Metal stamping remains one of the most cost-effective methods for on-demand mass sheet production to date despite advancements in technologies like sheet metal manufacturing and laser cutting. You cannot undermine its usefulness in sheet fabrication materials like metals. However, a few clients could find metal stamping cost calculation quite difficult due to the involvement of various factors.
Do you belong to the category mentioned above? This article will demystify the factors that stamping shops consider before determining the costs. It will also give useful tips on how to reduce these costs to suit your budget. Read on to the end to find out more about these useful tips.
What Determines Metal Stamping Cost?
To determine the cost of a stamping project, you’ll need to know how much the machines will cost per hour. You can do this easily by dividing the monthly power charges by the number of hours the machines will run. Then, add up all the consumable costs associated with your project. These include coolant, lubrication oil, and work holding apparatus. This will give you the net cost for the project. If you don’t know how to calculate these expenses, you can use a machining calculator to estimate the amount of labor involved.
Before you can understand how to reduce your metal stamping cost, you must understand the different factors that contribute to the prices. Below are a few factors machinists consider in their metal stamping cost calculation:
1.Stamping Material
This is a very important factor that fabricatior consider when doing the metal stamping cost calculation. As metal stamping is a subtractive process, it tends to use more material than what will be on the final product. Fabricatior buy these materials in blocks, and they calculate the prices per block. The types of materials used mostly in metal stamping are aluminum,stainless steel,steel and more metal material. Let’s take a closer look at both of them:
Aluminum
The common types of metals used in aluminum stamping include 1100 aluminum,3003 Aluminum and 5052 Aluminum. Fabricatior use aluminum 1100 the most due to its blend of economical price and good machinability.You can use our quoting platform to know more about how we factor material costs into your stamping costs.
Stainless Steel
Stainless Steel is more durable than most sheet metal and requires little maintenance over its lifetime. It’s very suitable for making different stamping parts, it can deep drawn, fabricated, formed and stamped into a wide variety of shapes.
Steel
Steel is one of the most versatile and economical metals used for stamping. It is a strong material that can be combined with other metals to form alloys with different strength and hardness levels. In addition, steel stampings can be heat treated after stamping to increase their strength or hardness. This allows the use of softer steel alloys to make more complex parts while still achieving the metal strength required for the application.
2.Stamping Cost
When considering the relationship between the production form and production cost of a product, will you be entangled in the following questions: What kind of mold and production method can you use to achieve the best price/performance ratio? What logic needs to be used to make judgments, and what factors are considered to make a decision? How to compare the pros and cons and how to make a choice is a big topic, but as long as we clarify the logic and define the benchmarking standards, then the pros and cons of different choices will be obvious, and it will be easy to make a choice. This time let us take a look at the stamping production form.
The stamping cost depends on the type of punch machine. The two main types of punch machines used in stamping are mainly: Manual stamping production and automatic stamping production. Among them, the common automatic stamping production can be divided into automatic single-mode series production (Tandem), transfer mold production (Transfer, also known as multi-station mold), and progressive mold production (Progressive, also known as continuous mold) according to product characteristics.
Manual Single Process Stamping
A single process is performed by a single machine, and the loading and unloading operations are performed manually.Features:
- The flexibility is high, the mold structure does not need to consider automation-related factors, and the simple structure requires less mold investment.
- Equipment investment is also very low, equipment maintenance costs are low, and a single equipment occupies a small area because there is no automatic auxiliary mechanism.
- A separate shearing machine or blanking equipment is required for the pre-production of blanks, and there is an additional cost of sheet turnover.
- The sheet does not need complex positioning areas, the contour shape is limited, and the material utilization rate is high.
- The labor cost is very high, and the ratio of operator to machine is at least 1:1. 1-2 people are required for loading and unloading of larger parts.
- Production efficiency is low, SPM: 5~10.
- Knowledge point: The full name of SPM is strokes per minute, that is, the number of strokes per minute, which is simply the number of punches per minute.
- Because the equipment and molds are simple and there are many manual participation links, the production stability is poor, and the quality cost is relatively high.
Applicable scene:The general life cycle consumption is less than 20w strokes, especially the products with less than 10w strokes. At this time, the savings of investment in molds and automation institutions will generally be greater than the increase in production costs caused by inefficient labor.
Automatic Single-Process String Punching
Compared with manual stamping production, the main difference between automatic stamping production is:
- The use of automated production system equipment, including online (or off-line) blanking systems, large covers often have automatic sheet cleaning and oiling systems, automatic feeding systems, automatic parts transfer systems in the mold process, and Automated blanking and even parts collection systems.
- In order to ensure the continuous movement of the production system, the mold needs to be equipped with an ejector mechanism linked with the equipment, a sensor system to detect the position of the product, whether the mold structure is in place, and even whether the mold is damaged, and an auxiliary structure to assist automatic loading and unloading on the mold, etc. .
- It is necessary to consider the interference between the structure of the mold itself and the automatic pick-and-place mechanism. The mold design is more complicated, and the design cost, manufacturing cost and later automatic debugging cost are much higher than those of the manual mold.
- Equipment and molds run stably, with less personnel participation, high production stability and stable quality.
- A single process is performed by a single machine, and the transfer of parts between different processes is completed by a transfer beam or a robot. It is generally suitable for large parts, such as car covers, larger structural parts of body-in-white chassis, etc.; there are also some small parts in the form of automatic single mold, such as seat rails.
Features:
- The automatic single mold is still one pair of molds and one machine, so the mold structure has a relatively large space, the process flexibility is good, and complex shapes can be processed.
- Additional automation equipment needs to be invested; the blanking process is often a separate process, so additional blanking dies and blanking process costs need to be considered, but the material utilization rate is relatively high.
- The ratio of operators to machine production units is usually more than 2:1. For large stamping parts, at least two people are required to collect products, and another person is required to do online visual inspection and other operations. In addition to the operator, another sheet pallet truck is required for loading operations.
- SPM is usually 12~20, which is due to the large transfer distance between processes, and the production efficiency is lower than other automated stamping production modes.
Applicable scene:The life cycle consumption is more than 20w, and the large or medium-sized products, such as automobile cover parts, body chassis parts, shells of large household appliances, etc.
Automatic Transfer Die Stamping
All the processes are completed on one machine, and the parts are transferred between the processes through the robotic arm.
Features:
- The manipulator can be turned over, and the structure of the mold is relatively flexible, but limited by the size of the punch table, if there are too many product processes, two pieces of equipment may be required for in-line production.
- Limited by the size of the stamping equipment table, it is not recommended to produce too large products.
- Additional investment in manipulators is required, and corresponding manipulators need to be invested in each mold.
- It can be produced by coil material for online blanking or separate blanking with unstacking mechanism, and the material utilization rate is relatively high when blanking alone.
- The ratio of operator to machine is about 1:1~2:1. One person can watch multiple punching machines. Under the premise of stable production, only the operator needs to perform operations such as loading and unloading coils, sampling products, and collecting products. If it is a large one, two people are required to collect products.
- SPM is usually 16~60. Body chassis parts such as front longitudinal beam, front subframe, etc. SPM16 or above.
Applicable scenarios: life cycle consumption of more than 20w, medium or small-sized products, such as A, B, C-pillars, longitudinal beams of automobile body-in-white, basin surfaces in seat frames, side panels, and motor housings that require deep drawing Wait.
Automatic Progressive Die Stamping
The material belt is composed of multiple processes (automotive stamping parts generally have 10 to 25 processes), and the parts in each process are formed by connecting materials called carriers in sequence, and the products are cut and separated in the final process.
Features
- Due to the limitation of the carrier, it is difficult to reverse the product, so it is difficult to use the progressive die for parts with complex shapes and too large parts. The tonnage of the stamping equipment used in the progressive die is generally below 1,000 tons.
- Need to be equipped with uncoiling blanking system.
- Online uncoiling and blanking requires more material for the connection (carrier) of parts, and the material utilization rate is low.
- The ratio of operator to machine is usually 1:3~1:1. One person can watch multiple punching machines. Under the premise of stable production, only operators are required to perform operations such as loading and unloading coils, sampling products, and collecting products.
- SPM is usually 18~2000. Generally, the SPM of automobile structural parts is 18~60; the SPM of the stator and rotor is 100~200; the SPM of the terminal connector is 800~2000.
Applicable scenarios: life cycle consumption of more than 20w, small and medium-sized or small products, such as small connectors on the body, motor core laminations, terminal products, etc.
The Right Choose To Save Stamping Costs
Stamping cost analysis is not just a cost analysis of a single stamping product in a narrow sense, but a broad consideration. We want to analyze the total cost incurred throughout the project cycle. As far as stamping is concerned, the factors that affect the cost are the total amount of the project life cycle, the cost of a single stamped product, the cost of molds in the project cycle, the cost of inspection tools, and the cost of quality.
Stamping cost is a systematic cost. If the stamping form analysis is separated from the whole and only focuses on a single cost, the conclusions drawn will not be objective. There are too many unobjective conclusions, and the analysis will be farther and farther away from the real situation. The variable value in this formula depends on the stamping form used by the product, so it is very important to analyze the relationship of each variable cost item under various stamping forms.The comparison table of different stamping production forms is as follows：
| Comparison Item | Manual Single Mode | Automatic Single Mode | Transfer Mode | Progressive Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material Utilization | High | High | High | Low |
| Beat | Slow | Middle | Quick | Quick |
| Manufacturing Cost | High | Middle | Low | Low |
| Mold Cost | Low | Middle | High | High |
| Flexibility | High | high | Middle | Low |
All in all, the output determines whether to choose manual stamping production or automatic stamping production. The greater the life cycle output, the more obvious the economy of automated production; the structural characteristics of the product determine which automated production form to choose.
The Quotation Process Of Stamping Tooling
The First Step:Engineering Analysis
- Analyze the stamping process of the die
- Calculate the material expansion of the part
- List the steps or projects
- Calculate the size of the die surface and the punching force
These tasks must be arranged by senior mold design engineers to complete. After completing these four steps, the quotation work is simple, which is the focus of this article.
People who do not know enough about molds and lack professional knowledge cannot do engineering analysis. First, learn systematically to understand the mold structure and mold design. This takes considerable effort and is beyond the scope of this article’s Die Quotes discussion. All mold quotations should be calculated only after professional and reliable engineering analysis data. If you have experience in making molds for similar products, you will not be able to quote directly with reference to the molds you have made.
1.Calculate The Cost Of Template Materials
- First calculate the weight of the mother template: 400100040*0.0000079 The theoretical weight = 126.4KG
- The material cost of a lower template = 126.4KG * 4.5 US dollars / KG = 590 US dollars
2.Calculate The Material Cost Of A Complete Set Of Molds
The template material fee for a set of stamping dies is calculated at 4 times of the lower template material fee.
In this way, it can be roughly concluded that the cost of mold material for a set of mold surface 400W*1000L is: 590 US dollars * 4 = 2360 US dollars
The structure of the stamping die is complex, and the number of templates will vary depending on the situation. Common templates to make up the upper die include: upper die base, upper backing plate, upper splint (upper fixing plate), stop plate (removing back plate), and stripping plate 5 pieces; the lower molds include: lower mother template, lower backing plate, 3 lower mold bases, and sometimes lower splint (lower fixed plate), plus pads and support plates.
It can be seen from this that it is appropriate to calculate the cost of a set of mold materials by 4 times the cost of the template material. The unit price of the remaining seven or eight boards on the mold is cheaper than that of the lower template, and the die punch is one grade better than the lower template.
In practice, according to our many years of experience, when the material of the lower template of the mold is Cr12MoV, it is also advisable to estimate the material cost of the entire mold at 4 times the material cost of a lower template. After each mold project of our Changdong Mould is completed, the finance will count the cost of each set of molds by example. It can be verified that for a stamping die with a die face size close to 400W*1000L, the actual total cost of the template material is about US$2,360, and the difference is not large.
3.The Calculation Of Mold Fee
When the mold is not complicated, there are no special requirements, and the number of holes in the part is not particularly large:
- The mold fee for a single-engineering mold: 3 times the mold material fee, = $2360 * 3 = $7100
- Continuous mold mold fee: Calculated at 7 times the mold material fee, = $2360 * 7 = $16520. This is the base price for a set of 400W*1000L molds.
The base price of the mold fee is equivalent to the total production cost. Orders received at this price can maintain the factory and not lose money. Therefore, it can be used as a reference benchmark when quoting. Quotes are not set in stone. Quoted to customers, but also appropriate to add sales costs, after-sales and tax costs. It should also be considered comprehensively, adjusted according to the technical requirements of the mold, and flexible according to the local market conditions and business conditions. For example, some molds are ready, and the customer does not remove them and put them in the mold factory to make the product. Because the product is profitable, the mold fee can help the customer bear part or even all of it.
Explain again, why do you need to multiply the mold fee calculation by 3 times or 7 times the material cost? It looks like a huge profit, but it’s not. To complete a set of molds, except for the cost of template materials, it is necessary to purchase mold parts, such as guide posts, springs, dowel screws, etc., and many process expenses, such as design, fitting modification, procurement, rough machining, CNC, heat treatment , Grinding, wire cutting, assembly, mold trial, debugging, proofing, etc., as well as management, rent, water and electricity, machine loss and depreciation expenses. On the whole, the quotation after multiplying the single project mold by 3 times the material cost is only enough for the cost. As for the continuous mold, due to the large number of inserts and the compact structure and large processing volume, the manufacturing cost is greatly increased.
Market quotes can actually deviate significantly. For a 1-meter-long continuous mold like this, the mold fee is quoted at 80,000 yuan or 160,000 yuan for the same piece.
There are many reasons for this. One is that the management costs are different. For example, the difference between a mold processing shop and a regular mold factory is the most obvious; the other is that the mold design and production standards of each company will be different.
When it comes to technical standards, by the way, in order to standardize the operation, we Changdong Mould started to establish our mould design, production and acceptance specification documents when we started our business. The ultimate goal is to establish a system engineering suitable for our stamping die industry. This systematic project is somewhat imitated by MacDonald and KFC. For example, the oil temperature and amount of fried chicken nuggets and potato fries (french fries) are strictly regulated and implemented. Instead of the Chinese food fried hot and sour potato shreds, a little oil, the right amount of salt, and then put some monosodium glutamate that vague concept, too personalized and lack of norms. Almost all the foreign guests we know agree that Chinese food is delicious. Why are there so many Chinese restaurants, but they are far from the scale of KFC?
Now we have formulated the design and production specifications of automobile stamping dies and the design and production specifications of home appliance stamping dies. According to these two different standards, the difference in manufacturing cost of stamping dies of the same size is about 20%.
Another question, since 80,000 molds can be used, why are customers buying 160,000 molds?
This is the difference in market demand. For example, like Audi and BYD, they can drive on all four wheels and can run 120 yards at high speed. In addition to the disparity in the added value of the brands of the two types of cars, ride comfort, handling performance, and workmanship are still very different. Just like people who like to drive BYD will think his car is easy to drive. 80,000 and 160,000 molds, these two molds are different after all, to meet the needs of different customers. It is a secret that Audi’s chassis and front and rear axles are generally much thicker than Toyota’s and Honda’s, and the body is much heavier.
The mold is also in a similar situation, and the thickness of the template used by different manufacturers is different. There are several molds for the same part, and the lower mold may be 25, 30 thick, or 35, 40 thick, each with its own reason. We have a relatively large share of export molds. When making stamping molds, we usually choose thicker molds, which are higher than the general standards in the same industry.
Why do 25 or 35 thick can be used but not, and use a 40mm thick lower template to increase the cost?
This does not mean that our molds use a 40-thick lower platen. For example, the lower platen of our automobile molds is usually more than 50mm thick. It also depends on the situation of the stamping parts, such as the thickness of the parts, the material, the design shape, etc. When the customer does not ask for it, we will adopt the Changdong mold standard by default. Moulds made by Changdong Mould’s design standards usually look stronger and more durable. Of course, although we adopt high standards, before the new project is confirmed, we will also confirm with the customer the marker belt and structure diagram, and respect the customer.
20% price increase for ordinary stamping dies for auto parts
Because of some characteristic requirements of automobile molds, the cost of molds will increase. For example: higher mold requirements, thicker template, MISUMI, PUNCH or DANLY and other brand standard parts for mold parts, many 3D processing profiles, many proofing times, long project span and other factors.
Take the continuous die of auto parts with the same die surface of 400W*1000L as an example:
Auto stamping die quotation = $15,660 * 1.2 = $19,880
To use a gas spring, the increased cost has to be added.
Similarly, this is a reference base price, which can be used as a reference for previous quotations.
Manufacturers specializing in automotive stamping dies, the quotation will be close to this benchmark. For a pair of continuous molds for auto parts with a die surface size of 400W*1000L, the cost of the die is mostly around $26,000 (plus other costs). Because the manufacturers specializing in auto mold projects will have a certain scale, with this threshold, the cost of each will be more equal, and the quotation will not fluctuate so much.
The Second Step : Directly calculate the production cost of the whole set of molds based on the size of the mold surface
It can be seen from the above that in general, the parts are not complicated and there are not too many holes, and the mold has no special requirements. The size of the mold surface has a great relationship with the cost of the mold, and can be directly converted into a quotation.
1.Continuous die size quotation
= Lower template die surface size, lengthwidth0.25
For example, the continuous mode calculation of 400W1000L, 66166*0.25=16666 US dollars
This is the cost price of a set of one meter long continuous die for ordinary sheet metal parts
The same size car mold quote plus 20%, 16666 US dollars * 1.2 = 20000 US dollars
2.Single Project Model Quotation
Adjust the coefficient of 0.25 accordingly and change it to an approximate value of 0.11. E.g:
= Lower template die surface size, lengthwidth0.11
=661660.11=$7300, plus 20% for auto parts mold.
Cast Iron Structure Stamping Die For Automobile Parts
Many stamping dies for large automobile parts use cast iron structure to make the die frame, and this quotation calculation method is relatively simple. The current algorithm in the industry is to estimate the approximate mold weight of the mold according to the engineering analysis data, and then multiply the unit price to quote how much per ton. Prices vary widely between regions and manufacturers.
According to the above formula, there is a certain error in the calculated mold quotation. In fact, there will be errors in the pre-assessment of stamping dies no matter what. There is no convincing standard for how much the mold fee for a part should be quoted at $12,000 or if it should be quoted at $16,000. No matter who does the calculation, there will be errors in how to calculate the mold fee. Even if it is the same person and the same product, the price quoted for a period of time cannot be remembered, and the price quoted again will be different.
Use the simple formula to calculate the quotation of stamping die to balance the accuracy and efficiency of quotation as much as possible. Beginners just start using formulas to calculate the quotation error will be larger. Gradually accumulate experience and adjust the price appropriately after seeing the difficulty and complexity of the parts and molds.
How to Reduce Metal Stamping Cost
Most times, after estimating Metal stamping cost calculations, Metal stamping could project cost clients a little bit on the high side, especially if they do not make small batch of products. Here are a few ways you can adjust Metal stamping costs to fit your budget:
1.Reconsider Material
The material you’ll use for your product is a huge determinant in Metal stamping costs. You should consider the price of the material before choosing it for the production process. Also, the performance of the material is very important. This determines the punching time, which in turn, affects the metal stamping shop hourly rates for your production process.
2.Optimize Design
The design for the manufacturing process is also a very important factor in Metal stamping cost calculation. The complexity of your design determines the length of the machining times, which, in turn, affects the costs. To minimize the complexity of your design, you can consider the following questions before sending the design for quoting:
- – Is my part optimized using the Designing for performance guidelines?
- – Are all features in my model necessary? Can I remove or simplify any of them and still retain the full functionality of my part?
- – Can my design be split into multiple parts that are easier to Metal stamping and then assembled?
- – Is there a way to modify my design to eliminate the need for multiple machine setups or special tooling?
- – Is there a less expensive or easier-to-fabrication material that can fulfill my design requirements?
If you want to get professional design recommendations, Be-cu.com is your choice. We have a team of 150 engineers ready to help with any part of your production process. Feel free to contact us.
3.Outsource Your Need
Outsourcing your project is another great way you can get to minimize your Metal stamping costs. However, outsourcing projects to Metal stamping companies in developed countries is extremely expensive. Companies in China, on the other hand, offer quite cheaper prices with just the same level of quality.
Sourcing Simplified – Start Your Next Stamping Project With Be-cu.com
If you’re tasked with sourcing and supplying custom metal stamping parts, Be-cu Prototype Co.,ltd is your operating system for custom manufacturing that makes part procurement faster, easier, and more efficient. In other words, With us, your metal stamping cost calculation is a piece of cake. You get your quotation almost instantly thanks to our instant quoting platform (also stamping quote calculator). Within 12 hours, we analyze your design and send feedbacks.
Be-cu is china custom manufacturer of progressive die, transfer die and coil fed stampings. Made from stainless steel, low carbon steel, high carbon steel, high strength low alloy (HSLA), aluminum, brass and copper. Capable of pressing parts from 60 to 1,200 tons. Stampings are coated, coining, heat treated, tapped and threaded. Additional services such as assembly, welding, automated inspection, engineering support, plating and painting provided. Medium to high volume production runs are available with minimum 20,000 units/year. Serves the automotive, home appliance, off-road personal vehicle, construction, commercial power and green energy solutions industries. Meets TS standards.