DFMA Software Costing Tool Differentiator - Part 1: Protecting Data and Guaranteeing True Should-Cost

Why is DFMA software preferable to any other costing software on the market?

Safety and Security

When company leaders explore costing software options, their first question is about data security. How can you be sure the software you’re vetting won’t expose your sensitive data or worse, leak (or sell) your company’s private information to third parties?

With DFMA software, “data security” is a box you can check off immediately. The core costing system runs behind your existing firewall on your company’s own network, and should-cost results are generated locally without requiring you to send part data to a cloud service or rely on third-party services to produce results.

If your data is safe and secure on the network you use every day, it will be just as secure when you add DFMA software within your existing privacy protections.

Simplicity

Another benefit of hosting DFMA software locally is that IT departments won’t have to manage multiple complex systems and integrations. IT departments love it when solutions can stay fully behind their own firewalls, because it makes the sign-off process with the executive team quick and easy.

In contrast, competing systems usually require weeks if not months of rigorous testing and verification before leaders can approve the purchase.

Furthermore, DFMA software integrates seamlessly with your existing internal security setup. If one internal group is prohibited from sharing cost data with another, DFMA software will work with your files exactly as you prefer. The software supports internal security protocols for file storage and user access, so your IT teams don’t have to waste time building new security solutions.

Accuracy

Some costing software solutions use an “alignment procedure” that tries to align the software output to historical pricing or supplier quotes a company has received over the years. Unfortunately, this procedure can introduce bias by anchoring estimates to what you’ve paid in the past rather than what the part or product should cost to manufacture.

These original cost calculations essentially don't matter because the end result is “aligned” (altered, actually) to fit assumptions based on previous experience. Essentially, users receive estimates that fit with their preconceived notions and tell them what the users already know or want to hear.

As parts become more complex or have more features, the calculation can become even less accurate. The software is developed so that the costing results align with the company's historical pricing or historical supplier quotes, rather than with the actual manufacturing cost drivers of the part or product.

DFMA software helps reduce bias by delivering results grounded in manufacturing models and current industry data. DFMA software calculations are based on more than 40 years of development, real-world research, and ongoing refinement.

To ensure accuracy, developers regularly review and update rates and inputs using ongoing industry data and user feedback and make adjustments as conditions change. That way, users can be certain that the cost results they receive match up-to-date numbers as closely as possible.

Transparency and Customization

While DFMA software fully populates machine and material rates by default, users can easily edit these values. This means you can customize the values to match the figures your suppliers provided, while keeping visibility into what changed and why.

This is crucial because, although DFMA software does consider various material price trackers and forecasters (such as MEPS for steel, Harbor for aluminum, and IHSMarkit for polymers), these trackers often neglect real-world factors such as custom processing, drying, and purchase volumes required for specific manufacturing processes.

For example, the typical price for plastic pellets provided by a tracker may not be appropriate for a thermoforming process that requires a much more expensive, custom-extruded sheet.

The hourly rates for machinery reflect the actual cost of purchasing and operating that machinery. This calculation is based on typical machine depreciation over a ten-year period, assuming 100% overhead (which is common for most industries).

You can adjust any of these values yourself to customize your results. We also use frequent user feedback to adjust these values to reflect the current reality.