Modern open-die forging plants consisting of the forging press and one or two rail-bound manipulators are highly dynamic production plants. Apart from the pure production speed, the main focus today is on the achievement of minimum forging tolerances and a consistently high level of quality. Furthermore, the logging of the production process and possible deviations from the specifications is demanded, in particular for products for energy engineering and for the aircraft and aerospace industries. To meet these demands, SMS Meer has developed the new optimisation program ForgeBase. It is based on the experience gained with the forging programs MD-DATAFORGE® and COMFORGE®. Before the merger of the open-die forging departments of Mannesmann Demag Metallurgy and SMS Eumuco GmbH, these pro-grams had been developed and offered separately by the two companies.