What quoting software works for a Swiss screw-machine shop?

Begin with a part and a bar schedule

The fictional pin is 0.250-inch diameter by 1.250-inch length, from 0.3125-inch 303 bar. It has one 0.0625-inch cross hole through the diameter, one groove and a general ±0.001-inch dimensional allowance. It has no threads, grinding, plating or special traceability requirement. Those details define the example; a long slender shaft or implant needs a different review.

Assume a 144-inch purchased bar costs $24, 12 inches are unavailable as remnant, and each good part consumes 1.325 inches including cutoff and facing. Usable yield is floor((144 − 12) / 1.325) = 99 pieces per bar. The table uses an allocated material cost of $24 / 99 per pin. That override is deliberate: it prevents a generic stock-weight allowance from being mistaken for the shop's actual bar purchase.

Inspect the route instead of trusting a turning label

The example explicitly uses QuotedPart's Swiss route with a 120-minute Swiss setup at $110/hour. Programming, bench work and inspection use their separate rates in the route table. The quantity table includes the pricing engine's run-time adjustment at each order size; it is a costing assumption, not evidence that the actual machine runs faster at 10,000 pieces.

Main-spindle turning and sub-spindle backworking can overlap. Ask every candidate how it handles simultaneous work: adding two elapsed cycles blindly can overstate the machine time, while taking only the longer cycle can omit transfer or synchronization. A CAM time study or observed proven cycle should replace a preliminary allowance before a large fixed-price commitment. QuotedPart's feature-based estimate does not prove collision clearance or a synchronized Swiss program.

Make ten thousand pieces expose the hidden assumptions

At the stated yield, 10,000 good pins require at least ceiling(10,000 / 99) = 102 bars before production scrap. Purchased stock costs $2,448; the allocated estimate uses about $2,424.24 across the sold quantity. The difference buys the remaining usable capacity in those bars. Decide whether to retain that capacity as inventory or charge the job for a dedicated purchase.

A two-hour setup at $110/hour is $220 per lot: $2.20 per pin at 100 pieces, $0.22 at 1,000 and $0.022 at 10,000, before other setup operations and markup. At the largest quantity, one extra cycle second consumes 10,000 / 3,600 hours and adds $305.56 at $110/hour. Small cycle errors can therefore outweigh a large percentage error in setup. These sensitivities are arithmetic examples, not additions already included in the table.

A software demonstration the lead Swiss machinist can grade

Have the demonstrator change the remnant from 12 to 18 inches, add a live-tool feature and move from a single release to a blanket order with four releases. Watch whether bar yield, setup recovery and delivery assumptions change independently. Record who approves those changes. A quantity discount should never quietly remove the gaging or bar-change time the shop still performs.

A useful tool retains per-lot setup, per-piece run time, tooling allowance, cutoff loss and inspection assumptions in a form another estimator can explain. QuotedPart can price editable Swiss operations at the shop's rates, while the machinist must supply the production method and prove the cycle. No competitor is rated here without Swiss-specific evidence; request the same demonstration from each vendor on your shortlist.

• Swiss estimating method and risk allowances
• Recalculate whole-bar yield