Case study Manufacturing · PLM / MRP · Designed 2020 to 2021 · Read 2026

Right-sizing PLM and MRP for teams too big for spreadsheets, too small for ERP.

The design system I built inside Aligni, and a retrospective read of the platform it serves: one item master, visible, explainable, and one click from action.

RoleProduct Designer, Aligni Inc.
TimelineFeb 2020 to Apr 2021, contract
DomainPLM / MRP · Manufacturing SaaS
MethodEmbedded design + retrospective analysis
50+Reusable primitives with documented tokens
~35%Less front-end rework after adoption
5-phaseDocumented design-to-dev workflow
1 item masterThe record the whole platform hangs off

Rework reduction is an engineering-side estimate comparing front-end rework before and after system adoption. Product observations are a 2026 retrospective read of the shipped platform.

In 30 seconds
  • What I shipped: a 50+ primitive design system and a five-phase design-to-development workflow that cut front-end rework roughly 35%.
  • The platform's thesis: right-size PLM and MRP by making one item master visible, explainable, and one click from action.
  • Worth stealing: explainable forecasts, conversation kept on the record, and an evaluation experience designed like the product.
Aligni Inventory Outlook forecast chart with color-coded demand and inbound events
FIG. 01 The signature screen: stock, build consumption, inbound POs, demand and safety stock on one timeline, every node hoverable for the record behind it.
01 · My design system work

What I shipped: 50+ primitives, one documented workflow.

While embedded at Aligni I built the platform's first formal design system: 50+ reusable primitives with documented tokens, typography and usage guidelines, plus a five-phase design-to-development workflow that gave a dense, decades-deep product a shared language. Front-end rework dropped roughly 35% once components replaced one-off builds, per engineering estimates before and after adoption. The system covers the patterns the product is made of: wide tables, dense forms, and audit-heavy flows. The system work ran alongside daily design sessions with the platform's principal stakeholder: his PLM and MRP depth, paired with user testing, is how the most complex new features got designed and shipped.

02 · The domain

The gap between the spreadsheet and the ERP consultant.

Hardware teams outgrow spreadsheets fast: BOM revisions fork, counts drift, purchasing lives in email. The traditional answer, enterprise ERP, brings consultants and months of implementation. Aligni lives in that gap, with twenty years of electronics-manufacturing heritage, and the rest of this study reads the platform the way I would tear down a competitor. The shared job across all five user roles is one question, answered without a meeting: can we build it, and what's blocking us?

Personas mirror the roles Aligni's own navigation enumerates, informed by working alongside those users while embedded on the team.

The core UX thesis

The incumbents' weakness isn't capability, it's weight. Every product decision attacks the cost, complexity and opacity that make ERP wrong-sized for SMB manufacturers.

03 · The architecture

One record, many lenses. Screens that end in a verb.

BOMs and revisionswhere-used, both directions ChangesECOs with history Inventoryper warehouse and zone PurchasingRFQs, POs, price history Buildsconsume per the BOM Vendorslinked to the parts they supply Itemmaster QUICKSEARCH REACHES ANY RECORD · GRAPHQL EXPOSES THE SAME MODEL
FIG. 02 Hub and spoke: every module is a relationship to the item master, so every role reads purpose-built views of shared truth.
Shortage reportwhat's blocking the build Inventory Outlookwhy: every point traces to a cause Drop-dead datewhen: order by this day PO issuedfrom the same surface, no re-keying the report that identifies the problem is the surface that solves it: insight and execution share a screen
FIG. 03 The planner's flow. Aligni's best screens end in a verb: the forecast yields order dates, the shortage report yields POs.
04 · The surfaces

Visible, explainable, auditable.

Aligni BOM and revision management view
FIG. 04 BOMs with revision control and two-way where-used: the query that makes change management safe is first-class. Source-code management for hardware.
Aligni procurement view with RFQs and purchase orders
FIG. 05 Procurement: every quote and purchase accrues to the item, so pricing history compounds into negotiating leverage with zero extra effort.
Aligni in-context discussion threads pinned to records
FIG. 06 Threads pinned to records: institutional memory disguised as chat, aimed at turnover and tribal knowledge, the silent killers in SMB ops.
Aligni material transfers logged against the item master
FIG. 07 Transfers and adjustments, fully logged. The audit trail is the reason teams stop keeping shadow spreadsheets.
05 · Takeaways

Four principles worth stealing.

Right-sizing is a strategy

Aligni doesn't apologize for not being ERP; clarity about who you're not for is a UX position.

Explainable numbers

Traceable, hoverable forecast points are the difference between a number people follow and one they re-derive in Excel.

Conversation on the record

Attaching discussion to objects instead of inboxes turns communication into a compounding asset.

Design the evaluation

Public sandbox, published pricing, free onboarding: for considered B2B purchases, the buying journey is where trust is won.

Method note: the live demo environment disallows automated access, so screenshots are Aligni's own published product captures; friction observations are analytical inferences. Screens © Aligni Incorporated.

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