Hegemi vs. Craftybase: Two Philosophies of Manufacturing Inventory

Choosing an inventory management system is a foundational decision for any manufacturing business. It’s not just about counting parts; it’s about modeling your entire production reality in software. Two distinct approaches are exemplified by Craftybase, a tool tailored for the craft and handmade goods market, and Hegemi, a system designed for the complexities of modern hardware assembly.

This article compares these two philosophies to help you understand which is the better fit for your operation.

The Bookkeeping-Centric Model: Craftybase

Craftybase is a mature and popular platform that serves the small-scale maker community exceptionally well. Its data model is built around concepts familiar to crafters who have scaled their hobby into a business: materials, recipes (BOMs), and manufactures (production batches).

Its core strength lies in its perpetual inventory system, which uses a series of adjustments to track stock. You purchase materials, which creates a positive adjustment. You manufacture a batch of products, which creates negative adjustments for the materials consumed and a positive adjustment for the finished goods. You sell a product, and another negative adjustment is made. This is a classic, accounting-driven approach.

Where Craftybase Shines

For businesses producing goods in fungible batches—such as soaps, candles, food items, or simple apparel—Craftybase is a strong choice. Its key advantages include:

• Strong E-commerce Integration: It has deep integrations with platforms like Etsy and Shopify, automating the import of orders and sales data.
• Costing and Financials: It excels at calculating the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) using a weighted-average cost method and provides reports (like a Schedule C helper) that simplify bookkeeping for sole proprietors.
• Simplicity for its Target Market: The terminology and workflows are intuitive for makers. Concepts like “recipes” and “manufactures” map directly to the process of creating repeatable batches of goods.
• Traceability for Batches: Craftybase offers lot tracking, allowing you to trace a batch of finished products back to the specific lots of raw materials used in its production. This is excellent for quality control in many industries.

However, this bookkeeping-centric, batch-oriented model reaches its limits when the identity and history of each individual unit you build becomes important.

The Digital Twin Model: Hegemi

Hegemi is built on a different philosophy: every product you build is a unique Instance with a complete, traceable history. Instead of just tracking batches, Hegemi creates a “digital twin” for every single serialized unit that leaves your workshop. This is a model born from engineering and complex hardware assembly, where tracking the lifecycle of an individual unit is non-negotiable.

An Instance in Hegemi isn't just a row in a database; it's a rich historical record. It documents which specific components were installed into that specific unit, who installed them, and when. If a component is later swapped out for a repair or upgrade, that event is also captured, maintaining a complete genealogy from assembly to end-of-life.

Where Hegemi Excels

Hegemi is designed for businesses building products where unit-level traceability is paramount. This includes robotics, custom electronics, drones, scientific equipment, or any high-value, serialized hardware.

• Granular, Instance-Based Traceability: While Craftybase tracks which lot of screws went into a batch of 100 circuit boards, Hegemi tracks which specific motor (with its own serial number) was installed into Quadcopter #007. If that motor is later moved to Quadcopter #015, the system tracks the swap, preserving the full history of both units.
• BOM Revisions and Engineering Change Management: Hardware development is iterative. Hegemi’s Bill of Materials (BOMs) support revisions. You can have instances of Rev A and Rev B of a product in the field simultaneously. More importantly, you can migrate an in-progress build from one revision to another, with the system intelligently handling the component changes. This is a fundamental requirement for any business with an engineering-first workflow.
• Complex Assembly and Fleet Management: The digital twin model provides unparalleled visibility into the state of every unit you’ve ever built. Technicians can see the exact configuration of any unit in the field, see its complete repair and modification history, and manage component swaps between units in a fleet.
• Deliverables and Project Costing: Hegemi groups customer orders into Deliverables, which aggregate all instances, purchases, and associated costs for a specific project. This provides a clear picture of profitability on a per-order or per-project basis, even for complex, multi-unit deliveries.

Choosing the Right Philosophy

Neither approach is universally “better”; they are simply designed for different realities.

You should consider Craftybase if:

• You primarily manufacture products in batches where individual units are interchangeable.
• Your main sales channels are e-commerce platforms like Etsy or Shopify, and you need tight integration.
• Your primary need is accurate bookkeeping, COGS tracking, and tax reporting for a high-volume crafting business.
• Your products are relatively simple, with stable BOMs that don't undergo frequent engineering revisions.

You should consider Hegemi if:

• You build complex, serialized hardware where the history of each individual unit matters.
• You need to track component swaps, repairs, and modifications over the lifetime of a product.
• Your product development involves engineering revisions, and you need to manage different BOM versions across your fleet of instances.
• Your customers are other businesses or high-end consumers who may require detailed build and service histories.

In short, Craftybase helps you run the business of making things. Hegemi helps you manage the complexity of building, tracking, and servicing advanced hardware.