The dimensional tolerances are among the most important manufacturing criteria in the forging of aerofoil blades for aero-engine applications. These are usually classified in relation to aerofoil shape, thickness and twist along cross-sections and are. affected by many factors such as preform shape, temperature, die elasticity and component springback. The interaction of all these factors makes design for net-shape forging extremely difficult. The focus was on the final shape of the forged aerofoil blades, which was affected by temperature, die elasticity and springback. A thermaIly coupled 3D thermo-elasto-visco-plastic analysis was employed to . investigate the entire forging cycle including forging, removal of dies and cooling of the aerofoil section, so that the e{fect of forging and post forging conditions such as temperature can be taken into account. A die-shape compensation strategy is presented in this· thesis. A di~ cleaning technology has been dev.eloped to represent the dies as a series of sampled points. These points were subsequently utilized as spline control points in the definition of a 3D spline surface. Methods are presented to evaluate the net shape error and to use this error data iri order to redefine the die . surface for a successive iteration. An iterative procedure was applied and a significant reduction in deviation from nominal shape was achieved The various components in this study have been developed in parallel to aIlow the successful integration of CAD, CAE, FE simulation and die shape modification in the optimisation of aerofoil blade dies to achieve net shape forging.