What is an Excel Dashboard?
Manufacturing Cost Estimator
Steel Fabrication
Challenge
This client needed an estimate tool to assist in the bid process for projects. The complex nature of quoting a steel fabrication job involving set material types of lengths and weights made it difficult and time consuming to create accurate and consistent quotes.
The ability to update prices and materials was a key part of the project and then the use of those updated details for new bids.
How we help with Dashboards?
Solution
The client came to this project with an example estimate Google Sheet developed by another steel fabricator which was used as the starting point for this project. We worked closely with the client to ensure the estimate tool had flexibility to select any number of materials for an estimate and to provide a running material cost for inclusion in the estimate.
The key functionality included to Steel Fabrication Estimate Tool
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Search and select materials from a single lookup list
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Automatically track a running total of weight and cost for materials
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Calculate the shop hours, painting and galvanising required for each job
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Automatically produce a project summary as the bid document.
Outcome & Benefits
The Google Sheet Estimate calculator provided the client with an accurate and consistent method of estimating the costs for a project. This saved many hours in manual calculations and ensured each estimate was based on the same set of prices and weights.
The client became more competitive with the ability to quickly provide professional accurate estimates in the bidding processes.
