Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for aerospace tooling companies.
A checklist built from how aerospace tooling companies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Tooling enquiry and estimate
- Drawing revision register
- Material and certificate trace
- Machining route and first-off sign-off
- Measurement report storage
- Outside process tracking
- Customer tooling register and recalibration
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the tooling manager
- For programmers and machinists
- For the quality lead
- For estimators and sales
- For stores and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Tools by stage, customer and promised date
- Drawing letters released against tools still on an earlier one
- Plate and billet lots used per tool, with certificate status
- Measurement reports outstanding for finished tools
- Anodising and heat treatment batches sent and not yet returned
- Hand fitting and spindle hours per tool against estimate
- Customer gauges with verification due in the next quarter
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting export
- Coordinate measuring file import
- Document storage
- SMS
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can a tool be tied to one drawing letter?
- Does it store the coordinate measuring report?
- How are plate certificates linked?
- Can we price hand fitting from past tools?
- What happens with anodising and heat treatment?
- Can we keep a list of customer-owned tools?
- Can machinists use it on the floor?
- Is aerospace compliance included?
- What about the tool records we already hold?
- What does it cost?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Two revisions are in the shop
- Certificates drift away from plates
- Measurement reports sit on a workstation
- Recalibration dates are held by the customer
- Outside processes lose their trail
Prefer to talk it through? See the aerospace tooling companies page.