Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for hot forging companies.
A checklist built from how hot forging 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.
- Billet and bar receipt
- Die register
- Heating and forging log
- Trim, heat treatment and cleaning
- Crack and hardness inspection
- Yield and scrap reporting
- Dispatch and invoicing
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For the die shop
- For heater and press operators
- For furnace staff
- For quality inspectors
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Material loss per part, billet against forging and flash
- Die life used and regrind due, by die set
- Scrap by lap, short fill and crack, split by die and press
- Lots in normalising or quench with hardness status
- Outside machining and coating lots out and due back
- Customer complaints traced to bar heat and die
- Orders by customer with dispatch dates
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- Accounting export
- Barcode labels
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can it track strikes per die?
- Does it keep the mill certificate with each forging?
- How is material loss calculated?
- Do hammers and presses run in one plan?
- Does it handle normalising batches?
- What about dies that belong to customers?
- What if a customer changes the drawing?
- Do invoices export to our accountant?
- What decides the cost?
- Who maintains it after go-live?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Die life is judged by feel
- The mill heat number is lost after cutting
- Scale and flash losses are guessed
- Heat treatment and finishing are tracked loosely
- Dies belong to customers and wander
Prefer to talk it through? See the hot forging companies page.