Follow each die, mould or press tool from design release to trial and repair.

A tool room sells one thing that takes months to make. Every stage waits on the one before it: a die shoe waits for the vacuum furnace, an insert waits for the wire machine, and the trial waits for a free press. The delay surfaces late.

Management software for tool rooms treats each tool as a project with a bill of parts, stage hours and a trial history. Booked hours and trial dates show exactly where the weeks went between design release and the first approved shot on the press.

A manufacturer orders a progressive die, a two-cavity mould or a draw tool, and supplies a part model. The design office issues drawings and a bill of materials covering die plates, punches, guide pillars, stripper springs, ejector pins and catalogue components. Steel is ordered in the grades the design names, and plates go for rough milling.

Plates return from heat treatment, are ground flat, and move to wire cutting and sinker erosion for profiles and cavities. A fitter assembles the tool, blues the faces, tunes the die clearance and carries it to the press or moulding machine for trial. Samples are measured. The customer comments. The tool comes back for correction. Approved tools leave with a spares list, and sharpening and repair jobs return through the same door for years.