Calculate True Cost Per Part Across Processes

Quoting accuracy lives or dies on cost data. If you only track material and machine time, you’re leaving money on the table — especially when a single quote spans 3D printing, CNC machining, and sheet metal fabrication. The shops that win consistently are the ones that know their fully burdened cost per part before they send a price.

Why partial cost models fail

Most digital manufacturers start with a simple formula: material cost plus machine hours times a shop rate. That works for one-off parts on a single process. It breaks down fast when:

• A customer needs a printed prototype, then machined fixtures, then sheet metal enclosures — all on one PO
• Setup time, programming, post-processing, and quality inspection vary wildly between processes
• Overhead (rent, utilities, software licenses, maintenance) isn’t allocated proportionally

The result? Quotes that look profitable until you reconcile the job at month-end and realize the “margin” vanished into unallocated costs.

Build a fully burdened rate per process

Start by calculating a true hourly rate for each production cell. Include:

• Direct labor — operator wages, benefits, training time
• Machine depreciation — purchase price divided by expected productive hours, not calendar years
• Consumables — tooling, build plates, gas, coolant, filters
• Maintenance & downtime — scheduled PM plus unplanned repair history
• Facility allocation — square footage, power draw, HVAC per cell
• Software & licenses — CAM seats, simulation, nesting, MES/ERP per user
• Quality & inspection — CMM time, first-article reports, gauge R&R

Do this for each process: FDM, SLA, SLS, 3-axis CNC, 5-axis CNC, laser cutting, bending, welding. You’ll end up with distinct rates like $87/hr for SLS, $142/hr for 5-axis, $63/hr for laser. Those numbers are defensible because they reflect your actual cost structure.

Allocate overhead by cost driver, not evenly

Don’t spread rent equally across all machines. Allocate by the real driver:

• Floor space → square feet per cell
• Power → kWh consumption per machine
• Compressed air → CFM demand
• IT licenses → active users per department
• Quality staff time → inspection hours per process

This prevents your low-overhead laser cell from subsidizing your high-overhead 5-axis cell — and keeps quotes honest.

Model setup and non-recurring engineering (NRE) separately

Setup isn’t “free” because the machine isn’t cutting yet. Track these as distinct line items per quote:

• Programming/CAM time (hours × burdened engineering rate)
• Fixture design & build
• First-article inspection
• Material procurement & receiving
• File prep, nesting, support generation

Amortize NRE over the expected order quantity. If the customer reorders, that setup cost drops to near zero — your quote should reflect that.

Capture post-processing as its own cost center

Support removal, heat treatment, tumbling, anodizing, powder coating, threading, tapping — these often exceed the build/machine cost. Create a post-processing rate card per process:

• SLS depowdering + bead blast: $X per kg
• CNC deburr + edge break: $Y per part
• Sheet metal hardware insertion: $Z per insert

If you outsource finishing, add your management markup (receiving, QC, repackaging, schedule coordination). That’s real labor.

Validate with closed-loop job costing

The model only matters if you test it. After each job, compare:

• Quoted hours vs. actual hours per operation
• Quoted material vs. actual yield (nesting efficiency, scrap)
• Quoted post-processing vs. actual vendor invoices
• Quoted overhead allocation vs. actual P&L

Feed variances back into your rates quarterly. A modern MES captures this automatically — operators log time against operations, material is scanned at consumption, and outside processing costs flow in from PO receipts. No spreadsheets, no memory gaps.

Quote multi-process jobs with confidence

When an RFQ lands with printed brackets, machined housings, and laser-cut panels, you don’t guess. You apply:

1. Process-specific burdened rates for each operation
2. NRE amortized per line item
3. Post-processing per finish spec
4. Shared overhead allocated by true cost drivers

The result is a quote that protects margin on every line — and a shop that knows exactly why it won or lost.

Start with your biggest margin leak

Don’t boil the ocean. Pick the process where you suspect the biggest gap between quoted and actual cost. Build the fully burdened rate for that one cell. Run three jobs through it. Compare. Adjust. Then move to the next.

Solvi’s quoting engine lets you define burdened rates per process, apply NRE templates, and attach post-processing operations — so your cost model lives in the quote, not a spreadsheet. See how it works.