Tooling · part of Assets & Maintenance

Tool Management Software Know how many shots each mould has left before it cracks in the press.

One register of every mould, die, pattern and fixture, with its owner, location and revision. Life is counted from the quantities operators book, and PM and repairs run through your maintenance work orders.

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The basics

What is tool management software?

Tool management software keeps a register of production tooling such as injection moulds, press dies, die-casting dies, casting patterns, jigs and fixtures. For each tool it records owner, location, status, revision and rated life, counts the shots or strokes used in production, and plans preventive maintenance and repairs before the tool fails.

Tool life usually lives in the tool room supervisor's head, or in a notebook next to the press. Nobody can say which mould ran which order. A die runs past its rated life because the count was never updated. And when a customer audits the tooling they paid for, finding its asset number, location and change level takes days.

Features

A tool management system built for the tool room

One tool register, with owners and locations

Every tool has a type, revision, cavities, maker, owner (in-house, customer or supplier) and where it is now, including away at a supplier or with the customer. Tool types are your own list, each with its life unit.

Tool life management from production counts

When an operator books good and rejected quantity on a work order, the mounted tool gets the hits, divided by parts per hit for family moulds. Warning and end-of-life alerts go out at the percentage you set.

Tools on routings and work orders

A routing stage asks for a tool type, and the work order offers only approved tools for that part revision. Starting with a tool past its life, overdue for PM or on hold can be allowed, warned or blocked.

Die maintenance and mould maintenance by shot count

PM runs every N shots or strokes, repairs are logged with damage and cause codes, and inserts, cores and punches keep their own life from the day they are fitted. You see maintenance cost per tool and per 100,000 hits.

Approval, modification, transfer and scrap

Tool approval, modification, transfer, life extension and scrap run as request forms with approval routes you can redraw. A modification can link to an ECN and moves the tool to its new revision once approved.

Customer-owned tooling and physical inventory

See all tooling a customer owns, with their asset numbers. Turn on the property register for unique item IDs, count sheets by location or supplier, and an approved reconciliation of missing and found tools.

Connected

Tooling doesn't live alone

Each tool is also a machine record in TPM, so its PM plans and repair orders use the maintenance team's codes, spares and costs. Quantities booked in the MES feed the shot counter, and a pattern cleared in Pattern Tracking carries on as a tool.

Standards and industries

Tool life management for automotive, aerospace and defence tooling

IndustryStandardWhat you get
AutomotiveIATF 16949Tooling management: identification, status, owner, location and change level, including customer-owned tooling
Aerospace and defenceAS9100Customer property identified and looked after, with unique item IDs and physical inventories
General manufacturingISO 9001Property belonging to customers and suppliers, and maintained production equipment
FAQ

Tooling questions people ask

Still unsure? Ask our team.

What is tooling in manufacturing?

Tooling is the part-specific equipment a process needs to make a part: injection moulds, press dies, forging and die-casting dies, casting patterns and core boxes, jigs and fixtures. It is expensive, wears with every shot or stroke, and is often paid for and owned by the customer.

What is tool life, and how is it tracked?

Tool life is how much a tool can make before it needs refurbishing or replacing, counted in shots, strokes, cycles, moulds or hours. YourBrand holds a rated life per tool, adds hits from production bookings, warns at a set percentage and flags the tool once it passes its rated life.

What is die maintenance?

Die maintenance is the planned and corrective work that keeps press, forging and die-casting dies making good parts: sharpening, polishing, replacing punches and inserts, and repairing cracks. In YourBrand die PM runs by stroke count, and repairs record damage and cause codes with labour and spares cost.

Can we stop a mould that is overdue for PM from being used?

Yes. For each condition (past rated life, PM overdue, on hold or under repair, not approved) you choose allow, warn or block. Block stops the operator starting the operation with that tool.

How do you track customer-owned tooling?

Each tool records whether it is in-house, customer-owned or supplier-owned, the customer's tool or asset number, and where it is now. The customer tooling list shows everything one customer owns, and the optional property register adds unique item IDs and physical inventory counts.

Is this a tool crib system for cutting tools?

No. YourBrand manages part-specific production tooling such as moulds, dies, patterns and fixtures. Cutting tools, tool cribs and CNC tool assemblies are out of scope, and gauges belong to the gauge calibration product.

Get your tool room off the notebook

We walk through it with your own parts and documents. It takes about 30 minutes.

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Related: TPM softwareManufacturing execution systemAssets and maintenance suiteIATF 16949Automotive