality control (IQC) checks received material/components. Programming, calibration and functional testing use controlled versions. Outgoing quality control (OQC) checks the finished lot against its acceptance criteria.
Capture substitutions, nonconformances, rework, yield and traceability. A good sample does not by itself establish the quality of a later lot.
Useful output: accepted production records, test/inspection evidence and an approved pack-out.
7. Compliance, logistics and delivery
Section titled “7. Compliance, logistics and delivery”Maintain the documents applicable to the product, origin, destination and shipping mode. The relevant engineer, test lab, carrier or customs specialist should provide the evidence and decisions within their role.
Before booking, confirm the cargo, parties, packaging, commercial documents, costs and responsibilities. Track actual milestones through delivery rather than equating an API booking acknowledgement with shipment completion.
Useful output: the reviewed document set, transport records and delivery evidence. Logistics preparation and an actual carrier booking are different operations. Check the live action registry and availability before promising rates, labels, booking or tracking from a particular carrier.
Carry intent through every phase
Section titled “Carry intent through every phase”Quality, price, schedule, location and confidentiality can pull in different directions. Keep non-negotiable constraints distinct from preferences. A change in priorities should update the plan and its dependent decisions, not disappear inside a supplier-ranking score.
Actions you can request today
Section titled “Actions you can request today”The action reference maps published kinds to their input/output schemas:
| Work | Representative actions |
|---|---|
| Discovery and agreements | Strategy brief, NDA draft, SOW draft |
| Engineering | PRD, DFM review, Test plan |
| Manufacturing readiness | NPI plan, Readiness review, Quality plan |
| Factory coordination | RFQ draft, Quote extraction, Status request |
| Logistics | Shipping estimate, Compliance plan, Customs profile |
A returned plan or review is a draft. Store the later human decisions, supplier commitments and physical evidence alongside it; generating a plan does not complete the work it describes.