Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for rubber gasket manufacturers.
A checklist built from how rubber gasket manufacturers 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.
- Drawings, patterns and revisions
- Sheet stock by grade and thickness
- Nesting and cutting programs
- Die and tooling register
- Extruded profile and splicing
- Kits and bag counts
- Material notes and delivery
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For estimators
- For cutting operators
- For stores
- For packers and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Orders by stage with sheet area used
- Nesting yield by job, compound and operator
- Offcut stock by compound and size
- Dies and blades past their impression limit
- Rejects by part and cause, such as torn web or oversize bore
- Kit packs completed and short
- Buyer balances, oldest due first
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Cutting machine file transfer
- Barcode and bag label printing
- Weighing scale input
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Accounting software export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can the nesting yield be seen after each job?
- Does it keep offcuts?
- Can one part have a rubbing and a drawing?
- How are dies tracked?
- Can it manage spliced door seals?
- Can kits be checked before shipping?
- How do our part numbers and sheet stock get in?
- What do we get if we leave?
- What affects the cost?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Drawings come in many forms
- Nesting waste is invisible
- Sheets of similar grade get mixed
- Dies and programs go astray
- Kits and counts are packed by hand
Prefer to talk it through? See the rubber gasket manufacturers page.