Glossary

Job shop quoting glossary

119 terms an estimator, shop owner or new buyer meets on RFQs, drawings and quotes, each in a sentence or two. Where a guide covers the term in depth, the term links to it. Worked numbers for lot charges, NRE and FOB are in quote terms with numbers.

RFQs and quotes

RFQ (request for quotation): A buyer's request for a price, usually a drawing, a 3D model, quantities and a due date. What's missing from it is usually what makes the quote risky.
Quote: The shop's priced offer: a unit price at each quantity, lead time, terms and how long the price holds. Once the buyer's PO accepts it, it's the deal.
Estimate: The shop's own cost build-up behind a quote: material, setup, run time, outside services and markup. Many shops say estimate and quote interchangeably; the buyer only sees the quote.
ROM (rough order of magnitude): A quick, non-binding price range from incomplete information, such as "about $800 to $1,200 for 10". Say on it that it isn't a quote.
Bid package (RFQ package): A large RFQ with many part numbers, drawings and requirements at once. Triage it first: quote the parts you want, no-quote the rest.
No-quote (no-bid): Declining an RFQ, ideally fast and with a reason, so the buyer keeps sending you work you do want.
Quote turnaround: Time from receiving an RFQ to sending the quote. Buyers often award to whoever answers first with a credible price.
Win rate (hit rate): Quotes won divided by quotes sent, by count or by dollars. Very high can mean you're cheap; very low can mean you're quoting the wrong work.
Quote validity: How long a quoted price holds, often 30 days. A material clause lets you requote if metal prices move before the PO arrives.
Target price: The price a buyer says they want to pay. It tells you their budget or a competitor's number, not what the part costs you to make.
Should-cost: A buyer's own model of what a part ought to cost, used to push a supplier's price down. Answer it with your routing and minutes, not a discount.
Go-away price: A deliberately high quote on work you don't want, priced so that winning it would be worth the trouble.

Price and order terms

Price break (quantity break): The unit price at a stated quantity, such as 1, 10 and 100. It falls with quantity because setup and lot charges spread over more parts.
MOQ (minimum order quantity): The smallest quantity a shop or its supplier will take. A minimum order charge does the same job in dollars: a $20 part is still billed at the $65 minimum, for example.
Lot charge: A fee charged once per batch, whatever its size, common from finishers and heat treaters. A $125 lot charge is $5 a part on 25 and $1.25 on 100.
NRE (non-recurring engineering): One-time cost to get a job ready, such as programming, fixtures or a special gauge. It's charged once, not on repeat orders.
Tooling charge: A separate line for special cutters, form tools, soft jaws or fixtures bought or made for one job, often owned by the customer once paid.
Expedite fee: A charge for delivering faster than the normal lead time, covering overtime and the jobs pushed back to make room.
Lead time: Working days from order (or approved first article) to shipment. Quote it from your real backlog, not your best week.
PO (purchase order): The buyer's written order. Accepting it, together with the quote and terms it refers to, forms the contract.
Blanket order (blanket PO): One PO for a total quantity, delivered in scheduled releases. Price it on the quantity actually committed, not the forecast.
Change order: A written change to an accepted order, such as a new revision, quantity or date, with its price and schedule impact.
Cancellation charge: What the buyer owes if they cancel after work has started: material bought, setups done and parts already made.
Overrun and underrun: Shipping slightly more or fewer parts than ordered, such as ±5%, when the PO allows it. It covers setup scrap and lets the shop ship a full run.
Net 30: Payment due 30 days after the invoice. Net 60 and net 90 mean the shop finances the customer's parts for two or three months.
2/10 net 30: A 2% discount if the invoice is paid within 10 days, otherwise the full amount in 30. A $1,000 invoice paid on day 10 is $980.
FOB (free on board): Where ownership and freight risk pass to the buyer. FOB origin: when the carrier picks up at the shop. FOB destination: on delivery.
Time and materials (T&M): Billing actual hours at an agreed rate plus material, instead of a fixed price. Common for repair work and undefined prototypes.
Customer-supplied material (consigned material): Stock the buyer provides. You save the material cost but still own the scrap risk, so the quote should say who pays for spoiled stock.
Material surcharge: An added charge tied to a metal index or the shop's purchase price, so a quote doesn't lose money when material moves.

Cost and rates

Shop rate (hourly rate): What a shop charges per machine or labor hour, covering wages, machines, floor space, overhead and profit.
Machine rate: An hourly rate per work center instead of one shop rate, so a 5-axis hour costs more than a manual mill hour.
Burden rate (burdened labor rate): A worker's wage plus payroll taxes, benefits and paid time off, per hour actually worked. Example: a $28 wage with 30% taxes and benefits, paid for 2,080 hours and working 1,800, burdens to about $42.
Overhead rate: Indirect costs (rent, utilities, office staff, insurance, software) spread over billable hours and added to each hour you quote.
Markup: The percentage added on top of cost. A 30% markup on $100 of cost gives a $130 price.
Margin: Profit as a share of the price. The $130 price above has a 23.1% margin, so a 30% markup is not a 30% margin.
Material markup: The percentage added to purchased material to cover buying, handling, cutting and scrap.
Cost-plus pricing: Price equals estimated cost plus a fixed markup. Predictable, but it leaves money on hard parts only you can make.
Utilization: The share of available hours a machine is actually cutting or billed. A rate built on 85% utilization loses money at 60%.
Machine payback: How long a machine takes to earn back its price from the hours it bills, after its operating costs.
Job costing: Comparing what a job actually took (hours, material, scrap) with what was estimated, to fix the next quote.
Outside processing (OSP): Work sent to another company, such as anodizing, plating, heat treat or grinding. Quote it with the vendor's lot charge, freight and extra days.
Scrap allowance: Extra parts or material quoted to cover setup pieces and rejects, so the order ships complete.
Tool cost: Cutters, inserts and holders worn out by a job. Usually in the shop rate; quoted separately for hard materials or special tools.

Routing and time

Routing: The ordered list of operations a part goes through, each on a work center with its setup and run time. The routing is the backbone of the estimate.
Operation: One step in a routing, such as saw, first-side mill, second-side mill, deburr or inspect.
Work center: A machine or group of like machines that operations are scheduled and costed on, each with its own hourly rate.
Setup time: Time to get a machine ready for a job: workholding, tools, offsets, program proving and first-piece check. Paid once per lot.
Setup charge: Setup cost shown as its own line instead of spread into the unit price, which makes small lots easier to explain.
Cycle time: Time for one part through one operation, from cycle start to cycle start, including tool changes and rapids.
Run time: Cycle time plus load, unload and in-process checks, per part. Run time times quantity plus setup gives the hours on a job.
Material removal rate (MRR): Cubic inches (or cm³) of metal removed per minute. Volume to remove divided by MRR is a fast first estimate of roughing time.
Programming time: CAM time to write and post the toolpaths. Often a one-time charge on a new part, or folded into setup.
Prove-out (first-piece run): Running the first part slowly, measuring it and adjusting offsets before the lot runs. Part of setup in most estimates.
Learning curve: Run time falls as a lot repeats and operators settle in, so long runs often go faster than the first ten parts suggest.
Lights-out machining: Running unattended, usually overnight on a pallet or bar-fed machine. Cheaper hours, but only for proven, stable jobs.
Deburring: Removing sharp edges and burrs after machining, by hand or in a tumbler. Often underquoted on parts with many edges and cross holes.
Stock size (blank): The raw piece a part is cut from, with allowance for facing and holding. Material cost comes from the stock, not the finished part.
Parts per bar: How many parts one bar yields after cutoff width, facing and the unusable remnant. A turned-part price depends on it.
Remnant (drop): The end of a bar or sheet left after the last good part. Quote it as cost unless you really reuse it.

Machines and processes

3-axis milling: The cutter moves in X, Y and Z; the part is flipped by hand for each new side, which adds setups.
5-axis milling: Two rotary axes tip and turn the part, so most sides are cut in one or two setups. A higher hourly rate, often fewer setups.
Live tooling (mill-turn): Driven tools on a lathe that drill and mill while the part is still in the chuck, replacing a secondary milling op.
Swiss-type lathe (sliding headstock): A bar-fed lathe where the bar slides through a guide bushing, made for small, long, precise turned parts in high quantities.
Screw machine: A bar-fed automatic lathe for high-volume small turned parts. The name dates from making screws; today it covers cam and CNC machines.
Davenport (multi-spindle cam screw machine): A five-spindle, cam-driven automatic screw machine: every spindle cuts at once and a part drops at each index, so cycles run in seconds. Setup (cams, form tools) takes hours, so it pays on lots in the thousands.
Wire EDM: Cutting conductive metal with a charged wire, for sharp internal corners, hardened steel and fine detail. Priced by cut length and part thickness.
Weldment: An assembly of cut parts welded together, quoted as material by weight, cutting, fit-up and weld length.

Sheet metal

Flat pattern: The unfolded shape of a sheet metal part, usually a DXF. Cut length, pierces and blank size come from it.
Nesting: Arranging flat patterns on a sheet to use as much of it as possible. Material cost per part comes from parts per sheet, not part area.
K-factor: Where the neutral axis sits through the thickness during a bend, as a fraction of thickness (often 0.3 to 0.5). It sets the flat length of a bent part.
Bend allowance (bend deduction): The length added or subtracted at each bend to get from the formed dimensions to the flat pattern. Both come from the K-factor, bend radius and angle.
Press brake: The machine that bends sheet between a punch and die. Quoted per bend hit plus setup per tool change.
Pierce: Each point where the laser, plasma or waterjet starts a cut through the sheet. Every hole adds a pierce, and pierces add time.
Cut length: The total length of every outline and hole a cutting machine traces. Cut length divided by feed rate, plus pierces, gives cutting time.
Kerf: The width of material the cut removes, a few thousandths on a laser and wider on plasma or waterjet. It matters for tight fits and nesting.
Gauge (ga): A sheet thickness number where higher means thinner: 14 ga steel is about 0.075 in, 10 ga about 0.135 in.
Hardware insertion (PEM): Pressing self-clinching nuts, studs or standoffs into sheet after cutting. Quoted per insert plus setup.

Finishes and treatments

Anodizing: An electrochemical oxide layer on aluminum. Type II is decorative and corrosion-resistant; Type III (hardcoat) is thicker and wear-resistant.
Passivation: An acid treatment that removes free iron from stainless steel to restore its corrosion resistance.
Powder coating: Dry paint sprayed on and baked; tough, and priced by surface area, color changes and masking.
Heat treat: Hardening, tempering or stress-relieving metal in a furnace. Usually outside processing, with a lot charge and added days.
Surface finish (Ra): Average surface roughness in microinches or micrometers. 125 Ra is a normal machined finish; 32 Ra and below take extra passes or grinding.
Masking: Covering features (threads, bores, contact surfaces) so a finish doesn't reach them. Every masked feature adds labor.

Drawings, files and GD&T

STEP file (.stp, .step): The neutral 3D CAD format most buyers send. Stock size, features and setups can be measured from it.
IGES (.igs): An older neutral CAD format, often surfaces rather than solids; ask for STEP when a model won't measure.
DXF: A 2D CAD format, the usual way to send a flat pattern for laser, plasma or waterjet.
Drawing (print): The 2D PDF with dimensions, tolerances, material, finish and notes. When the model and drawing disagree, the drawing usually governs.
Title block: The box on a drawing with part number, revision, material, finish and the general tolerances that apply to every dimension without its own.
Revision (rev): The drawing's version letter or number. Quote and make to the revision on the PO, and check it before every run.
Tolerance: How far a dimension may vary. Tighter tolerances mean slower cuts, more inspection and sometimes grinding.
GD&T (geometric dimensioning and tolerancing): Symbols that control form, orientation and location relative to datums (ASME Y14.5). Every callout in a feature control frame is something to hold and measure.
Datum: A reference feature (a face, axis or hole) that measurements and tolerances are taken from. Datums also tell you how to fixture the part.
Feature control frame: The box with a GD&T symbol, tolerance and datum references attached to a feature.
True position: How far a hole or feature may sit from its exact location, as a diameter zone. Tight position often means one setup or CMM inspection.
Flatness: How flat a surface must be, with no datum. Thin, large plates with tight flatness need stress relief or light passes.
Profile: Controls a surface or outline against its true shape, often for contoured parts. Profile of a surface usually means CMM inspection.
Runout: How much a turned surface wobbles when the part rotates on its datum axis. Tight total runout may call for grinding or one-setup turning.
MMC (maximum material condition): A feature at the size with the most material, such as the smallest hole. Position at MMC gains bonus tolerance as the feature's actual size moves away from MMC.
Thread callout: A thread's size, pitch and class, such as 1/4-20 UNC-2B or M6x1-6H. The class and depth decide whether it's tapped, milled or rolled.
Ballooned drawing: A drawing with each characteristic numbered, used to tie every dimension to a line on an inspection report.
DFM (design for manufacturability): Feedback that would make a part cheaper or more reliable to make, such as larger internal radii or looser non-critical tolerances.

Quality paperwork

FAI (first article inspection): A full check of the first part against every characteristic on the print, with a report. Priced per part number and revision, not per piece.
AS9102: The aerospace standard form for first article inspection reports (forms 1, 2 and 3).
CoC (certificate of conformance): A signed statement that the parts meet the PO's requirements. It's not a measurement of the parts.
Material cert (MTR, mill test report): The mill's record of a heat's chemistry and mechanical properties, traced to the material you used.
PPAP (production part approval process): The automotive package proving a process makes good parts consistently: FAI, capability studies, control plan and more. Quote it as its own line.
Traveler: The paper or digital sheet that follows a job through the shop with its routing, revision and sign-offs.
CMM (coordinate measuring machine): A machine that probes a part to measure positions and profiles. CMM programming is setup; CMM run time is per part inspected.
AS9100: The aerospace quality management standard, ISO 9001 plus aerospace requirements. Many aerospace buyers require it.
ISO 9001: The general quality management standard. A certified system tells buyers your process is documented and audited.

Defense and export control

ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations): US rules (22 CFR 120–130) controlling defense articles and their technical data. Sharing ITAR technical data with a foreign person, even inside the US, needs an export authorization.
ITAR registration: Registration with the State Department's DDTC, required of US companies that manufacture or export defense articles, even if they never export.
EAR (Export Administration Regulations): Commerce Department export rules for dual-use items. A drawing's ECCN, or EAR99, says how it's controlled.
CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information): Sensitive government information that must be protected under NIST SP 800-171, often marked on defense drawings.
DFARS: The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. For shops: specialty-metals sourcing rules (252.225-7009) and the cybersecurity clause 252.204-7012.
NIST SP 800-171: The security requirements for systems that hold CUI; Revision 2's 110 requirements are the basis of CMMC Level 2.
CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification): The DoD program that checks contractors' cybersecurity. Level 1 covers federal contract information (FCI); Level 2 covers CUI.
DIBBS: The Defense Logistics Agency's bid board, where small shops can find and bid on spare-parts solicitations.

Updated 2026-11-05. Missing a term? Email support@quotedpart.com. More: all guides, QuotedPart facts.