Using Templates to Speed Up Product Creation

If you make multiple products with similar components — the same base materials, the same types of labour tasks, the same machines — templates let you pre-populate a new product with that starting set rather than adding everything from scratch each time.

What a template contains

A product template is a saved set of:

• Materials — with their quantities and any waste factors
• Labour entries — with task names, times, and rates
• Machine entries — with machine references and durations

Templates do not contain a product name, SKU, category, or selling price — those are set on the product itself.

For information on creating and managing templates, see the Templates section.

Using a template when creating a product

1. Go to Products and click Create Product.
2. On the product creation form, select Start from Template.
3. Choose a template from the list. You will see a preview of the components the template contains.
4. Click Use This Template.
5. Fill in the product name, category, and other details as normal.
6. Click Save.

The product is created with all the template's components pre-loaded. You can then adjust quantities, add additional materials, or remove components that do not apply to this specific product.

Typical use cases

• Product families: You make candles in three sizes (100 g, 200 g, 300 g). Create a template for the base components (wick, jar, label, labour for labelling) and adjust the wax and fragrance quantities per size.
• Standard process overhead: Every leather product uses the same edge finishing labour steps. Create a template with those steps and start every leather product from it.
• Machine-heavy products: Every laser-cut item uses the same laser cutter and the same finishing machine. A template saves you from repeatedly adding those entries.

Templates do not stay linked

Once you create a product from a template, the product and template are independent. Changing the template later does not affect products already created from it. If you want to apply template updates to existing products, you will need to edit those products manually.