Forge die building: why this course exists

Most forge die programs that miss their cycle target do not miss because a vendor failed their certificate. They miss because the certificates each pass and the build still fails. A stress relief specified on the print never makes it onto the heat treater's traveler. The EDM recast is finished at the supplier's standard settings, not the cavity-specific finishing skim the part actually needed. The nitride compound layer grows ε-rich at high Kn when the application needed γ' for impact tolerance. The PVD coater applies AlTiN to spec on a substrate the nitride vendor described only as "nitrided." Every cert says pass. The die fails anyway. The certificates record the targets each vendor was paid to hit. They do not record the execution choices that decide whether the part survives. This course is about the execution choices.