Ask three colleagues what belongs in a complete production package and you will get three answers. The draftsman says: every drawing as a PDF. The work planner then points at the missing DXF flat patterns for the laser cutter. And the project lead mostly thinks of the customer, who asked for a STEP of the assembly. All three are right, and that is what makes it tricky.
Because to deliver a complete production package is more than exporting drawings. It means giving every recipient the right format, all from the same revision, under a recognizable name, with no loose ends. In this article we walk past the regular consumers of your work, from shop floor to customer, and build a package layout you can reuse on every order. The production work behind it can be automated with a toolbox like Thundercad; the layout itself is a matter of agreeing on it once.
The recipient decides the format
A file format is not a preference, it is a language: it has to match the recipient's process. The welder at the bench has no use for a STEP file; he wants a dimensioned drawing to lay next to the work, on a screen or on paper. The laser cutter has no use for that drawing; the nesting software asks for flat contours. And the customer building your machine into a production line wants 3D geometry to verify interface dimensions, not your entire drawing set.
Look at it that way and "just send everything as PDF" stops being service and becomes a shifted problem. The recipient ends up converting, redrawing or calling. Every conversion on the other side is a chance of error you could have removed by sending the right format in the first place.
And do not forget your own field crew. The fitter assembling a machine on site or troubleshooting a breakdown is the only one who needs the complete set: every drawing as a PDF, the bill of materials with it, preferably in a fixed order. On site there is no quick look-up in Inventor, so anything missing from the package turns into a phone call to the office.
The overview: who gets what
This is how the split looks at most machine builders and sheet metal shops:
| Recipient | Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Shop floor: sawing, welding, assembly | Dimensioned, readable drawing, on paper or screen next to the work | |
| Laser cutting or punching supplier | DXF | Flat contours of sheet metal parts, ready for nesting |
| Machining supplier: turning and milling | STEP and PDF | 3D geometry for programming, drawing for tolerances and fits |
| Subcontractor working in AutoCAD | DWG | Editable 2D that opens in their own environment |
| Customer or external engineer | STEP and PDF | Interface and installation dimensions in 3D, overview drawing as reference |
| Purchasing | PDF and BOM | Ordering by description and quantity, drawing attached to the request |
Most of the confusion sits in the choice between the two 2D formats; in DWG or DXF? What your shop, supplier and customer really need we line up the differences and the pitfalls.
One source, one revision: building the package
The most dangerous production package is the one that came together in stages. PDFs made on Monday, one more model change pushed through on Wednesday, DXFs exported on Thursday. The result: the laser cutter works to revision B while the shop floor holds revision A. Nobody did anything wrong, and still the cladding will not fit.
Three rules prevent it. One: export only from released files, never from work in progress. Two: generate the complete package in a single run, so every recipient is guaranteed the same state of the design. Three: fix the naming, with drawing number plus revision in every file name, so a stray file can always be traced back.
This is also where tooling earns its keep. With Batch Publish you generate PDF, DWG, DXF and STEP in bulk from the same source, working together with Vault, and Export Folder automatically drops every export into a fixed folder structure: DXFs in the sheet metal supplier's folder, PDFs for the shop floor, STEP with the customer documentation. How to set up that bulk export in practice is covered in Faster exporting in Autodesk Inventor: from 12 steps to 1 click; here the point is the principle: one run, one revision, fixed places.
One complete set in one run, with a dedicated folder for every recipient: that is what Thundercad was built for. Put it to work on your own project.
Try 30 days freeThe checklist: is the package complete?
Completeness is the second half of consistency. This is the list to walk through before anything goes out:
- every production drawing as a PDF, including those of the subassemblies;
- a DXF flat pattern for every sheet metal part, verified against the latest revision;
- a STEP for every machined or outsourced part;
- the bill of materials in the format purchasing or the customer actually reads;
- the revision in the file name identical to the revision in the title block;
- no files from an earlier revision left in the folder;
- a short note for the recipient: which files, which revision, what changed.
That last item is skipped most often and appreciated most. One paragraph at the top of the email is enough, and the recipient no longer has to guess what is in the folder and why.
A useful aid for that note: follow the order of the bill of materials. Number the PDFs by drawing number and arrange the folders by recipient, and the package becomes predictable. The recipient finds every file where they expect it, and you see at a glance which part is still missing.
When something changes: keep the package whole
Changes are unavoidable; loose ends are not. When a part moves to a new revision, treat the package as one unit: replace the affected files, remove the old versions from the current folder and update the note. The temptation is to send just that one file after the fact, but that is how the mixed revisions appear that production struggles with later.
With a fixed structure like that, upkeep is hardly any work: the new run replaces the current set and the archive grows by itself. Without structure, every change becomes a puzzle, and the puzzle always lands with whoever happened to run the export that week.
Also agree on who owns the package for each order. Not because it needs another job title, but because a package without an owner fragments by itself: everyone exports one more thing, nobody updates the note. One name on the order prevents that, and that name also knows who must be informed when something changes.
Frequently asked questions
Which format do I send when the recipient does not specify one?
Ask, because guessing costs two rounds of email. If you cannot get an answer, at least include a PDF as a readable reference, plus the format that fits the process: DXF for sheet metal work, STEP for machining and installation. State in your note which files are meant for what.
Does every recipient need the complete set?
No. Give each recipient only what they need; it keeps communication clean and prevents someone from working with a file from another part of the set. Archive the complete set yourself, as one unit per revision.
How much time does a complete package take per order?
Done manually, file by file, an order with dozens of drawings easily takes half a day. With a bulk export and a fixed folder structure you are talking minutes, checking included. Curious what it saves on your orders: try Thundercad free for 30 days and measure the difference on one real order.