Choosing ERP software is one of the biggest decisions a foundry makes: the system will stay with the business for many years and touch every department, from engineering to shipping. This guide collects the criteria worth assessing before you decide.
1. Does the software really understand foundries?
The first question is whether the ERP thinks like a foundry. A generic ERP handles parts, bills of materials and routings; a foundry needs heats, alloys, charges, patterns, cores, dies, yields and scrap. If those concepts are missing, they will be rebuilt with extra fields and spreadsheets, with a real risk of inconsistent data.
During the demo, ask to see, using your own real examples:
- the technical sheet of a casting with pattern, cores, alloy, weights and yield;
- how a heat is recorded and linked to the castings produced;
- how the cost per kg of a complex part is calculated.
2. Scheduling on real constraints
Scheduling is where many generic ERPs show their limits. Check that the system accounts for moulding-line and flask capacity, alloy availability in the furnaces, core-shop lead times and subcontracted operations. A good foundry ERP lets you re-run the plan in minutes when a priority changes.
3. Traceability: how fast can you answer a complaint?
Ask the supplier to show a backward trace: from a disputed casting to its heat, chemical analysis and pouring temperature; then forward: from that heat to every casting produced and every customer affected. If this takes more than a few clicks, traceability will not help you when it matters.
4. Quality and scrap
Scrap is a hidden cost that consumes metal, energy and labour. The ERP should let you classify scrap by cause, department and part and automatically generate the certificates customers require, without re-keying data.
5. True cost, not just price per kilo
Price per kilo is a commercial benchmark, but two castings of the same weight can cost very different amounts. Check whether the software costs each operation — metal, cores, moulding, fettling, heat treatment, outsourced work — and compares quoted with actual cost.
6. Shop-floor integration and Industry 4.0
Moulding lines, furnaces, scales and barcode readers generate valuable data. A modern ERP should capture it, both to reduce manual entry and to support the machine-interconnection requirements of innovation incentives where they apply.
7. Cloud or on-premises
There is no single right answer. Cloud removes on-site servers and makes access from the shop floor and on the move easier; on-premises may be preferable with limited connectivity or heavy plant integration. Prefer software that supports both architectures, so you are not locked in.
8. The supplier: expertise and continuity
Finally, look at who stands behind the software. A supplier who knows foundries shortens analysis, speaks the same language as your engineers and knows which customisations are really needed. Ask how long they have worked in the sector, how they migrate data and how support is organised after go-live.
A demo checklist
- Complete technical sheet of one of your real castings
- Recording a heat, with backward and forward traceability
- Rescheduling after an urgent order is inserted
- Scrap analysis by cause
- Cost per piece and per kg
- Use on a tablet on the shop floor
- Cloud and on-premises deployment options
Fond/Wise was designed around these criteria, building on experience gained inside foundries since 1994. To test them against your own operation, request a demo.