# How to Quote Swiss-Type Turned Parts Without Losing Margin > Source: https://netray.co/resources/how-to-quote-swiss-turned-parts > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Knowledge Base ## Short answer How to quote Swiss-type turned parts: cycle time, bar stock, setup amortization, secondary ops and quantity breaks, plus where AI can draft the quote for you. ## Category ai-automation ## Content **Intro:** To quote a Swiss-type turned part, build the price from five numbers: cycle time per piece, bar stock cost including remnant and cutoff loss, setup hours amortized over the lot, outside processing and secondary operations, and a scrap allowance. Then price quantity breaks so setup is recovered on small lots. Most margin leaks in turned-parts shops come from optimistic cycle times, forgotten secondary operations, and flat per-piece pricing across lot sizes. This guide walks the quote line by line the way a good estimator does it on a 20 to 32 mm Swiss machine. **Sections:** #### Start With Cycle Time, Not Material **Body:** Cycle time is the largest and least reliable number on a turned-parts quote. Estimators usually get it one of three ways: a CAM simulation from Esprit, GibbsCAM or Mastercam, a comparison to a similar part already running on a Citizen, Star, Tsugami or Tornos machine, or a gut feel built over years. Each fails differently. Simulation ignores real-world dwell, chip breaking and spindle sync handoffs. Comparison fails when a new part adds a cross hole or a thread whirling operation that the old part did not have. Gut feel walks out the door when the estimator retires. The honest approach is to simulate, then apply a shop-specific factor derived from the ratio of actual to simulated cycle time on the last 20 jobs. **Bullets:** - Count every tool change, back-working operation and part transfer to the sub-spindle - Add a realistic cutoff and part-eject time per piece - Apply a calibration factor from actual versus simulated times by material - Flag features that routinely overrun: deep drilling, thread whirling, knurling, tight bore finishes #### Bar Stock, Remnants and Cutoff Loss **Body:** Material on a turned part is not part weight times price per pound. A 12 foot bar of 303 stainless is consumed by the part length, the parting blade kerf, the face-off stock, and the bar remnant that the feeder cannot use, often several inches per bar depending on the guide bushing and feeder. On short parts, the kerf and face-off can be a double digit percentage of the material. Quote on bar diameter with the right ground-bar tolerance, not the finished diameter, and price the bar at the quantity you will actually buy. A mill minimum, a heat-lot minimum or a 5 bar buy can change the effective cost per foot noticeably. #### Setup, Secondary Operations and Outside Processing **Body:** Swiss setups range from a few hours on a repeat part with saved tooling to a full day on a new part with custom ground tools and a complex program prove-out. Quote setup honestly and spread it over the lot, which is why a 250 piece lot and a 25,000 piece lot cannot share a price. Then add everything that happens after the machine: deburring, centerless grinding, thread rolling, heat treat, passivation to ASTM A967, plating, laser marking, 100 percent optical sorting. Each outside process also brings a transit lead time and a vendor minimum charge that belongs on the quote. **Bullets:** - Separate setup from run time so quantity breaks are honest - Add vendor minimum charges for plating, heat treat and passivation - Add inspection time for critical characteristics, especially with optical comparators or vision systems - Include packaging, cleaning and certification paperwork cost for medical and aerospace customers #### Quantity Breaks, Scrap and Blanket Orders **Body:** Turned-parts buyers often ask for pricing at several quantities and a blanket order with scheduled releases. Quote at least three tiers, such as 500, 5,000 and 25,000 pieces, and show the setup recovery plainly in your own worksheet even if the customer sees only unit prices. Build in a scrap allowance appropriate to the part: higher on a new job with tight tolerances and a fresh program, lower on a proven repeat. For blanket orders, state the minimum release size and what happens to leftover bar stock bought against the forecast. Without that line, you carry the raw material risk for the customer. #### Where AI Fits in a Turned-Parts Quote **Body:** AI is most useful on the two chores that eat estimator time: reading the RFQ package and finding comparable past jobs. A private AI agent can read the drawing and notes, extract material, tolerances, finishes and quantities, search your ERP for similar parts by diameter, material and feature set, and pull the actual cycle times, setup hours, scrap and outside process costs from those jobs. The estimator then reviews a draft with every number traced to a source job. The agent should never send a quote or write to the ERP on its own. If you see fewer than a handful of RFQs a week, a good quote worksheet is probably enough and AI will not pay back. **Cta:** Send Netray a sample RFQ and a few past turned-part jobs and see a draft quote with traceable cycle time, bar and secondary costs, run privately on your own systems. **Faq:** #### How do you calculate the price of a Swiss turned part? **Answer:** Add bar stock cost including remnant and cutoff loss, cycle time multiplied by the machine hourly rate, setup hours divided by lot size, secondary and outside processing, inspection and packaging, and a scrap allowance. Then apply overhead and margin and price several quantity breaks so setup is recovered on small lots. #### Why do small-lot turned parts quotes lose money? **Answer:** Because setup is a fixed cost, and a flat per-piece price spreads it as if every lot were large. A part priced for 20,000 pieces will lose money at 300 pieces once program prove-out, tooling and first article inspection are counted. Quote setup separately or use minimum lot charges. #### How accurate is CAM simulation for Swiss cycle time? **Answer:** It is a good starting point but usually optimistic, since it misses dwell, chip clearing, part transfer and real machine acceleration. Shops get better accuracy by comparing actual versus simulated times on recent jobs and applying a correction factor by material and machine. ## Related Slugs - gross-margin-analysis-manufacturing - manufacturing-costing-methods-comparison - ai-quoting-aerospace-defense-manufacturers - syteline-job-costing-configuration-guide ## Search terms how to quote swiss turned parts, swiss machining quoting, turned parts quoting, swiss screw machine pricing, precision turned parts cost estimating, cycle time estimating swiss machine --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json