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PROJECT 03 · 2024
Threadline
An order-tracking interface built for a small textile manufacturer to replace a paper ledger that three people were updating by hand.
Web application
Shipped
Sole builder
VueExpressPostgreSQL
The problem
A textile workshop tracked every order on a physical ledger. Three people updated it inconsistently, and finding the status of an order meant flipping through pages or asking around the floor.
The approach
Digitized the ledger's actual structure first, then improved it — rather than importing a generic order-management template that would have required the workshop to change how it worked.
OBSERVE↓REDUCE↓MODEL↓BUILD↓TEST↓SHIP
System diagram
Focus or hover a node for what it does.
Order entry
↓
Production stage
↓
Floor update
↓
Status view
↓
Customer note
An order is entered once, at intake.
Production stage is a single dropdown, matching the ledger's original columns.
Floor staff update stage from a shared terminal, no login friction.
A status view replaces flipping through the ledger.
A customer note field replaces the margin scribbles on paper.
By the numbers
1
Shared floor terminal
7
Production stages
12
Interface states
3
Releases
Decisions I kept
- Kept the exact stage names the workshop already used
- No login required at the shared floor terminal, only for the office view
- Printed order slips remained the source of truth for the floor, not overridden
Things I didn't build
- Barcode scanning — the order volume didn't justify the added hardware
- Customer-facing order tracking — customers called the office, which staff preferred
- Multi-location support — this was built for one workshop floor
What changed
Order status became a one-click lookup instead of a floor walk, and the three people updating the ledger stopped disagreeing about which version was current.
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