Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for precision forging companies.
A checklist built from how precision 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.
- Bar and billet traceability
- Forging plan by press and hammer
- Die register and re-sinking history
- Furnace and heating log
- Weight, profile and visual checks
- Magnetic particle and hardness results
- Outside machining and treatment
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For planners
- For the die shop
- For quality staff
- For stores and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Bar stock and billets by heat number, with weight issued and remaining
- Die sets by forgings run, repairs and re-sinking dates
- Lots by press, hammer, die set and shift
- Forging weight against drawing limit, by part number
- Magnetic particle and hardness results by lot
- Outside treatment counts out and back, by vendor
- Scrap and rework by cause, die set and part
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Barcode and label printers
- Weighing scales
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can a finished forging be traced to its bar heat?
- How does the system know a die is near its limit?
- Does it connect to a pyrometer or induction heater?
- Can we follow an outside heat treatment vendor?
- Does the software approve our forgings?
- What about forgings that go for machining outside?
- Can two customers share one billet heat?
- How do shift supervisors use it?
- What drives the quotation?
- Can our lot and die records be exported?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The billet heat is lost after sawing
- Die wear arrives as a surprise
- Forging weight drifts unseen
- Heat treatment and machining sit in other plants
- Crack and lap findings are not linked to the process
Prefer to talk it through? See the precision forging companies page.