Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for iron foundries.
A checklist built from how iron foundries 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.
- Heat and charge record
- Pattern and core box register
- Moulding and pouring log
- Test bar and certificate
- Fettling and rejection causes
- Machining, heat treatment and dispatch
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For planners
- For the melting bay
- For moulders and fettlers
- For the lab and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Orders by part, pattern and promised date
- Heats with charge, chemistry and castings poured
- Casting yield from metal charged
- Rejections by cause, pattern and line
- Test bar results by heat and grade
- Pattern moulds counted and repairs due
- Machining and heat treatment quantities in and out
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Barcode and label printers
- Spreadsheet import for spectro results
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can heat numbers be linked to castings?
- How does it treat ductile iron?
- Can spectro results be imported?
- Does it track patterns?
- How are rejections analysed?
- Can machined castings be tracked?
- Is there a certificate for each heat?
- What do you need from us to start?
- How does scrap and returns accounting work?
- Can data be exported?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The charge is recorded after the pour
- Heat numbers do not reach the casting
- Patterns wear out unseen
- Rejections have no cause
- Test bars are not tied to the heat
Prefer to talk it through? See the iron foundries page.