The use of hexagonal ceramic inserts for copper extrusion dies offers significant technical and economic advantages over other forms of manufacture. In this paper the data on the loading of the tools is determined from a commercial FEM package as the contact stress distribution on the die-workpiece interface and as temperature distributions in the die. This data can be processed as load input data for a finite element die-stress analysis. Process simulation and stress analysis are thus combined during the design and a data exchange program has been developed that enables optimal design of the dies taking into account the elastic deflections generated in shrink fitting the die inserts and that caused by the stresses generated in the process. The stress analysis of the dies is used to determine the stress conditions on the ceramic insert by considering contact and interference effects under both mechanical and thermal loads.