Manufacturing has dealt with pencil and paper pushers soon after man began living in caves, of course then it was more like charcoal and wall.

I’ve experienced, through the last decade, how a generation of seasoned estimators, specifically those who began without the use of computers, continues to retire and move off into the sunset. As this baby boomer crowd escapes into retirement, the door opens for the new, technologically advanced graduates to take over the estimating for manufacturing companies. This is in opposition to ten years ago when it was not unusual to have conversations with estimators working only with pencil and paper. And now these high-tech computer savvy users not only understand the power of computerization but enthusiastically exploit its capabilities. They are transforming the estimating landscape nurturing success for their companies.

Software, through the years, has come a long way. I recall the old 8" floppy disk, superseded by the 5.25 and once again by the 3.5" so that dates me fairly well. Now with the floppy disk pretty much extinct, at least in practice, its transformation helps to re-enforce how computer technology is changing and for estimators they now reap new forms of speed, accuracy, and consistency and more…

Included in today’s advanced software capabilities for estimators, are cost models. This new powerful feature doesn’t require each user to be a true manufacturing engineer. An end-user just needs to have the basic manufacturing knowledge and the necessary skills to read a blue print. Now users can quickly enter dimensional information, typically found on the part prints, into the limited data-entry fields and get fast results.

Some cost estimating systems are delivered with pre-built cost models ready for use. When looking for a costing system, that utilizes cost models, seek out one able to cover most major manufacturing processes for fabricating and machining.

Knowing how flexible a system is, can be important because you’ll know whether new models can be added, modified, or tweaked - if the included models don’t quite suit the manufacturing needs of your company. Look for a system where the developer or your engineers, can quickly modify existing models or add new ones from scratch.

Using a system that allows companies to created unlimited unique cost models means your team can design exactly what each model needs to calculate and cost out – whether for a "single" process, or "multiple" processes, or a combination forming "product" cost models. Utilizing these cost models provides quick numbers, and in some cases information right over the phone or at the customer’s facility. One benefit of having quick answers is that it can greatly speed up the evaluation, review and decision-making process for your customers. This is a win-win scenario for all.

Another painstaking activity most estimators shy away from is updating information like vendor, customer, and material details. Seek out a system that has mass import/update options. This can really make an estimator and the sales team happy. Also, allowing user-overrides can greatly increase an estimator’s ability to make quick adjustments. Or explore whether the system has permission controls where leaders can restrict user access or assign special privileges.

And lastly, select a costing system with options to export reports into spreadsheets and provide creative control over what the estimator can present to the sales team. This allows modifications on final pricing along with other editing options and can certainly help estimators get their work done more quickly and easily.

With these abilities and options available for estimators, the whole estimating process becomes much more efficient, accurate and can actually make estimating fun!