Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for engine component manufacturers.
A checklist built from how engine component manufacturers 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.
- Customer schedules and call-offs
- Drawing and revision control
- Casting and forging lot traceability
- Machining route and first-off
- Gauge and hardness results
- Outside process tracking
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For plant heads
- For planners
- For machine operators
- For the gauge room
- For despatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Lots by route step and machine
- First-off approvals by part and offset change
- Rejection by part, dimension and cutting tool
- Outside process trays out, with days away and certificate status
- Call-off schedule against despatch by customer
- Tray balance by customer
- Gauge and master ring calibration due dates
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Measuring equipment file import
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can it follow a lot from casting to tray?
- How are drawing revisions kept apart?
- Can first-off approval stop a run?
- Can it take readings from the coordinate measuring machine in our gauge room?
- Can outside heat treatment be tracked?
- What happens when a customer reports a bad lot?
- How is pricing worked out?
- Can we take our records out?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Casting lots lose their identity
- Drawing revisions overlap
- Gauge results sit apart from the lot
- Outside processes are hard to chase
- Call-off changes reach the floor late
Prefer to talk it through? See the engine component manufacturers page.