"Narva, Jeffrey" <narvaj@indy.navy.mil> on 12/03/98 11:19:00 AM
To: rpml <rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi>
cc:
Subject: sls quotes
Dear list
I have recently been asked to obtain quotes for SLS prototyped parts. I
have
found that the quoted prices can vary across the board. Unfortunately,
since
I am from a large company, my purchasing department wants an +accurate+
estimate of the cost before quoting. I need to be able to +guess+ at the
cost before starting the process. To date, I have been unable to figure out
any reliable method of estimating SLS part costs. Does anyone on the list
know the general method used to quote SLS parts by the industry. Are they
basing costs on:
1. Part volume or bounding box and a cost per cubic inch.
2. Part height and a build rate per hour
3. Some other method ¦.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Jeff Narva
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
Jeff,
You should expect to get accurate and firm quotes back from any service
bureau within a few hours. I've never had a problem doing that. I don't
even venture a price guess as there are too many variables involved.
I too, work in a very large company (Rockwell Collins) and much of our work
is on military contracts. Our purchasing department wanted me to get
competitive bids also. The buyers themselves wanted to be directly
involved. My boss and I visited with them and worked out a special (not for
public knowledge) process for ordering parts. I also trained engineering to
trust my judgement! I picked the vendor based upon turnaround time,
process/material that I needed, quality, willingness/capability to work
with me and last was price. I narrowed it down to one major vendor and a
second with complementing capabilities and had no problems from then on.
Price did eventually play a factor, but not that important as I was getting
the best overall value for my money. When you talk to your purchasing
people, make sure they understand that this is not a PRODUCTION issue, but
a design engineering tool that has much greater benefits down the road. I
described the design engineering process to them and the important roll
that RP plays in it. I also showed them an OLD video that 3D Systems gave
me to help them understand. Also, for engineering projects, we are now
capable of ordering up to $2,500 of parts without upper level signatures or
competitive bids, as long as we provide the bean counters with a
"justification" statement.
This worked out great for me. In two years, I ordered around $140,000 of RP
parts until we brought a system in-house. The engineer would tell me the
part number and charge number, I would prepare the .stl files and send them
out. I then called the SB to describe what I needed, got the bid faxed to
me and phoned back to give them the OK. Sometimes they had the OK before I
got the bid because we had a relationship and both knew what to expect.
Purchasing just rubber stamped my orders and sent them on. I really loved
working with SBs because of the respect, honesty and trust developed on
both sides. It has to be there because that is the only way you can get
parts back in 2 or 3 days. The only problems that I had was the parts being
lost between the loading dock and my desk!
Good luck,
Wayne
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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