{"id":53,"date":"2021-01-14T22:39:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T22:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtisystems.com\/blog\/?p=53"},"modified":"2024-04-15T22:08:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T22:08:29","slug":"estimating-by-experience-put-that-knowledge-into-estimating-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtisystems.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/14\/estimating-by-experience-put-that-knowledge-into-estimating-software\/","title":{"rendered":"Estimating by Experience? Put That Knowledge Into Estimating Software"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Put historic engineer knowledge and estimating by experience<\/strong><\/em> into a database to help your bottom line<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Estimating<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Estimating by Experience? Put That Knowledge into a Database!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If your company is still estimating primarily by experience,\nyou are not alone. The majority of job shops estimate by relying on an\nindividual who has decades of experience in the industry or within the company\nitself. This experience can enable the individual to look at drawings as the quotes\ncome in and return an estimated time or cost in sometimes minutes- it takes\nmany years for someone to be able to do this accurately and consistently. Once\na company finds themselves with an individual like this, the experienced\nindividual soon becomes irreplaceable. Now take that person out of the picture\nfor a moment \u2013 turnover, cost cutting, the next global pandemic affecting your\ncompany\u2019s bottom line. How is your ability to generate quick and reliable\nquotes now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trouble on the horizon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When the estimating duties fall heavily on your most\nexperienced employee day-to-day, you are setting up the process for failure.\nEmployees can get sick, have short to long-term leaves, move on to other\nopportunities, or retire. Unfortunately, these things can occur with little\nnotice, leaving you scrambling to fill the void of an essential staff member along\nwith the knowledge they carry with them. The immediate result can be costly and\nimportant quoting opportunities either can fall by the wayside or are not completed\nquickly or accurately enough. When going through these difficult times, manufacturers\nare forced to pull in resources often from multiple departments in order to\nkeep up with the quoting. This collaborative effort can sometimes get you\nthrough the tough times on the short-term, but pulling others away from their\nactual day-to-day responsibilities is not a long-term solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Proactive<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unless you have a replacement waiting on standby, then being proactive will help you avoid some of these pitfalls. You could sit down with your estimator and try to extract all that knowledge, and then try to develop a spreadsheet tool around it; You could hire another full-time estimator to begin the understudy process, with hopes they learn all there is to know. However, what happens when that estimator leaves? All of these options could be costly and take a lot of time. A cost effective and dependable option for you is to implement a database driven Cost Estimating Software<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology is here to Help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A database driven estimating software program enables sheet\nmetal, fabrication, and machine shops to take some of that extracted knowledge\nfrom their most experienced personnel, and put it into a database. Not all of\ntheir experience can be withdrawn, but after implementing, your company can\nrely on a standardized tool and not on a person. An estimating software will be\nbring many benefits to your organization, including the following:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n