India exports industrial presses worldwide, and the difference between a good supplier and an expensive lesson comes down to due diligence done before payment. The Five-Point Checklist First, video-call the factory floor live — not a showroom — and ask to see your machine class in build. Second, write third-party pre-shipment inspection by SGS, BV, or TUV into the contract or letter of credit: test run under load, dimensional report, photos of your actual serial number. Third

Most die problems are press problems. Before regrinding another die, run this checklist on the machine. The Five-Point Quarterly Check First, ram-to-bed parallelism — check with blocks and a dial indicator under light load, not just static; out-of-parallel means one-sided die wear. Second, gib clearance — sloppy gibs let the ram walk laterally at impact so punches enter off-centre. Third, clutch and brake condition — a dragging brake changes bottom-dead-centre position stroke

Two Routes Into Fasteners Cold forming with headers and rollers suits high volume and standard sizes, but demands big capital and faces brutal competition on commodity items. Hot forging on a screw press suits larger diameters from M20 up, high-tensile grades, and specials in small to mid batches — where smaller units can actually earn margin, because large cold-forming plants will not touch short runs. The Minimum Viable Hot-Forging Line Billet shear or saw, heating by induc