Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for metal stamping companies.
A checklist built from how metal stamping 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.
- Quotation by strip pitch and tonnage
- Die register and stroke counter
- Coil receipt and lot trace
- Press schedule and changeover
- In-process and first-off checks
- Tooling cost recovery
- Scrap and call-off dispatch
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For planners
- For die setters and press operators
- For tool-room and maintenance staff
- For stores, inspection and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Press hours and good parts per hour, by press and die
- Strokes since regrind, by die
- Coil lots consumed and the runs they fed
- Call-offs due, shipped and still open per customer
- Tooling cost recovered against parts shipped
- Skeleton and reject weight against coil issued
- Outside process lots with vendor and days away
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Barcode scanner
- Accounting export
- Spreadsheet import
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- How does it know a die needs a regrind?
- Can it trace a bin of parts to the coil?
- How are weekly call-offs handled?
- Can we track die cost paid by the customer?
- Does it read the press counter?
- Can scrap skeleton be reconciled?
- Does it handle outside plating or heat treatment?
- Can open orders and die records be loaded?
- What does it cost and how can we see it?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Die life is judged by sound and burr height
- Coil lots are not tied to finished parts
- Call-offs and press time do not line up
- Tooling cost recovery is untracked
- Scrap skeleton is sold by weight with no reconciliation
Prefer to talk it through? See the metal stamping companies page.