Build a foundry system around your patterns, your melts and your casting lots.
A casting passes through more hands than most parts. Pattern shop, melting, moulding or die casting, knockout, fettling, heat treatment, machining and inspection each keep a record of their own.
Those records usually live in a heat logbook, a rejection register and a spreadsheet of dispatches. When a customer returns a casting, the question is which heat it came from. Answering means turning pages by hand.
A foundry system from GullySystem could be built around the pattern or die, the melt, the mould and the lot. Each casting would carry its heat number forward to the invoice.
Casting businesses we could build for.
A sand foundry pouring grey iron and a pressure die caster running aluminium share a customer and a drawing. Little else on the floor is the same, so the screens differ.
- Aluminium die casting companies
- Iron foundries
- Steel foundries
- Investment casting companies
- Sand casting foundries
- Gravity die casting companies
- Foundry component manufacturers
- Low pressure die casters
- Ductile iron foundries
- Non-ferrous foundries
- Brass and bronze foundries
- Pattern making shops
- Die makers for casters
- Shell moulding units
- Fettling and finishing contractors
- Machining units attached to foundries
The modules, and what each one covers.
Nothing here is a fixed package. Each module is built, left out or changed to match how your organisation already works.
Patterns, dies and core boxes
Patterns, dies and core boxes are tooling with a number, a location and an owner. Their record follows every order that uses them.
- Tool number and customer drawing
- Cavities per die or pattern
- Owned by you or by the customer
- Shots or moulds made to date
- Repair and refurbishment history
- Storage location
- Revision of the casting drawing
- Shrinkage allowance used
- Tool sent for rework or to a vendor
Enquiry, quote and casting cost
A quote starts from the casting weight and the alloy, and it ends in a rate per piece.
- Drawing and revision received
- Casting weight and yield
- Metal cost by alloy and day’s rate
- Melt loss allowance
- Moulding or die casting cost
- Core cost
- Fettling and finishing cost
- Machining and outside processes
- Tooling cost recovered over the order
- Quote revisions and follow-ups
Alloy specification and melt recipe
Every alloy has a chemical window. The recipe says what goes in the furnace to land inside it.
- Alloy grade and standard
- Chemistry limits per element
- Charge make-up from pig, returns and scrap
- Alloying additions and master alloys
- Returns from your own runners and risers
- Inoculant and modifier addition
- Degassing or treatment record
- Bought-in ingot with its supplier certificate
Furnace and heat record
The heat is the unit of traceability in a foundry. Each one gets a number before the first pour.
- Heat number and date
- Furnace and operator
- Charge weights by material
- Tapping temperature
- Spectrometer reading before and after correction
- Corrections added
- Metal poured against metal tapped
- Ladle and pouring time
- Test bars cast with the heat
- Castings poured from this heat
A heat number written in a book is searched by hand. A heat number held against every mould and every lot can be searched at once.
Sand and mould preparation
For sand foundries, the sand plant is part of quality and part of cost.
- Sand system and mix recipe
- Moisture, compactability and green strength readings
- Binder and additive consumption
- New sand added
- Mould hardness
- Moulding line or machine
- Flasks used and flask count
- Mould weight and pouring weight
- Cores set per mould
Core shop
- Core box and core number
- Core sand mix and binder
- Cores made per shift
- Curing or baking record
- Core rejections
- Cores issued to moulding
- Core wash and coating
- Core stock by part
Die casting machine and shot record
A pressure die caster runs by machine, die and shot count, so the record is built around those.
- Machine tonnage and die mounted
- Die temperature
- Shot count and cycle time
- Injection parameters per job
- Metal consumption per shot
- Spray and lubricant use
- Cavities blocked off
- Shot-wise rejection
- Die changeover time
- Machine stoppage reasons
Investment casting wax and shell room
- Wax pattern injection
- Wax tree assembly
- Shell dipping layers and drying
- Dewax and firing
- Pour and shell knockout
- Ceramic material stock
- Wax reclaim
- Tree and part counts
Knockout, fettling and finishing
Fettling is hand work and often given to contractors, so the count has to be kept honestly.
- Knockout and shakeout
- Gate and riser cutting
- Shot blasting
- Grinding and chipping
- Weld repair where allowed
- Contractor piece-rate work
- Pieces counted in and out
- Fettling rejection
- Finishing consumables issued
Heat treatment
- Castings loaded
- Furnace cycle set
- Temperature recorded
- Quench
- Temper
- Hardness check
- Released to machining
- Furnace load chart
- Cycle against specification
- Hardness and tensile results
- Reheat after a failed test
- Outside heat treaters and their certificates
Inspection and testing
Inspection covers what the drawing asks for and what the customer’s own quality plan adds.
- Dimensional check against drawing
- Visual and surface inspection
- Spectro analysis report
- Tensile, hardness and impact tests
- Microstructure and nodularity
- Radiography and dye penetrant
- Pressure and leak test
- Sample plan per lot
- First-off approval after a die or pattern change
- Inspection report sent with dispatch
Rejection, rework and remelt
A rejected casting goes back to the furnace, so the reason is recorded before it is lost.
- Defect type: porosity, shrinkage, cold shut, sand inclusion
- Stage where found
- Heat, mould or shot that produced it
- Rework allowed or scrap
- Weight of scrap returned to remelt
- Customer returns against the original lot
- Cost of rejection by part
- Corrective action raised
Lot and heat traceability
- Lot number against heat number
- Mould or shot range in the lot
- Heat treatment batch
- Test results attached to the lot
- Customer return traced to its heat
- Material certificate per dispatch
- Part history from furnace to invoice
Machining and outside processes
- Castings issued to machining
- Machine and operator
- Outside machining vendors
- Painting, plating or impregnation
- Material sent out and received back
- Rate and loss allowed
- Vendor bill matched to delivery note
- Rejection after machining traced back to casting
Maintenance and energy
- Furnace lining life and relining
- Crucible and ladle life
- Die and pattern maintenance schedule
- Compressor and sand plant maintenance
- Breakdown record by machine
- Power use per tonne melted
- Gas or fuel consumption
- Cooling water and chiller checks
Stores and purchasing
- Ingot, pig iron, scrap and ferro alloys
- Binders, sand and refractories
- Lining materials and crucibles
- Die lubricants and sprays
- Purchase requisition and order
- Goods receipt with weighment
- Supplier test certificate on file
- Stock by location and lot
Dispatch, invoicing and customer schedules
- Customer schedule and call-off
- Packing list and weight
- Delivery note
- Tax invoice in your tax rules
- Currency per customer
- Export documents
- Returns and credit notes
- Customer rating and delivery performance
One connected workflow, end to end.
Every stage below can sit in one system, so nobody re-enters what the last stage already captured.
- Enquiry and quote
- Tooling made or received
- Melt recipe set
- Heat tapped and tested
- Mould or die cast
- Knockout and fettling
- Heat treatment
- Machining
- Inspection
- Lot release
- Dispatch and invoice
You do not have to replace everything at once.
Each phase is usable on its own, so the system earns its place before the next part is built.
- 1
Heat, melt and lot record
Alloy recipes, heat numbers, spectrometer readings and the lot that each casting belongs to. Traceability starts here.
- 2
Moulding, casting and fettling
Mould and shot records, core shop, rejection by cause, remelt and contractor fettling counts.
- 3
Quoting, tooling and dispatch
Casting cost, pattern and die register, customer schedules, certificates, invoices and returns.
- 4
Maintenance, energy and reports
Furnace and die upkeep, power per tonne, scrap trends and views for the owner and the quality head.
How a build actually runs.
- 01
Walk the metal
We follow a heat from charge material to the invoice and note every place a number is written down.
- 02
Name the records
Heat, mould, shot, lot, die and certificate are agreed as separate records with their own owners.
- 03
Design for the floor
Furnace screens are read at arm’s length near heat. The fettling count is tapped on a phone with gloves on.
- 04
Build the heat record first
Traceability is the part customers ask about, so it comes before reports.
- 05
Run beside the logbook
One furnace and one product line run on the new record while the logbook is still kept.
- 06
Move your history
Open orders, tool register and recent heats are carried across before the logbook is retired.
- 07
Extend by line
Die casting, machining and outside vendors are added as each line settles.
What you bring, and when.
The build moves at the speed of the answers. These are the things we ask for, in the order we ask.
- 01
Furnace logs, melt sheets and a costed enquiry
Bring the furnace log, a melt recipe sheet, a lab report and the costing behind a recent quote. Pattern and die registers matter too. Photographed handwriting is acceptable.
- 02
Melt shop, moulding floor, fettling and lab
Name a person from the melt shop, the moulding floor, fettling and the lab. They explain what each screen must capture. If the lab and the floor give different reject reasons, the works manager picks.
- 03
Alloy limits, melt loss norms and remelt rules
Chemistry limits per alloy, normal melt loss and the rule for remelting rejects need your word. Without them the melt screens stall. Those who use them check the screens as they land.
- 04
Open orders and tooling before the switch
Open customer orders, pattern and die records, and stock of alloys and sand additives are moved in. A spectrometer or lab instrument that exports readings is linked if possible. Works management agrees the cutover.
Systems we can put together for you.
- Heat and melt record systems
- Foundry production and moulding software
- Die casting shot and machine monitoring records
- Pattern and die register
- Casting costing and quotation tools
- Rejection and remelt analysis
- Lot and heat traceability systems
- Inspection and certificate software
- Fettling contractor piece-rate tools
- Heat treatment batch records
- Foundry stores and purchase systems
- Maintenance and energy records
- Customer schedule and dispatch portals
- Multi-plant foundry platforms
Questions owners ask before starting.
What is custom foundry software?
Here it means a system shaped by one foundry’s alloys, moulding method, tooling and customers instead of a stock factory package. The heat and lot record is usually where packages stop fitting.
Is die casting covered as well as sand casting?
Yes. The shot record suits die casting and the sand and mould record suits sand casting. Both share the heat, lot and rejection records.
Will the spectrometer feed readings in?
Where the instrument exports a file or a reading, it can usually be brought in. This is checked against your model during the design stage.
Can a returned casting be traced to its heat?
Yes, if the heat number is recorded against each mould or shot. That link is the first thing the system would be built to keep.
Does it handle fettling done by contractors?
Yes. Pieces counted in and out, rework and rate per piece can be held per contractor and checked before the contractor is paid.
How are material certificates for customers produced?
Test results are attached to the lot, and a certificate can be generated in the format a customer asks for.
Does it replace our accounts software?
Not necessarily. It can pass invoices and purchase entries across, or it can hold them itself. This is decided during design.
Can several plants use one system?
Yes. Every plant holds its own heats and tooling, while head office reads across all of them.
Will it work in a dusty, hot shop?
The screens can be designed for rugged tablets and wall displays. The hardware choice is reviewed with you.
How do we begin?
Share a sample heat record, a rejection register and one dispatch pack. We then describe what the system would hold and in what order it would be built.
How we work with this trade.
Ready products for this work.
If one of these fits, it is cheaper and faster than building from scratch. We will say so.
Build a foundry system that knows every heat.
A casting customer judges you on two things: whether the metal was right and whether you can prove it. The proof lives in the heat record.
Send a month of heat entries and one customer complaint. Our written reply sets out the link we would draw between heat, lot and rejection, and the part we would build first.
Tell us how your casting, foundry and die casting companies runs today.
We will tell you what can be digitised, what can be connected, what is worth automating, and what you should leave alone.
What happens after you share your requirements
- A senior engineer reads your answers. Nobody phones first.
- Within one business day you get a written note: what we understood, what we would start with, and the questions we still have.
- If it fits, a proposal follows with the order of work, what we need from you and what you receive at each step.
- No call is booked and nothing is paid until you have read the note. Your details stay with us.
Start with your requirements
Seven short steps that tell us what you need. A senior engineer reads them before anyone gets in touch.
Share your requirements