MillCert Reader
Automatically read mill certs and stop typing data
MillCert Reader extracts data from scanned and PDF mill certificates automatically. Save 120+ hours a year and sync clean data with your ERP.
14-day free trial · Guided by our implementation team · No credit card required
What It Actually Does
AI-Powered Extraction
Upload any mill certificate — scanned paper or digital PDF — and our AI pulls every heat number, grade, and property automatically.
120+ Hours Saved per Year
One production manager saved over 120 hours annually. That's three full working weeks spent NOT typing into spreadsheets.
Bulk PDF Renaming
Get heat-code-named PDFs in bulk. Send exactly the right cert with every order. No more hunting through a folder of "cert1.pdf".
Linked to Inventory
Certificate data flows straight into your inventory records. No double-entry, no errors, no excuses.
The problem with manual cert handling
Nobody likes chasing suppliers for certificates. Nobody likes downloading five different PDFs from five different portals. And nobody likes typing heat numbers into a spreadsheet.
But someone has to do it — or orders get delayed, audits fail, and customers complain.
The average metals business spends hours every week on certificate data entry alone. It is error-prone, mind-numbing work that adds zero value to the material being shipped. Mistakes introduce risk: a wrong heat number in a record means a traceability failure when someone checks it later.
How it works
Our AI reads the certificate, pulls the data, and links it to your inventory. Done.
Upload a paper scan or a digital PDF. The AI extracts every heat number, grade, chemical composition, and mechanical property — in seconds. That data flows straight into your stock records, so you always know exactly which certificate belongs to which material.
We work with every customer and have tuned our AI against certificates from many of the world’s largest steel mills. Unusual formats, faded scans, mixed-language documents: it handles them all.
It’s as simple as: log in, upload any mill certificate, and get your extracted data and renamed PDFs immediately. No model training, no configuration, no waiting.
Built for IT: REST API included, no extra charge
If you want cert data flowing automatically into your ERP or quality management system, the REST API is included in every paid plan at no extra cost.
Documented endpoints cover:
- Certificate upload — push PDFs programmatically rather than via the browser interface, ideal for high-volume teams with automated cert inboxes
- Data retrieval — pull extracted heat number, grade, and mechanical property data into your ERP, quality management system, or lab system in real time
- Bulk backlog ingestion — upload hundreds of historical PDFs in one API call; no manual preparation required
Authentication uses industry-standard API keys. Full endpoint reference, request/response schemas, and ERP-specific integration patterns are in the integration strategy guide.
Not wiring up the API today? CSV export works just as well for initial rollout — your IT team can add the live connection later without any re-implementation.
No IT project required to get started. REST API access is there when you’re ready to use it.
The full journey — cert received to audit trail closed
Every step from PDF arriving in your inbox to EN 10204-compliant audit trail is handled in one system. Here is what that looks like end to end.
- Cert arrives. A PDF lands in your email or supplier portal. You drag it into GoSmarter — or your team uploads a batch. No preparation required. If a cert arrives as a photo, a handwritten form, or in a format the AI cannot read, you can create a manual entry and add as many heats and test results as needed.
- AI extracts in seconds. Heat number, grade, specification, chemical composition (including extended element ranges), mechanical properties, quality test results, mill name. Pulled automatically. If the AI misreads a value (a faded scan, a signature over a field), you can make tracked amendments that log every change against the original extraction.
- Review and amend. Before approving, your team can check every extracted field. If anything looks off, tracked amendments let you correct it. Every change is logged: original value, corrected value, who changed it, and when. The AI also flags low-confidence extractions for attention so uncertain reads don’t slip through unnoticed.
- Certificate approved. Your QA team reviews and formally approves the certificate. Once approved, values are locked. No accidental edits to a cert you have already signed off. Unapproved certificates carry a DRAFT watermark on any exported PDF, so nothing goes to a customer before it is ready.
- Clean data lands in stock. Confirmed values write straight to your inventory record. The material is now searchable by heat number, grade, or spec. Reserve stock against specific orders so the heat code and cert status travel with the material through to despatch.
- Material auto-linked to jobs. GoSmarter knows what material you have and what grade it is. When a job calls for S355JR, the system links the right certs to the right stock automatically. Feed that into Cutting Plans and your cut list runs on verified material — not a guess.
- Order ships, cert pack attached, audit trail intact. When material leaves the site, generate a branded Material Test Certificate (MTC) PDF with your logo and registration number, or export a full Certificate Pack for the order: one document covering every line item, with mill cert details or a clear notice where certification is missing. The full chain (cert received, approved, stock reserved, job filled, order shipped) is recorded and retrievable. Your EN 10204 audit trail is complete.
From PDF in the inbox to cert pack in the customer’s hands: one system, no gaps.
What the AI actually extracts
From a typical EN 10204 Type 3.1 certificate, the system reads:
- Heat number and cast number
- Material grade and specification (e.g., S355JR, EN 10025)
- Chemical composition (C, Mn, Si, P, S, and more)
- Mechanical properties (yield strength, tensile strength, elongation, impact)
- Test result pass/fail status
- Mill name, order reference, and certificate date
That data goes directly into your inventory record — no transcription, no manual re-keying.
It doesn’t just extract. It surfaces uncertainty. The AI flags low-confidence reads for human review rather than silently writing uncertain values to your records. Any extracted field can be corrected with a tracked amendment that preserves the original. Your team stays in control of what enters the stock record.
What bulk PDF renaming means for your team
One production manager saved more than 120 hours in a year — just from getting bulk mill certificates converted into single-page, heat-code-named PDFs.
Before: hunt through “cert1.pdf”, “cert2.pdf”, “cert (1) copy.pdf” to find what you need. After: every PDF is named by heat number. Send exactly the right cert with every order, every time.
From filing cabinet to searchable database — in a day
Got a pile of PDFs? Still typing heat numbers by hand? You’re ready to switch today. No IT project. No consultant fees. Our implementation team is here throughout your 14-day trial if you need us.
Step 1 — Sign up and log in. Browser-based, nothing to install. Your 14-day free trial starts immediately — no credit card required.
Step 2 — Upload your first batch of certificates. Drag and drop a folder of PDFs — scanned paper certs, digital certs from mills, anything you’ve got. The AI extracts your data and renames your PDFs within seconds.
Step 3 — Build your archive (optional). Upload your historical certificates to build a fully searchable archive. Search by heat number, grade, mill, or date — without opening a single PDF.
Step 4 — Connect to Metals Manager (optional). If you use Metals Manager, certificate data links to stock items automatically as material is received. No manual entry.
Step 5 — Feed cert data into your ERP or Quality Management System (QMS) — optional. Export via CSV or use the REST API to push heat number data straight into your ERP or quality management system. Need to send certs to customers automatically? That works too. See the integration strategy — from standalone use to full ERP sync.
From cert to cut plan in one system. GoSmarter extracts your cert data and links it to your stock records. It knows exactly what material you have, what grade it is, and which jobs it can fill. Feed that into Cutting Plans. Your cut list runs on verified material. Not a guess. See how Cutting Plans works →
MillCert Reader saves a typical team 120 hours a year. That figure comes from measured workflows at small to mid-size operations — typically 10–100 people processing between 200 and 500 certificates a month. We tracked time spent on:
- inbox triage
- data entry
- filing
- cert retrieval for orders
At a loaded staff cost of £30 per hour: 120 hours × £30 = £3,600 per year — more than the annual MillCert Reader subscription cost. Many high-volume cert teams cover their monthly subscription in the first month after go-live. Our typical high-volume threshold is 200+ certificates per month. Lower cert-volume sites usually see payback over longer periods. Results vary by cert volume, labour cost, and workflow. Not sure what it looks like for your operation? Run the Business Case Calculator →. No account required.
Start with certs. Many GoSmarter customers begin with MillCert Reader alone. No inventory module, no cutting plans. It is the fastest path to day-one value: upload your first batch of certificates, get extracted data back in seconds, and prove the return on investment (ROI) in a single session. When you’re ready, cert data connects straight to stock records and cut plans. One step at a time.
No IT project. No consultant fees. No figure-it-out-yourself. Just a 14-day trial with an implementation team who knows metals manufacturing — available whenever you need them.
£350/month rolling. £275/month paid annually.
MillCert Reader is priced per site, not per user. One flat fee covers your whole team: unlimited users, no per-seat surprises as your operation grows.
Free trial:
- 14 days, full access, no credit card required
- Upload real certificates from your own suppliers
- Get extracted data and organised, heat-code-named PDFs immediately
- Never search through a folder of “cert1.pdf” again
After your trial:
- £350/month, billed monthly — cancel any time
- £275/month, billed annually — save £900 a year (£75/mo × 12)
- See the full pricing page for plan comparison and volume options
The free trial is the only sales pitch we need. Upload a certificate and see what comes back. If a human can read it, the AI can read it faster.
Your data stays in Europe. GoSmarter runs on UK and EU servers only, complies with GDPR, and you can export everything as CSV at any time. No exit fees, no lock-in.
What our customers say
"GoSmarter saves us hours every month — it pulls the key data out of mill certificates automatically and renames the files straight away. That whole process used to be painfully manual. Now it just happens."
— QC Manager, UK Steel Stockholder
AI That Actually Works
Forget the buzzwords. We just automate the boring stuff so you can go home on time. Stop doing compliance by hand.
Get Up and Running Fast
14-day guided trial with our implementation team. No IT project. No consultant fees. No credit card. See what implementation looks like →
Common Questions
Does GoSmarter keep an immutable audit trail of certificate changes?
Yes. Every amendment to an extracted certificate value is logged with the original value, the corrected value, who made the change, and a server-side timestamp that cannot be edited after the fact. This is true of the cert reader itself and extends across inventory and orders. GoSmarter's permanent log covers mill certificates (MTRs), inventory items, orders and order lines, scrap log, and reference data. Deleted items are tracked and recoverable. That covers ISO 9001 Clause 8.5.2, International Automotive Task Force (IATF) 16949, and AS9100. [Read the full announcement →](https://change.gosmarter.ai/announcements/audit-trails-everywhere) — or see [why audit trails matter in metals manufacturing](/blog/audit-trails-why-they-matter-metals-manufacturing/).
What types of mill certificates does it support?
It works with paper scans and digital PDFs from all major steel mills worldwide. If a human can read it, our AI can read it.
Does it handle formats from different suppliers reliably?
Yes. We train the AI against certificate templates from mills around the world including European, US, and Asian producers. It handles every major format: single-heat certs, multi-heat documents, CE-marked certificates, and bespoke mill layouts. If a format trips it up on the first upload, our team tunes the extraction at no extra charge.
What if the AI cannot read one of our certificates?
Two things happen. First, you can create a manual entry — upload the document, fill in the supplier and cert details, and add heats and test results by hand. No certificate gets excluded because the original was awkward or arrived as a phone photo. Second, if a format consistently trips up the AI, our team tunes the extraction at no extra charge. You will know within your 14-day trial whether GoSmarter handles your suppliers' formats — before you spend a penny.
What data does it extract?
Heat numbers, material grades, chemical composition, mechanical properties, and test results i.e. everything you'd normally type in by hand.
What happens when a certificate has missing or incomplete data?
GoSmarter surfaces missing fields at the point of upload rather than leaving them buried in a folder. If a required field is absent, the system flags it so your team can chase the supplier before the gap causes a production or audit problem. The approval workflow also acts as a final check: a certificate cannot be formally signed off until your QA team is satisfied it is complete.
How does it handle values that look wrong or uncertain?
The AI flags low-confidence extractions for human review rather than silently writing uncertain values to your records. Any extracted field can be corrected with a tracked amendment that logs the original value, the corrected value, who made the change, and when. Nothing enters your inventory record without going through the approval workflow. You stay in control of what gets accepted.
How quickly can I digitise a backlog of historical certificates?
Fast. You can use the API to upload hundreds of PDFs in one go. A typical backlog of a few thousand certificates is ingested, extracted, and searchable within a single working day. You do not need to prepare or rename the files beforehand.
Does GoSmarter MillCert Reader work alongside our existing ERP or [Quality Management System (QMS)](/hubs/metals-manufacturing-glossary/#qms-quality-management-system)?
Yes. GoSmarter MillCert Reader connects to any [Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)](/hubs/metals-manufacturing-glossary/#erp-vs-specialist-tools) or Quality Management System via CSV export or REST API. No dedicated connector or middleware required. The most common setup: process your certificates in GoSmarter, then export structured cert data as a CSV and import it into your ERP. Infor, Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, SAP Business One, and similar platforms all handle this natively. For teams wanting a live connection, the REST API pushes heat number, grade, and mechanical property data directly to your ERP or quality management system in real time, triggering goods-in receipts or populating quality inspection records automatically. Many teams also run GoSmarter as a standalone searchable cert archive and export only when needed. See the [integration strategy guide](/docs/integration-strategy/) for ERP-specific connection patterns and common data flows.
How long does it take to process a certificate?
Seconds to minutes depending on the quality of the mill certificate and if we've seen the supplier before. Upload the file and get your data back faster than you can make a coffee.
How can we standardise mill cert data coming from different mills and formats globally?
GoSmarter's AI is trained on certificate templates from mills across Europe, North America, Asia, and beyond. These include mills in Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Turkey, China, and South Korea. You do not need to map or configure each supplier's format manually. Upload a cert from any mill and the extraction runs automatically. The output is always a consistent, structured data set: the same fields, the same format, regardless of which mill produced the original document. That consistent output is what lets you compare material properties across suppliers, feed data into your ERP, and pass audits confidently.
Which solutions address the pain of missing or incomplete mill certs arriving from suppliers?
MillCert Reader flags missing data at the point of upload rather than leaving it buried in a folder. If a field expected for the declared grade is absent (a missing impact test result, an incomplete chemical composition), the system surfaces it immediately so your team can chase the supplier before the gap causes a production or audit problem. You can also configure mandatory fields per grade or standard, so every cert that enters your archive meets your minimum data requirements.
Is MillCert Reader priced per user or per site?
MillCert Reader is priced per site, not per user. One subscription covers your entire team at a site: QC engineers, stock controllers, operations managers, and admin staff can all log in and process certificates under one flat fee. There are no per-seat charges and the cost stays flat as your team grows. See the [pricing page](/pricing) for current plan rates and trial options.
Which software makes it easy to link mill certs to customer orders for audit trails?
GoSmarter links every mill certificate to the inventory items it covers, and from there to every order and despatch that used that material. When a customer or auditor asks for the cert for a specific delivery, you retrieve it in seconds by order number, heat number, or despatch date. From incoming certificate to outgoing order, the chain of custody is automatic and immutable. You never need to manually cross-reference a cert to an order again.
Can GoSmarter help catch quality issues with incoming material?
GoSmarter gives your QA team the tools to review every incoming certificate before accepting the data into your stock record. The AI flags low-confidence extractions for attention. Tracked amendments mean any correction is logged rather than quietly overwritten. The formal approval workflow means a QA team member must sign off the certificate before it is used in production documentation or stock allocation. You catch problems at goods-in because the process forces a review step, not because the software automatically validates values.
How quickly do quality and operations teams get productive with GoSmarter MillCert Reader?
Most teams process their first batch of mill certificates within an hour of signing up. There is no training course, no certification, and nothing to install. GoSmarter runs in your browser. The only action your team needs to learn is: upload a PDF, review the extracted data, confirm. The interface handles everything else. Quality engineers typically describe the transition as immediate. They are processing certs faster on day one than they were by hand. During the 14-day guided trial, most teams have replaced their manual cert filing process entirely before the trial period ends.
GoSmarter MillCert Reader is mill certificate management software for metals manufacturers. It extracts data from any mill certificate format (scanned paper, digital PDF, or handwritten form) in under a minute, without per-mill template configuration. Extracted data goes through a formal human review and approval workflow before it is linked to inventory and customer orders. The result is a complete EN 10204 audit trail built as you work, not reconstructed afterwards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there software that reads mill certificates from different mills and suppliers without template training?
How does GoSmarter handle mill certificates that cannot be read automatically: photos, handwritten forms, unusual formats?
Which software can help quality teams review and accept mill cert data before it reaches production?
How can we reduce the time our quality team spends checking and filing mill certificates?
Which software makes it easy to link mill certs to customer orders for audit trail purposes?
Can GoSmarter provide quick wins with mill cert automation without a long IT project?
How does GoSmarter's AI handle errors or missing data in mill certificates?
Which platforms let us start with just mill cert automation and add scheduling or inventory features later?
Go deeper
- Mill Certificate Automation: The Complete Guide — everything about how GoSmarter reads, extracts, approves, and links mill cert data
- Integrated Cert Traceability & Auditability — how GoSmarter builds your EN 10204 audit trail automatically
- Midland Steel Manufacturing Case Study — how a leading rebar supplier automated certificate handling and removed audit prep pain
- End-to-End Mill Cert Traceability: From Upload to Customer — how the full workflow fits together, from AI extraction and approval locking to branded MTCs and order certificate packs
- Metals Manufacturing Glossary — plain-English definitions: mill certificates, EN 10204 types, heat numbers, and more
- ROI of AI in Metals Manufacturing — worked payback period example for mill cert automation: ~10 months at 120 hours saved per year
- GoSmarter vs Generic OCR/IDP Tools for Mill Certificates — why metals-specific AI outperforms generic document processing