Tag Archives: machine shop estimating

INCH / METRIC Enhancements for KipwareCYC® – Machining Cycletime Estimating Software

Kentech Inc. is pleasesd to announce the release of Version 10.0.0 of our KipwareCYC® – Machining Cycletime Estimating Software.

The first enhancement deals with the inclusion of separate INCH and METRIC databases for BOTH the cutting parameters database and machine specification database. Previously inch and metric settings were contained in a single database … but we feel the two separate databases give users more flexibility and options when having to change between creating estimates in inch and metric. When the user selects INCH or METRIC in the KipwareCYC® SETTINGS page … the appropriate databases will automatically be loaded at start-up.

The second enhancement allows the user to have KipwareCYC® automatically convert the INCH specific database to METRIC … and REVERSE. This new feature allows users to create the database contents using, say, inch specific parameters and then have KipwareCYC® automatically convert that database and save it as a file with metric settings automatically. The reverse can also be accomplished with a single button push … as the image below illustrates.

The third enhancements was a soft-release in 2021 and allows the user to easily create back-up copies of all the KipwareCYC® databases with a push of a single button. The date of the last back-up is saved and displayed on the SETTINGS page.

KipwareCYC® Webpage : https://kentechinc.com/kipwarecyc/

UPGRADE Pricing and Purchase Options : https://www.buykipware.com/product-category/kipware-upgrades/kipware-estimating-upgrades/

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.

New KipwareQTE® Release – Auto Quotation and Invoice Numbers

Version 17.0.0 of KipwareQTE® has been released as of 9/30/2020.

This version now includes the ability to configure KipwareQTE® to use auto quotation numbers and auto invoice numbers when creating these two reports. In addition … the user can configure these values to be auto incremented whenever the software closes.

The first to set up this feature is through the KipwareQTE® SETTINGS page … a screenshot is below.

Checking the checkbox will allow the software to load the configured current values for quotation and invoice reports when the software loads. Unchecking these values will allow the user to configure the values manually on each form when required.

The user can also configure the CURRENT NUMBER and INCREMENT value for both quotations and invoices.

When the software closes … the user is now presented with a screen that gives the ability to auto increment the values for either or both quotations and / or invoices.

Checking the appropriate box will cause the software to auto increment the current value by the increment value configured in the SETTINGS.

Version 17.0.0 of KipwareQTE® is shipping standard as of 10/01/2020.

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.

Kentech Welcomes TAI – Turkish Aerospace Industries to the Kipware® Family

November 22, 2017

Kentech Inc. is pleased to welcome TAI – Turkish Aerospace Industries to the KipwareCYC® ( machining cycletime estimating ) family.  Their impressive story and credentials are outlined on Wikipedia …

Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) (TurkishTürk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey.

Located in Ankara, the TAI production plant covers an area of 5million square meters with an industrial facility of 150,000 square meters under its roof. The company has a modern aircraft facility furnished with high technology machinery and equipment that provide extensive manufacturing capabilities ranging from parts manufacturing to aircraft assembly, flight tests and delivery.

As of 2010, Turkish Aerospace Industries employs over 1500 engineers, of whom approximately 850 are research and development engineers working in military research projects.

KipwareCYC® is an industry leading REAL WORLD machining cycletime estimating application … for more information please visit www.KentechInc.com.

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.

Cost Estimating for a Wooden Plaque with KipwareQTE®

If you have followed our Blog … you might know that back in October of 2015 we started a sister company to Kentech Inc. called KÄRV. KÄRV is a woodworking business … is just getting started … and will be producing custom, handmade furniture and unique wood carvings for resale.

www.KarvWoodworking.com

We are using the Kipware® software from Kentech Inc. in KÄRV to both create the G code programs for our X-Carve CNC router and to estimate cycletime and costs for the products we will be producing for resale. So we are putting Kipware® to the test in the real world … this time the world of woodworking … for additional in-the-trenches use.

We also wanted to document some of the use of Kipware® in various areas of KÄRV … so this post is dedicated to the cost estimating of a wooden, 3D carved plaque we have for sale on our website.

We wanted to illustrate through the video available below how we used our KipwareQTE® to create the retail price for the plaque considering material cost, tooling cost, labor cost and non-machining costs. Metalworking … woodworking … they both have very similar aspects as they relate to manufacturing … so this video is a great way to see KipwareQTE® in action in a woodworking environment … but with a lot of similarities with a metalworking one.

For additional information on all our Kipware® CNC and Machine Shop software titles … please visit www.KentechInc.com.

For additional information on KÄRV woodworking … please visit www.KarvWoodworking.com

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.

Keys When Estimating Machining Cycletime

At Kentech Inc., we have spent a lot of time over the last 25+ years working and perfecting our KipwareCYC® – Machining Cycletime Estimating Software.  KipwareCYC® started out as a resource for estimating cycletimes for machine purchase justification. Clients would come to us with the request to estimate machining time based on equipment they were considering purchasing. THIS WAS A BIG DEAL to be sure. The client was going to lay down some serious cash to purchase  a new piece of CNC equipment … based heavily on our cycletime estimate to machine their workpiece on that equipment.

Well over the years we have produced quite a few happy clients … enjoying a nice revenue increase thanks to those cycletime estimates and new equipment purchases. So we know a little about accurate machining cycletime estimate … from hands on experiences.

Two of the main factors we have used over the years to incorporate into our machining cycletime estimating are :

  1. Cutting  parameters used in the estimate MUST reflect the speeds and feeds being used on your shop floor during the machining. Using book knowledge … pie in the sky parameters … other people’s data and processes … will only lead to inaccurate estimates. This is one of the fundamental keys to accurate machining cycletime estimating. You can read more about our feelings on this issue in our previous BLOG post  … CLICK HERE to read that post.
  2. The time that a tool is actually engaged in the cut … the “length of cut” … is the most accurate way to estimate that tool’s cutting time. Using other factors like volume of material being removed … does not accurately reflect a tools cutting time. The volume of material being removed does not reflect the path the tool takes in the cut … only the amount of material being removed. The path the tool takes in the cut … the true length of cut … is the only factor that will produce an accurate cutting time.

Our KipwareCYC® application always has used a tools length of cut when calculating cutting time. Coming from the shop floor … we also realize that this is not an easy factor to obtain. That is why we created our companion app for KipwareCYC® … the Cut Length Calculator. This ingenious application uses a mix of conversational, fill-in-the-blank forms as well as the ability to import DXF files yto assist the user in calculating a tool’s length of cut quickly and easily. Our patented Machinist Mode transforms the mouse into a cutting tool … all the user need do is click around the part to simulate the cutter path … and CLC will turn that into a length of cut calculation … for either turning or milling calculations.

For more information on the Cut Length Calculator … included standard with KipwareCYC® … we invite you to watch the video below.


Quoting and estimating is the lifeblood of your business … and any accurate quote begins with an accurate machining cycletime estimate. It is undoubtedly STEP #1 !!

We invite you to check out all the features and power of KipwareCYC at our website … https://kentechinc.com/kipwarecyc/.

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.

Guidelines for Calculating Machine HOURLY RATE

We tout this fact all the time in our marketing … at Kentech Inc. we are MACHINISTS … we cut chips, we programmed, we ran shop floors for years … then we became software engineers and designers and built software products we saw were lacking during those years. What we refer to as Real World Machine Shop Software. 

As a result, many of our clients come to us to take advantage of that experience … especially those just starting out. Since quoting and estimating is one of the first tasks a new shop needs to get right … we get asked quite a lot of questions about these areas. Our KipwareCYC® ( machining cycletime estimating software ) and KipwareQTE® ( cost estimating / quoting software ) titles are two of our most popular titles. One of the “hot” topics we encounter during online presentations of these titles is often concerning the cost to charge for a machining or a shop rate. So we thought it was a good time to add a blog post with some guidelines we feel are simple enough … but important enough … that can get you to an accurate figure.

Since many shops will utilize an hourly rate as a basis for charging for machining time, this post is dedicated to some helpful guidelines on how to calculate that machining hourly rate. Below are some points we consider important when calculating the hourly rate for a particular machine. The areas requiring calculations include :

Equipment – Cost Per Hour of Operation … a common formula : (machine purchase cost + expected lifetime maintenance cost) / expected hours of operating life.

Direct Labor Cost per Hour … a common formula : (total annual labor costs + taxes + benefits + paid time off) / (total annual hours worked – breaks and training time)

Overhead Cost Per Hour  : Any costs not directly involved in machining a part is overhead. These include costs for administrative staff salary, equipment, furniture, building lease, maintenance and office supplies. Calculate the annual costs of these, then divide by total labor or machine hours for the year. This will be your overhead cost per hour

Once the above costs are calculated … you can use the formulas and guidelines below to arrive at either a “general” shop hourly rate or an hourly rate based on a specific piece of equipment.

General Machine Shop Hourly Rate … a common formula : Average overall shop rate = (average machine cost per hour + labor and overhead cost per hour) x markup

Machine Specific Hourly Rate … a common formula : (specific machine(s) cost per hour + labor + overhead cost per hour) x markup

Somewhat simplified … and usually a work in progress as factors may change. It is important to gather all the figures in the formulas above as best you can … as accurate as you can … and to keep tabs on any factors that may change along the way.

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.

New Feature Release – KipwareCYC® Runtime Calculator

Kentech Inc. is pleased to announce the release of the Runtime Calculator (RTC) feature for KipwareCYC® – Machining Cycletime Estimating Software.runtime_ad_logo

RTC is designed to allow users to quickly and easily calculate total hours … total days … and total labor costs for production runs from 1 to 1 million.

RTC can be used as a stand alone application with manual data entry … or users can import previously created KipwareCYC® cycletime estimates and KipwareQTE® machine database information for more automated and accurate calculations.

Below is a screenshot illustrating the available user inputs and options available in RTC.

RTF_screenshot

Please view the animated release video below for additional information and to view RTC in action.

Whether used as a stand alone application … or as a fully and seamlessly integrated application with KipwareCYC® and KipwareQTE® … RTC will provide users with accurate and consistent delivery and production data for scheduling or quoting.

Kenney Skonieczny – President
Kentech Inc.