Evaluating the Cost of a Sheet Metal Part

In this procedure, you run Sheet Metal Costing to determine the cost of manufacturing a sheet metal part. This procedure is helpful for manufacturers.

1. Open install_dir\samples\whatsnew\costing\costing.sldprt.

   A sheet metal part appears.

   

2. Click Sheet Metal Costing (Tools toolbar) or Tools > SolidWorks Costing > Sheet Metal Costing.
3. In the Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane, under Costing Template, select sample_shm_metric_waterjet.

   The Costing template contains the procedures you or your manufacturing supplier would use for manufacturing the part. Information such as material cost and sizes, cost of manufacturing operations, and manufacturing setup costs can be included and customized in the template. This Costing template is set up for sheet metal water jet cutting.

   The Costing tool estimates the manufacturing cost using the material information in the part.

   The Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane displays the Estimated Cost Per Part.

   Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane Item	Description
   Comparison	Based on the data in the template and the part in the graphics area, the Costing tool calculated the cost of the part.
   Breakdown	A breakdown of the cost calculation indicates that the material accounts for a certain percentage of the total cost and manufacturing (labor, machine time, and overhead) accounts for the rest of the total cost.

4. In the Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane, under Material, notice:

   Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane Item	Description	Value
   Class	Class of material based on the material that was set for the part in the SolidWorks software.	Steel
   Name	Based on the material that was set for the part in the SolidWorks software.	Plain Carbon Steel
   Thickness from template	Thickness value in the template that matches or is closest to the part thickness. If no thickness values in the template match the part thickness, the closest thickness value in the template is selected, and a warning icon indicates that the thicknesses differ.	1.2100 mm
   Material cost	The cost defined for the material at the selected thickness in the template.	3.30

5. The CostingManager in the FeatureManager design tree displays manufacturing features like bends and cut paths that were recognized in the part. In the CostingManager, notice:

   

   Manufacturing Process	Description
   Setup	Costs associated with manufacturing setups such as setting up machines to run a batch (lot) of parts. Expand the Setup folder and hover over a setup cost to see how the cost is calculated.
   Cut Paths	There are five cut paths that are found for water jet cutting. Expand the Cut Paths folder and hover over a cut path to see how the cost is calculated. Select a cut path to highlight the geometry in the model.
   Bends	Several bends are recognized, including a hem. Bends are calculated as cost per bend.
   Library Features	The library features in the part are recognized.
   Custom Operations	Powder coating is a custom operation applied to this part. It was set up in the template to apply to all parts.
   No Cost Assigned	Anything that the Costing tool does not recognize or is not defined in the template.

6. Keep this part and the Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane open for the next procedure.