by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Material costs often represent 40 to 60 percent of a job’s total expense in CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication. Yet many shops still rely on manual nesting or basic CAD tools that leave significant scrap on the table. The difference between a good nest...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most sheet metal shops know how to quote a single part. But when a customer sends an RFQ for 50 different brackets that all nest on the same laser bed, the math gets messy fast. You’re not just quoting 50 parts — you’re quoting one sheet, one setup, and...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Every shop knows material cost isn’t just the price per pound or per sheet. It’s what you actually consume — including scrap, offcuts, and nesting inefficiency. Yet many quotes still use a simple multiplier or worst-case estimate, leaving money on the...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Post-processing is where quotes go sideways. A shop prices the build or the machining time perfectly, then tacks on a flat “finishing fee” that barely covers bead blasting — let alone support removal, heat treatment, threading, inspection, and packaging....
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most shops know their machine hourly rate. Fewer know exactly how much setup time each job really consumes. That gap is where margin disappears — especially on low-volume and prototype work where setup can exceed run time.Why Setup Time Gets UnderestimatedEstimators...
