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How do you estimate / quote programming times?

Hey, all!

I am looking for a very simple answer to a very complicated question. I have a TON of work ahead of me and my boss wants to know how long it will take to complete.

I have a very broad spectrum of parts that are all quite different from each other. I have heard that a general rule of thumb is you can apply "five minutes per touch". I have, at the end of a program, counted how many touches the CMM takes, and I can look at how long it took to me to program the part, and this rule of thumb, isn't that far off.

The problem is BEFORE programming, or putting in too much work, I would like a quick and easy method to arrive at a ballpark guess at programming time. I have lots of experience, and I can look at a part and give a ballpark estimate, but my boss wants a layman or someone who is not a CMM programmer to be able to look at a model of a part, and by feature count or some other metric, be able to determine how long it would take a CMM programmer to write a program. (approx.)

Anyone out there know a trick or rule of thumb that could help me out here? Thanks in advance!

TheWhiteSpider
PC-DMIS 2013
offline CAD++
NX/Unigraphics into .IGES files
Parents
  • A Good rule of thumb that has proven itself time and time again... The CMM Programming time is about half the time it takes to for the NC Programmers to program the part and release material to the shop floor for a trial run. Your boss needs to goto the Programming group at your company and find out what time frame they quoted then cut it in half for you. This applies to machined product CMM programmed off line to keep ahead of the curve.
    HTH.
Reply
  • A Good rule of thumb that has proven itself time and time again... The CMM Programming time is about half the time it takes to for the NC Programmers to program the part and release material to the shop floor for a trial run. Your boss needs to goto the Programming group at your company and find out what time frame they quoted then cut it in half for you. This applies to machined product CMM programmed off line to keep ahead of the curve.
    HTH.
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