Job Estimating Software “MIE QuoteIt” Has New Features
Quoting and estimating software can be found in many products. One of the industries that have access to the most estimating software packages is construction, where you see a plethora of options available. Job shop estimating software is also common but it is usually tied directly into the vendor’s ERP/MRP system. MIE QuoteIt from MIE Solutions has an estimating package available that can be linked to different ERP systems because it uses SQL Server. Most systems can extract the data from QuoteIt and use it as an add-on. MIE Solutions developed MIE QuoteIt as a system specifically designed for sheet metal job shops but has now expanded into a wide variety of manufacturing plants because of the unique ability to create customized formulas.
Customizing your formulas for how you want to quote creates consistency within your company. A simple example is “countersinking”. One way to create a consistent formula is using a formula like:
# Of Holes To Countersink divided by 3(NUMBER OF COUNTER SINKS)/3
This is the exact formula you would create if you were wanting counter sinks to be costed at 20 seconds per countersink.
You can also make a more complex example (as shown below) where we do not fix the number of seconds per minute but, rather, change it dynamically.
(NUMBER OF COUNTER SINKS)/(COUNTERS SINKS PER MINUTE)
The downfall of the second approach is that you get back to the inconsistency of estimating where people do not come up with the same figure. Another, more refined, option is to not ask for the speed but for the size where the speed would be pre-populated based on the size of the countersink being created. MIE QuoteIt allows you to create tables and, therefore, create consistent quotes and estimates without the inconsistent opinion of the estimator (since the thickness and size of the countersink should not be a guess).
In the next few blogs I will go into detail on some different formulas and how to create them in order to not guess when estimating.