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Estimating Manufacturing Costs

Design Lab produced parts

Cost of parts produced by the Design Lab should be added to the team's budget. Technician's time and any work done in the on-campus Machine Shop can be billed at $32/hr.
Cost of material should also be included.
  • On campus prices from available stock. (You'll note that speed and convenience come at a price)
  • Aluminum - $8/lb
  • Carbon steel - $3.50/lb

'Budgetary Outside Manufacturing Costs'

The cost of making something in the real world vary WILDLY. This may be due to the quality of raw materials, production volume, and location of facility. 'Manufacturing Process and Systems' course has provided some rough estimates of production costs for typical processes. These can be used as a starting point for simple budget analysis and trade off analysis. Generally speaking, a capstone team should NOT still be using these numbers by mid-semester. More in depth research and accurate estimates should be obtained by that point.

Part Cost Estimator

A decent on-line calculator for tooling and production costs for injection molding, sand casting, die casting, and machining can be found here. These tools can help to see the price change based on added complexity or volume.
http://www.custompartnet.com/estimate/

Protolabs is a company which specializes in quick turnaround small volume production of parts. Their automated system can offer price quote in a matter of hours from a CAD model. Processes include injection molding, machining, and rapid prototyping. Their prices are high as you are paying for quick turnaround. But multiple quotes can be useful to understand the difference in design revisions. (warning, they will email you often to get the order booked once you ask for a quote).
https://www.protolabs.com/

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