Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for precision grinding shops.
A checklist built from how precision grinding shops 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 operation
- Incoming blank check
- Wheel and dress log
- Trial-piece and sample gauging
- Gauge calibration register
- Lot and heat number trace
- Outside process tracking
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For estimators and the office
- For grinder operators
- For inspectors
- For the stores and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Jobs by grinder, with the setup each is waiting on
- Quotations pending, accepted or lost, split by customer and part
- Blank allowance measured against what the drawing assumed
- Scrap and rework by cause, wheel and part number
- Gauges and master rings due or overdue for calibration
- Outside process lots, with days away and vendor
- Delivered lots by customer, revision and invoice status
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.
- Does it cover all four main grinding types?
- How are wheel settings kept for repeat jobs?
- Can inspection readings go straight into the report?
- Does it warn about an overdue gauge?
- We send parts out for hardening and plating. Is that handled?
- Can we trace a delivered shaft back to its blank?
- Do operators need a computer at each machine?
- Will old drawings and open jobs come across?
- How is it priced and how do we see it first?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Allowance on the blank is not recorded
- Wheel and dress settings live in the operator’s head
- Gauge readings are on loose sheets
- Gauges go past calibration
- Outside steps hold up the job
Prefer to talk it through? See the precision grinding shops page.