Wire Harness Price by Quantity and NRE Calculator
Harness pricing usually fails in one of two ways: markup is confused with margin, or NRE is forgotten at low volume. This calculator builds up a unit price from cost elements and shows how it moves with lot size.
Your numbers
Wire, connectors, terminals, seals, sleeving and labels at buy price.
Factory overhead absorbed on labor dollars.
Your results
Gross margin is calculated on price, not as a markup on cost. A 28 percent margin equals a markup of about 39 percent on cost. Overhead rates, scrap and labor hours are examples; use your own costing data.
Unit price vs lot quantity (NRE amortized in lot)
Sweeps Lot quantity from 10 to 1000, holding your other inputs fixed.
Check quoted cost against actual job cost
Optional: a short review of how estimated harness costs compare with actual job costing in ERP.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the calculator
Enter material per harness from your connector, terminal and wire rollups, direct labor hours from your labor estimate, and your labor rate and overhead percent. Add test cost and the one-time NRE to recover, then set the gross margin you need. The result is a unit price, lot revenue and gross profit, and the chart shows how price falls as quantity grows because NRE spreads thinner.
- Pull material from the connector and wire worksheets on this site
- Pull labor hours from the labor-time calculator
- Set overhead from your actual overhead pool divided by direct labor dollars
- Compare prices at the quantity breaks you plan to quote
Formulas
Material with scrap equals material times (1 plus scrap). Labor with overhead equals hours times rate times (1 plus overhead percent). Manufacturing cost equals material plus labor plus test. Fully loaded cost adds NRE divided by quantity. Price equals fully loaded cost divided by (1 minus margin fraction), which gives a margin on price. To express the same result as a markup on cost, markup equals margin divided by (1 minus margin).
Reading the chart
Two lines are plotted, fully loaded cost and price. The gap between them is the margin dollars per unit. Near the left of the chart, NRE per unit dominates, which is why short runs need a separate NRE charge or a minimum lot. If price flattens at a level above what the customer will pay at high volume, look at the cost elements, not just the margin, since labor hours and material are where improvement happens.
Common mistakes
Calling a 30 percent markup a 30 percent margin. Applying overhead to material instead of labor when your pool is labor driven. Leaving test and inspection in overhead on Class 3 work where it is large. Amortizing NRE over a quantity the customer never orders. Setting one margin for all volumes instead of reflecting setup and risk at low quantity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Margin is profit divided by price. Markup is profit divided by cost. A 25 percent margin requires a 33.3 percent markup. This calculator targets margin, so price equals cost divided by (1 minus margin).
How should I treat NRE?
Either charge it as a separate one-time line on the quote or amortize it across a committed quantity. Amortizing over a quantity the customer might not order puts the recovery at risk, so separate NRE is safer for uncertain programs.
What overhead rate should I use?
Divide factory overhead expenses by direct labor dollars for the same period. Rates vary widely by shop and automation. The 110 percent default is illustrative, not a benchmark.
Why show full cost in the chart?
It lets you see how much of the price decline with quantity is NRE amortization versus margin, which helps you set price breaks that still cover cost.
If cost data for quoting sits in ERP but price decisions are made in spreadsheets, we can discuss linking the two so quotes use current rollups.
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Keep exploring
Free tools
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- Wire Harness RFQ Review ChecklistCheck the drawing package, BOM, class, test, material, compliance and commercial points on a harness RFQ before you commit to a price.
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Guides
- How to Quote a Wire Harness From a Customer DrawingStep-by-step wire harness quoting: read the drawing, build the BOM, price wire and connectors, time every termination, and add NRE, test and scrap.
- ERP for Cable Assembly and Wire Harness Manufacturers: What to RequireWhat a cable assembly or wire harness shop needs from ERP: BOM by drawing revision, wire by the foot, lot traceability, kitting, and test records.
- Wire Harness Labor Time Standards: Building and Tuning Your OwnHow to build labor time standards for wire harness and cable assembly: operation-level times, setup vs run, complexity factors, and tuning from actual job data.