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Costing

5 REPLIES 5
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Message 1 of 6
chrisrodway
642 Views, 5 Replies

Costing

Hi Everybody,

 

Just wondering if anyone has got any ideas how to develop a simple system to generate a cost of a designed tool.

Taking into account the amount of material used etc

 

I haven't really got a clue were to start any ideas would be helpful

 

Thanks

 

Chris Rodway

Design Engineer

Sheffield, UK

Cheers

Chris Rodway
Design Engineer
Sheffield, UK
5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
BLHDrafting
in reply to: chrisrodway

Hi Chris.

 

I have a method that I use for sheet metal parts as that is mostly what I do. It's a macro that is linked to an external CSV file. The CSV file is populated with materials, thickness, $/kg, $ per bend, $ per perimeter (both internals and external) and other costs.

 

The macro is run on the finished part and many calculations are done to extract the rectangular part size (extents) and converted to m2 value. Then the actual part m2 vlaue is deducted to get the 'waste' value. The number of bends are calculated and a cost is generated. And so on and so forth.

 

At the end of the macro it add/updates the iProperty 'Cost'. With quite a bit of tinkering I have gotten it really close to the $50k nesting come quoting software we have just installed.

 

So that works for sheet metal parts and I have plans to do the same (or similar) to other parts and assemblies. When I say 'assembnly' I'm actually refering to an assembly where I put a Content Centre member (say a piece of shaft), then I create extrusions/revolutions to represent machining (imagine a lathe). This gives me the mass of the placed CC member and the mass of the 'machined' part. Some calculations are done based on kg of metal removal and handling time and such and a cost is generated.

 

Perfect, NO. Useful, YES. I can't share it with you though. It was supplied to me from another person. But I hope it gives you a heads up. I imagine that a lot of the macro (or maybe all?) of it could be done with some iLogic.

 

Hope this helps.

Brendan Henderson

Web www.blhdrafting.com.au
Twitter @BLHDrafting

Windows 7 x64 -64 GB Ram, Intel Xeon E5-1620 @ 3.6 GHz
ATI FirePro V7800 2 GB, 180 GB SSD & 1 TB HDD, Inv R2016 PDSU SP1 (Build 210), Vault 2016 Professional Update 1 (Build 21.1.4.0)
Message 3 of 6
chrisrodway
in reply to: BLHDrafting

Thanks For the reply,

 

I have limited macro programing experince but thanks for the ideas.

 

Ill give it a try

 

Thanks

 

Chris Rodway

Design Engineer

Sheffield, UK

Cheers

Chris Rodway
Design Engineer
Sheffield, UK
Message 4 of 6
johnnr
in reply to: chrisrodway

I think it's better to use an ERP software. There is free one, like OpenERP.

Let the ERP software read in the Inventor BOM and then do the cost estimation.

Message 5 of 6
rolaabar
in reply to: BLHDrafting

BLHDrafting, interesting replay. Im working on creating a macro that would take in consideration not only the cost but also the material waste. I would love for you to hare the macro you were talking about.

Thank you!

Message 6 of 6
Mark.Lancaster
in reply to: rolaabar

@rolaabar

 

This posting is 3 yrs old and the users that took part in it may no longer subscribe to it..

 

If you want someone attention please use @<and their name>  something like this @BLHDrafting

 

Update:  My opinion... Inventor is not a resource planning (ERP) software..  Its an Engineering/design (CAD) software...  So stop using it like an ERP system  Smiley Very Happy

Mark Lancaster


  &  Autodesk Services MarketPlace Provider


Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional & not an Autodesk Employee


Likes is much appreciated if the information I have shared is helpful to you and/or others


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