If you’re still relying on spreadsheets for quoting, you’re not alone. Many fabrication shops, machine shops, and custom manufacturers use Excel or Google Sheets as their go-to cost calculator. But in today’s fast-paced world of on-demand manufacturing, that approach creates bottlenecks and risks that your competitors have already automated away.
The Limitations of Manual Cost Estimation
Manual quoting might feel flexible, but it often turns into a patchwork of formulas, lookup tables, and fragile links. It’s common to see spreadsheets attempting to calculate costs based on machine time, material usage, and setup operations, often built around internal versions of a sheet metal part pricing formula or 3D print cost structure.
But these tools:
- Struggle to adapt to changes in geometry or complexity
- Lack automatic input from CAD files or technical drawings
- Don’t account for multi-axis machining or variable post-processing
- Force estimators to approximate instead of calculate
This kind of quoting leads to inconsistent pricing, slower response times to RFQs, and lost jobs in highly competitive markets.
A Better Approach: Instant Quote Software
Instead of relying on static formulas, quote software like DigiFabster gives you dynamic, intelligent pricing powered by real part data. Whether you’re estimating sheet metal cutting, 3-axis milling, or SLS printing, the system automatically calculates cost based on:
- Actual part geometry from STEP, STL, or DXF files
- Your rules for labor, machine runtime, material waste, and overhead
- Quantity-based bulk pricing
- Optional operations like engraving, anodizing, or metal bending
The result? A process more accurate than any manual cycle time based pricing spreadsheet — and way faster.
Real-Time Calculations, Real Business Value
Let’s say you’re quoting a batch of aluminum brackets for laser cutting. In a spreadsheet, you’d likely be juggling material weight formulas, setup time estimates, and maybe a cost per minute multiplier. With Digifabster, those inputs are calculated automatically using your own logic — but without the maintenance nightmare.
It’s everything manufacturers try to build with Excel — but streamlined, validated, and scalable.
Built for the Way Shops Actually Work
Digifabster supports quoting for:
- Sheet metal fabrication (cutting, bending, punching)
- Multi-axis CNC machining
- 3D printing technologies like HP MJF, SLS, or SLA
- And even custom assembly operations and finishing
You define your own logic once — replacing a dozen disconnected spreadsheets with a unified cost estimation software platform. It becomes your single source of truth for job costing, manufacturing finance, and workflow automation.
The Bottom Line
Excel is powerful, but it wasn’t built to handle the complexity of modern manufacturing operations. If your team is maintaining its own job costing spreadsheet for fabrication or manually applying formulas for setup + runtime + margin, it’s time to move forward.
With a solution like Digifabster, you’ll never wonder whether you priced a job right — you’ll just know.
👉 Ready for the switch?
Learn more about Digifabster’s instant quoting, order management, invoicing, and payment solution here.
YOUR PATH FORWARD STARTS TODAY
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