In this guide 6 sections
Make vendors show it live. Ask how ring and ball lots trace to a shipped bearing, how gauge readings arrive, how clearance grades are assigned and how laser marking is proved, using your parts. Never sign before you watch it work.
Can it follow a bearing back to its rings and balls?
Lot genealogy comes first. A finished deep groove bearing holds an inner ring, an outer ring, a set of balls, a cage and sometimes shields, each from its own lot, heat and supplier. Ask for the lot tree on screen. A slide will not do.
Ask the vendor to open a shipped serial and show every component lot beneath it, then reverse it: given one bar stock heat, list every bearing that used it. A consultant-built report is not standard.
Rework is where genealogies break. Ask what happens when rings are regrouped or mixed between lots, because a ring pulled back to the grinder can return under a new tag or none.
- Bar or tube heat to ring lot link
- Ball grade and lot to assembly link
- Cage and shield lot capture
- Reverse trace from heat to shipments
- Handling of reworked and regrouped rings
How does it treat grinding gauge data?
Grinding decides size, roundness and surface finish. Bore and raceway gauges often feed readings to a PLC or a standalone display, so ask how those numbers reach the system and who can edit them afterwards.
Typing invites errors and rounding. Ask whether the software takes values straight from the gauges, and whether it flags a drifting trend before parts leave tolerance on the bore or raceway.
Readings should link to the grinder, the wheel dress, the operator and the lot, so that when size starts to wander you can see the cause. A trend chart nobody watches is decoration, so ask who receives the alert, how soon it arrives and who may silence it.
Does it handle clearance grades and matching?
Radial internal clearance decides how a bearing behaves under load and heat, and customers order by clearance group, so matching rings and balls into sets is part of assembly. Free text clearance gives it away.
Matched sets are built from parts that arrive at different times, so sorting is a stock problem as much as a quality one.
Ask how the system records measured clearance, assigns the group and blocks a wrong-group shipment, and where it holds sorted rings that are waiting to be paired. Use your own 6200 and 6300 series. Samples borrowed from another industry cannot show how your ring sorting bins, size classes and matched sets behave under your own volumes and your own part mix.
- Clearance group captured per bearing or lot
- Ring sorting bins and stock by size class
- Matching rules for rings and balls
- Block on shipping the wrong group
Can it print the marking each customer demands?
Some customers want a laser-etched part number and date code, others want their own logo, a country of origin or a barcode on the box. Rules change by order too.
A recall may need every box that carried a particular mark, and the vendor should list them without a custom report or a paid consultant. Ask where the rules live. A marking template tied to customer and part number is safer than an operator choosing a file, and it should prove what was marked on each batch.
Labels, certificates of conformity and test reports should pull from the same record, never from a retyped copy kept beside the laser marking station.
Test the vendor before you trust the demo
Send three of your own part numbers and a messy scenario ahead of the call, including a rework, a customer return and a lot recall. Watch it live, without slides. Never let the vendor choose the data.
Ask for a reference from another component plant and call it, then ask how long data migration took, who did the work and what broke.
Tabulate the answers for your top two vendors, because by the third demo your memory will blur them together and the gaps vanish.
Vendor question scorecard
The scorecard lists every question from this article down the left, with columns for Vendor A, Vendor B, Demo shown live, Needs custom work and Notes. A footer block lists your three test part numbers, the rework scenario and the recall scenario used in every demo, so each vendor answers the same questions.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
What is lot genealogy in bearing manufacturing?
It links a finished bearing to the lots of rings, balls, cages and seals inside it, and further back to the steel heat. That finds affected shipments fast.
Should the software connect to grinding gauges?
Yes, where gauges can output readings. Direct capture removes typing errors and speeds trend alerts, so ask which gauge brands and interfaces the vendor has already connected in a live plant.
Why ask about clearance grades?
Customers order by clearance group. A wrong group can fail in service, so the system should record the measured value, assign the group and stop wrong-group shipments before dispatch.
Is a generic ERP enough for a bearing plant?
Sometimes, for orders and stock. It rarely covers matched sets, ring sorting and per-customer marking without customisation, so test those three first and ask for a live demonstration of each.