Pricing calibration

Calibration compares the prices the engine calculates with the prices the shop actually quoted for the same parts. From the differences it fits two values, a rate multiplier and a setup time, so that the engine reproduces the shop's prices instead of a generic price list.

How to calibrate the price list

1. 1Collect 8 to 12 past parts with the net prices a customer accepted: the price of one piece in an order of 1 and the price of one piece in an order of 10 (not the total for ten pieces). Both prices are required.
2. 2Upload the STEP or IGES files in the Calibration tab and enter the prices. These parts do not count against the monthly quote allowance.
3. 3Run “Calibrate pricing”. It requires at least 5 quotes: parts added in the Calibration tab and approved quotes both count. Until then the button is unavailable and a progress bar shows “n of 5”. A larger and more varied set gives a more stable result.
4. 4The result is saved as the calibration multiplier and the setup time in Quoting rules. The panel does not show the engine's figures before the prices are entered, so that the entered prices are not influenced by them.

Calibration changes only the multiplier (0.1 to 10) and the setup time (0 to 480 minutes). Material cost and fixed costs (CAM programming, first-article inspection, operator handling) do not change, so every price has a range calibration can reach. A part whose price for 1 or for 10 pieces lies outside its range is left out of the fit with both of its prices. The result lists it with the entered price, the lowest (or highest) reachable price, and how much of the lowest price is material and how much is fixed costs. Typical causes: a large part priced below the cost of its blank (the part is not machined from a full block, or the file is not in millimetres), and a price entered for the wrong quantity, such as the total for ten pieces.

The fit runs on the remaining parts and approved quotes and is saved only if at least 5 of them remain. If the result still reaches a limit although every price is reachable on its own, the parts contradict each other: nothing is saved and the panel names the entry to check. Parts that no machine of the shop can make are left out of the fit and listed with the reason.

The multiplier changes the cost of a machining minute, not the number of minutes. The times in a quote's breakdown remain the machine's real time, and the calibration appears as a separate cost line.

Learning from approved quotes

Calibration continues after setup. Every approved quote becomes a sample, whether its price was changed or not.

• Correcting a price after approval replaces that quote's sample; it does not add a second one.
• A discount given to a customer is not a correction and is never used as a sample.
• Catalogue parts, castings and parts above the 40-hour machining limit are excluded, because their price does not reflect machining from stock. A catalogue part or a casting set to “Machined” or “Machined from solid” is included.

The “Accuracy vs your corrections” card shows the average deviation of the engine from the prices the shop approves. A positive deviation means the engine quotes higher than the shop. To run the next fit with these samples included, click “Calibrate pricing”.