Identifying welding time and the cost for various weld types has been an age old challenge for manufacturers. There are few companies to this day that have a good understanding and estimating tools or methods to determine what the times and costs are. Many companies have failed to take advantage of estimating software technology tools that’s available today. Also, they may have neglected to even look at their welding cost and how it might affect the outcome of winning the job or selling more products!
We find that not many estimating software vendors have developed a program specifically for process planning. Either the marketplace lacks demand for such a product or companies have tried to satisfy their needs via MRP, ERP or SPREADSHEET programs, which are not process planning systems. This writing is about one product that solves process planning for manufacturing. With it, the manufacturing engineer can produce a reliable computer assisted process plan in a very short amount of time. Register for a free demonstration
Costimator software is an excellent tool to help identify time and reduce costs by better managing the welding estimates!
Whether bidding on jobs, doing cost comparisons between welding vs. another method, or requiring answers in the design stage decisions, the libraries inside the Costimator software tool are fully loaded with labor and machine handling standards, work centers and other engineering information. This data enables a quick and easy implementation by most manufacturers. There are more than 80 welding work-centers and over 100 different methods. This tool helps you to consider factors like time to prepare the material for welding, positioning, fit-up & tack, type of weld, operator factor, inspection and many others. Not only does MTI Systems cost estimating software tool have data to calculate welding time and cost, but there are a variety of prepared cost models that calculate consumable and fixture cost as well.
Costimator has the estimating tools needed for fast and consistently accurate welding estimates. For the estimator with little experience in welding or those who seek a quicker method, we have parametric models that are simply based on variables like cost per length or weight and product cost models which are formula based models, see image. For the experienced welding estimator, they can fine tune estimates using the smallest details and estimating formulas. Then, they create master templates to speed up the process for everyone else! MTI Systems has developed tools for estimators that take into account all the details in the background, but limit the user’s selection/input to things like fillet size & total weld distance.
This estimating tool is fast, easy and accurate! And probably one of the greatest attributes of Costimator is the flexibility to take any work-center, method or tool and modify it to mirror your shop. It’s as powerful as you want it to be. In closing, accurately determining your welding cost is crucial and doesn’t have to be neglected. MTI Systems helps estimators of OEM’s (original equipment manufacturers), job shops, contract manufacturers, fabrication shops, precision machine shops, and more remain competitive in a global economy.