15 Replies Latest reply on Jan 14, 2014 12:53 PM by Blake Reeves

    An Introduction to Costing Basics

    Blake Reeves
    Blake Reeves Employee Feb 26, 2013 12:18 PM

      Hi Guys,

       

      After joining the SolidWorks Costing team a few months back, I noticed that there is a general excitement about the Costing tool, but some have expressed a need for more guidance with its many features. There are a couple basic tutorials in the Help for Costing, but it has proven to be a challenge for some to sculpt it to represent their own manufacturing processes. My aim is to make this tool easy to use for both designers AND manufacturers, but with the complex nature of manufacturing and the various strategies available to machine a part, this is not a simple task. As I work to make this tool great for all users, I want to help you all get acquainted with it the best that I can.

       

      I gave a couple hands-ons at SolidWorks World 2013 on Costing to give a more in-depth overview of the tool and emphasize some key points to consider. Many people said that this was very useful for them and I thought it might be something to share with everyone interested on the forums. In the attached ZIP file you will find some sample files and a "Costing Manual" which I cooked up. This manual has some custom tutorials I’ve made, along with some exercises taking you through the tool.

       

       

      Please feel free to share this with your colleagues and let me know how it works for you. I have a lot on my plate here, but if I get a chance I will try to make some more of these to get you the info you need. If you have some specific areas of costing that you would like to know more about, please let me know and I will do my best to focus on those areas as well. If you have some specific issues to your own Costing experience, please feel free to email me at blake.reeves (at) 3ds.com and we can work together to make this tool meet your needs.

       

      Looking forward to working with all of you,

      -Blake

        • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
          Charles Gary
          Charles Gary Mar 1, 2013 1:24 PM (in response to Blake Reeves)

          For anybody looking to get a handle on what Costing is and does, I recommend they open this zip file and go through it.  Blake has put together a very nice introduction to Costing, and it has really done a lot to help me move forward with my thoughts and strategies on how to make Costing a useful tool.

            Thanks, Blake.

           

          Charlie

          • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
            Dung Le
            Dung Le Mar 25, 2013 9:52 PM (in response to Blake Reeves)

            Thanks. It is very helpfull. But I have one trouble that I am looking for that is how we can make a cost for the step drill hole. For example, first, we drill hole .5" with 0.75 depth and then hole .25" with 1" depth. Please give some advices.

            • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
              Alexander Henry
              Alexander Henry Employee Aug 21, 2013 1:41 AM (in response to Blake Reeves)

              Hi Blake, I think this is a great lead-in to the costing tool. Another way to furhter understanding is of course through the Productivity Tools STEP-BY-STEP guide. Thanks you again!

              • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
                Jos Hummelink
                Jos Hummelink Aug 24, 2013 1:22 AM (in response to Blake Reeves)

                Hi Blake,

                 

                The last couple of weeks I played with the SolidWorks Costing tool. I did study the help files and downloaded your tutorial. Almost all our of companies products are made-up of sheet metal, so you will understand that's where my priorities are. Filling the costing template with a few materials from our companies database and adding process steps, I made a rough calculation of all the possibilities of our materials used in combination with thicknesses and process steps and come to the conclusion it’s almost self-flagellation to fill the template through the Template Editor. I reckon I will be able to solve this by using an SQL-Lite editor in conjunction with Excel. But before spending lots of time on this issue, I would like to know if the Costing tool will stay with the very same template setup as used today. Personally I reckon it should be based on a database alike manner. This because the parameters used for costing are right now very limited. For example “Laser cutting”; the cost of cutting depends on so much parameters which aren’t covered in the Costing tool that it would be very welcome to be able to make use of formula’s or build-inn equations. Hopefully you can, and will, inform me / this forum with regards to the point mentioned to future developments.

                Best regards,

                Jos Hummelink

                  • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
                    Blake Reeves
                    Blake Reeves Employee Sep 27, 2013 10:04 AM (in response to Jos Hummelink)

                    Hello Jos,

                     

                    Sorry for the delay, we're quite busy on the development end right now to work on some of the same things you bring up here (and more). The request for the ability to control the templates through other means (SQL, Excel, etc) has been raised a few times in the past and we are investigating ways to address this as we speak. Though I can't specifically speak to the exact direction we will be going yet, Excel is definitely a highly-requested means of filling out the templates so we are doing our best to compensate for this workflow.

                     

                    You mention that the cost of laser cutting and other processes depends on more parameters than we account for, and there comes the tricky part: the cost for several processes can be derived in a limitless amount of ways, but we want to provide designers with the ability to extract their cost in the simplest way, with minimal input. With more variables we can clearly get better results, but that entails even more inputs which you mention are already overwhelming. Long story short, our team is hard at work to both simplify costing for those who are intimidated by the templates, but also allowing for more control for parameters, so any input on specific workflows that you or anyone has in mind are more than welcomed for us to consider as we enhance this tool.

                     

                    Thanks a lot,

                    -Blake

                  • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
                    Richard Kowalski
                    Richard Kowalski Sep 11, 2013 11:49 AM (in response to Blake Reeves)

                    Blake,

                    I have not had a chance to use this option but I'm real interested to try it out. The question I have is, can you go backwards? What I mean is if I do a model and send out to a vendor for a quote, then can I input that cost into the box? Knowing the end cost from the vendor I would then be able to work back into the model and see if there are design changes I could make as a cost savings.

                      • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
                        Blake Reeves
                        Blake Reeves Employee Sep 27, 2013 10:21 AM (in response to Richard Kowalski)

                        Hi Richard,

                         

                        Interesting request, but no that is not something we can specifically do in Costing at the moment. We added a few features in 2014 that might let you work backward with comparison to known costs, but it is more of a volumetric approach rather than a derivative cost approach that you are mentioning. There is a lot of "politics" that play into deriving a manufacturer's cost, but I would check out some of the new enhancements for 2014 and see if they might suit your needs.

                         

                        Thanks,

                        -Blake

                      • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
                        Jason Heroux
                        Jason Heroux Dec 12, 2013 2:25 PM (in response to Blake Reeves)

                        hi blake, i am having trouble saving the costing data within the sldprt file? i can go all the way to generating a report but the costing data does not save when reopened?   any help?

                          • Re: An Introduction to Costing Basics
                            Blake Reeves
                            Blake Reeves Employee Jan 14, 2014 12:53 PM (in response to Jason Heroux)

                            Hi Jason,

                             

                            That is a new one for me. The only thing I could think of is when you save a part there is a checkbox at the bottom of the save dialog that says "save part with costing data" or something to that effect. If that is not checked then it will not save the cost with the part, but usually it should by default... let me know if this issue persists.

                             

                            Thanks,

                            -Blake