In this guide 6 sections
A returned casting cannot be traced because the heat logbook, the mould record and the dispatch sheet are written by different people with no shared key. Each page is correct alone. A custom record must hold the key at every join, from the ladle to the heat treatment load to the dispatch lot and the invoice.
Three records, three authors, no shared key
The melter writes the heat logbook, which holds the charge materials, furnace number, tap time, ladle temperature and spectrometer reading for every heat poured that shift. The moulder or die setter keeps a separate sheet, and the dispatch clerk writes a third, usually a packing slip with part number and quantity.
Each book is accurate alone. None of them carries the same number. The heat log says heat 4172, the mould sheet says Tuesday, second shift, box 18, and the dispatch sheet says forty pieces went to a customer.
When a customer returns a cracked casting, someone must walk from the invoice back to the ladle, crossing two gaps that no paper form forces anyone to bridge.
Where the chain snaps between heat and mould
One heat usually pours many moulds, and one shift may draw metal from two ladles, so a busy line leaves the pourer guessing which ladle filled which box. The mould number gets written. The ladle number does not.
Die casting repeats it. A holding furnace is topped up during the shift, so metal in the shot at ten o’clock is a blend of two charges. The shot counter and die number are written down on the shift sheet, but the ingot lot that fed the holding furnace is not.
A guess at the heat to mould link makes every later link a guess too. One weak join spoils the rest.
- Heat number written at the pouring station
- Ladle number and pouring time
- Mould or box number, cope and drag
- Die number, cavity and shot count
- Holding furnace top-up time and ingot lot
Fettling, heat treatment and machining split the lot
After shakeout, castings are cut from the runner, ground and shot blasted, and parts from different heats then share a bin because nobody has a reason to mark them. Nobody asked them to.
Heat treatment makes this worse. A batch furnace takes a load of mixed parts, and the treatment chart belongs to the load, not to the heat. Inspection steps such as radiography or magnetic particle checks add more reports, each with its own numbering, so a single casting can appear in several books under different numbers.
By dispatch, the lot number on the carton may name only a packing date, so the customer’s goods receipt note cites that date and the trail ends there.
The links a custom record has to keep
Design the record around one chain: heat, ladle, mould or shot, cleaning lot, treatment load, inspection result, dispatch lot and invoice, each step storing the previous key. One search opens the history.
Put the key where work happens. A pre-printed tag on the mould box, a scan at the pouring station and a pick-list at dispatch beat any form that someone fills at a desk later.
Keep the material test certificate attached to the heat, so the customer gets the chemistry and mechanicals that match the pieces they hold. Print the heat number on the note.
- Heat to mould or shot record
- Mould or shot to cleaning lot
- Treatment load and chart reference
- Inspection report per lot
- Dispatch lot to invoice and customer
Test the chain with one old return
Do not wait for the next complaint. Pick a returned casting and trace it with your current books, noting each place where you had to ask a person instead of reading a record.
Every such place is a missing link. Ranking them by how often a person gets it wrong tells you where a tag, a scan or a field belongs first. Invite the quality head.
Start with the heat to mould join, because every later link depends on it and the pouring station is where one pen stroke fixes it.
Heat to invoice trace sheet
A one page trace sheet that gives each step of the chain its own row: heat, ladle, mould or shot, cleaning lot, treatment load, inspection, dispatch lot and invoice. Columns record the record kept, the key written, who writes it, where it is stored and whether the key was found during a test trace of one returned casting.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do we need software to trace a heat?
Not on day one. A tagged mould box and a shared heat number can work on paper, as long as the pourer writes it down every single time. Software helps once volume makes the paper links unreliable, or once customers start asking for answers within hours instead of weeks.
What is the smallest useful change?
Write the heat or ladle number on the mould sheet at the pouring station, not later from memory at the desk. That one join closes the gap.
How does die casting differ from sand casting?
A die casting shot often draws on a holding furnace topped up mid-shift, so the metal is a blend and the alloy batch is hard to name. Log top-up times and ingot lots.
How long should records be kept?
Many customers specify a retention period. Follow your customer’s quality agreement and any standard named in your contract, then write that period on the cover of each heat logbook.