Once your factory model is set up (our Starter Kit gives you one out of the box), you can cost any assembly in a project. This walks through creating a manufacturing scenario and reading the result.
Open the Manufacturing tab
In your project, open the Manufacturing tab.
You'll see every assembly in the project; you create a costing for each one.
Create a manufacturing scenario
Click Create manufacturing scenario, then:
Give it a name and pick one or more batch sizes (you can compare several).
Optional: link a sourcing scenario if the manufacturing cost depends on sourcing data (part packaging, supplier count, part price).
Add one or more templates — each is a group of activities and expenses (an SMT line, THT, coating). Their order shows how your factory is structured.
💡 Useful tip on linking Sourcing Scenarios
If you don't link a Sourcing Scenario to a Manufacturing Scenario, you'll have the option to use the same, single Manufacturing Scenario (with multiple batch sizes) for any Sourcing Scenario in the Calculations module. This lets you create all Calculation Scenarios with just one Manufacturing Scenario.
On the other hand, if you link a Sourcing Scenario with a Manufacturing Scenario, you will only be able to use that Manufacturing Scenario for the linked Sourcing Scenario, and not all Sourcing Scenarios.
This is your trade-off between flexibility/speed, and safety/precision.
Add project-specific activities with the Template wizard
Some activities only apply to one project, such as a customer-specific test or packaging step. To add them, open the manufacturing scenario and click Template wizard. The wizard covers in one flow what used to take three separate steps: creating the activity, putting it into a template, and appending that template to the scenario.
To add templates you already have, click Append templates instead.
Check the driver counts
Below the scenario table, every driver used shows a status:
🔴 Red — no value detected.
🟠 Orange — a value exists but may be incomplete.
🟢 Green — all needed information is present.
Click a driver to see what's missing. Aim for all green so every input is correct.
The drivers sit in a table titled Drivers for and the assembly name, which shows each driver's count and notes. Use Filter and Sort to find a driver quickly. To change several driver counts at once, click Edit, update the values you need, and save them together.
Read the breakdown
Open the scenario to see the cost breakdown (unit / batch / project costs, plus effective cost per unit and per batch) and the time breakdown (time per unit, time per batch). Below that, activities and expenses are grouped by template, with one full-width row each.
Click any row to expand it, see its calculation detail, and adjust individual driver counts. The table also lets you:
Click Edit drivers to change driver counts across several activities and expenses, then save all the changes at once.
Click Reorder and drag templates, or the activities and expenses inside them, into a new order. The new order is saved in a single action.
Click Append activities to add more activities to the scenario.
To roll several sub-assemblies into one top-level quote, use Flexible Calculations with exported variables.