Assembling a board is rarely one step. SMD parts go on and through the reflow oven, through-hole parts follow, a few sensitive components are fitted by hand, and then the board is tested. A multi-stage build follows that reality: you place part of the BOM now and the rest later, in as many stages as the work takes.
At each stage you choose which components to assemble, and PartsBox removes stock only for those parts. Each stage records a comment describing the work done, and prints its own pick list, listing only the parts that stage places — so the person doing through-hole assembly is not handed the SMD reels. The device keeps a single ID Anything™ code from the first stage to the last, so you can label and scan an unfinished board to see exactly how far it has got.
PartsBox keeps in-progress builds in their own section. You can watch each one move through its stages and read the comment recorded at each stage describing the work done. The number of builds in progress, and the number of stages each has, is unlimited.
The Build Results tab shows the stock that is currently in production. With lot control, each unit is already a lot: expand it to edit its details, add attachments, set custom fields, or tag it — so test results and inspection records can be attached to a specific device before the build is even finished. When the build completes, those lots move from "in production" to available, and operations like moving and adjusting counts become available.
When the last stage is done, mark the build finished. The actual cost of the consumed parts is now known, so you enter the price for the resulting sub-assembly part's stock, and that stock becomes available for use in other builds. The finished build stays in build history with its stages, comments, and consumed stock.
Stage comments can appear as table columns. The builds list can show a "Last stage comment" column, for the status of every build at a glance. The build details table can show a "Stage comment" column against each BOM entry, recording when that part was placed and any note from that stage. Add either from the gear icon in the table header.
Multi-stage builds are on the Production plan.