Four categories that often overlap.
| Category | Primary question | Evaluation focus |
|---|---|---|
| ERP / shop management | How does the business move from an incoming job to billing? | Orders, pricing, receiving, shipping, and financial handoffs. |
| MES / production | What is happening on the floor? | Work in progress, routes, loads, and operator activity. |
| QMS / quality | What evidence supports the result? | Review, traceability, documents, and controlled changes. |
| Furnace / pyrometry systems | What is happening at the equipment? | Process data, instruments, furnace status, and specialist records. |
A starting shortlist for your research.
The summaries below describe vendors’ published positioning, not independent performance tests or an endorsement. Confirm scope, availability, pricing, and implementation terms directly.
| Solution | Published focus | A useful question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Shop | Job shop ERP for heat treating, finishing, and coatings. | Which core functions and optional modules does our workflow need? |
| Bluestreak | MES and QMS with work-order and quality modules. | How will production, quality, and our accounting system connect? |
| Steelhead | Job shop software with heat treat scheduling, quoting, and reporting. | Can you demonstrate our load planning and costing scenarios? |
| ThermERP | Heat treat ERP in a founding-customer phase. | Which capabilities are in use now, and which are still planned? |
| HeatLock | Heat treat ERP organized around loads and traceability. | How does an order split across loads and reconnect to its records? |
| ERPMet | ERP marketed specifically to job heat treaters. | How well do support, deployment, and financial workflows fit our location? |
| C3 Data | Specialist pyrometry and furnace-compliance software. | Which records stay here, and what is shared with the shop system? |
| SSi SuperDATA | Heat treat HMI/SCADA and process-data tools. | How will equipment records connect to business and job records? |
Give every vendor the same demonstration script.
- Receive a representative order with the actual identifiers your team needs.
- Plan a job that splits across two loads, with quantities preserved.
- Introduce a quality hold or rework step and show the effect on release.
- Retrieve the complete history using a lot or customer reference.
- Partially ship the job and show the remaining quantity.
- Export the result, including the references needed to connect its records.
Compare the cost of the full working setup.
Ask for a written scope covering implementation, migration, training, users or devices, modules, integrations, support, and future data export. Compare like-for-like requirements rather than a base subscription against a fully configured system.
Record who will own implementation inside your shop, how much staff time is expected, and what acceptance criteria end the pilot. A lower software fee may still leave significant work for your team. This guide does not provide verified vendor pricing.
Where ForgeLine belongs on the shortlist.
ForgeLine is an option to follow while it is in development. Its direction is clearer job status, connected routes, and records that stay with the job. It is not being presented as a feature-complete replacement today.
Use the waitlist to keep up with progress while you define your requirements. When early access opens, evaluate the actual product against those requirements.
Sources & further reading
Vendor pages reviewed September 24, 2026. Vendor statements are not independent verification.