The Starter Kit's defaults are a credible starting point. Three levers turn them into your factory model. Work through them as you gather real data.
1. Resource rates
Each resource (operator, machine) has a loaded €/h. Update it to your site's real rate and every activity that uses that resource re-prices automatically. Start here — rates move the numbers most, for the least effort.
Edit the individual buckets rather than overwriting the total, so the rate stays explainable. See Resources & the loaded rate.
2. Manual driver defaults
Manual drivers are the tunable knobs inside the formulas — seconds per solder joint, setup time per batch, defect rates. Set their defaults to match how your line runs. You can also override a driver's value on a single scenario without changing the default.
Prioritise the drivers that multiply against high counts. Drivers you tune: time constants & defect rates covers which ones repay a stopwatch.
3. Professional activities where precision pays
Each activity ships with a working time formula. For most sites, tuning the resource rate and a few driver defaults is enough.
When you want a step modelled in more detail, swap that activity for its Professional sibling in the routing. The two are separate activities with different formulas, so this is a swap rather than a setting.
Simple vs Professional tiers explains what changes.
Before you edit a formula
Most tuning happens on rates and driver defaults, and you never need to open a formula. When you do, these rules are enforced by the calculation engine — break one and you get an error rather than a wrong number:
The last line carries no semicolon. A trailing
;is the easiest mistake to make.Use
pow(base, exp)for powers.^is not recognised.Comments use
//. Block comments/* … */are not supported.System driver names are lower-case and case-sensitive:
panel_factor, notPanel_factor.Declare a value once with
:=. Inside a condition,=compares — it cannot re-assign.Decimals take a dot:
1.75, not1,75.round(x)returns a whole number. For one decimal, useround(x * 10) / 10.
Click Validate, then Test run with sample values, before you save. The editor names the error type and the line it sits on. Full reference: Use formula to customize your manufacturing and calculation templates.
A good order to work in
Set your resource rates. biggest impact, least effort.
Adjust the manual driver defaults for your own processes, as measured.
Move to Professional only for the activities where the extra precision helps the answer.
If something looks off after setup, reach out to our Support team via the in-app chat. We are here to help, and if need be, we will assign a Solutions Engineer to help tailor your costing.