CastingCostEstimatingEstimatingthecostofanengineeredcastmetalcomponentcanseemliketryingtosolveanadvancedalgorithm.It’sacomplexprocesswithawiderangeofnumberstofactorinandjustasmanyvariablestoaccountfor—andtherearenoshortcuts.Similartosolvingtheadvancedmathematicalequation,ifyoudon’tdoyourhomework,itshows.Butafailinggradeintheprocessofcostingacastingcanbemoreseriousanddrasticallyaffectyourbottomline.Similartomostotherproducts,themorethatgoesintoacastcomponentandthemorethatisexpectedfromit,themorecostlyitwillbe.It’snolongerpossibletodeterminethepriceperpoundofaparticularalloyandaccuratelyestimatethecastingcostbasedonthatfigure.Whilethatisoneaspectoftheestimationformula,thereismuchmoretofactorintotheequation.“Thereismoretothepriceofacastingthanjustthecomponentsorrawmaterialscomingin,”saidRobertCreese,whoisaprofessorofindustrialandmanagementsystemsinengineeringatWestVirginiaUniv.,Morgantown,W.Va.,andhasauthoredabookoncostestimationforthemanufacturingindustry.“Whatyouhavetorememberisthatcostsgoupfortheprocessingofthematerialsandforoverheads.Itisnotonlylaborcostsandmaterialcosts,buttheoverheadcosts—andthosetendtobethemajorcostcomponent.”Thisarticledetailsthefactorsaffectingthecostofacastingandprovidestipsfordesigningthebestcastingatthelowestcost.IntheBeginningTheprocessofcostingacastinginvolvesanumberofdifferentfactors,butmanyofthemareintertwined.Often,onceonedecisionismade,anotherfallsintoplace.Thestartingpointofthecomplexestimationprocessboilsdowntoasimplequestion:whatdoesthecastingneedtodo?Thefunctionalityofthecomponentwilldrivemanyoftheotherfactorsintheestimatingprocess.Beforemakingadecisiononalloy,castingprocessorpost-castingtreatment,askthequestion,howwillthecastingbeusedinthefinalapplication?Metaltypeplaysasignificantroleinthecostofacasting.Buttherearenotalwaysoptionswhenselectinganalloy.Thetypeofmetalusedisdirectlyrelatedtothedesiredpropertiesandcharacteristicsofthecasting.Sometimes,certainmaterialscanmatchengineeringcharacteristicsofothermaterialsatareduced