Laser Quoting Software That Prices Every Part from the CAD File
steelit by figureit calculates laser cutting quotes from the CAD file your customer sends. Cut length, pierce counts, material and bends are read automatically, around 90% of the quoting inputs, and priced at your own machine rates. Built for laser cutting and sheet metal shops answering RFQs every day.
steelit is quoting software for fabricators: the tool your estimators price laser work with. It is not a shop that sells laser cut parts.
How to Calculate Laser Cutting Costs in Four Steps
A laser price is built from four numbers: the time on the machine, the material the part consumes, the operations that follow the cut, and the margin you decide to hold. The arithmetic is not the hard part. Getting the first number right without the part in front of you is.
This page covers the cutting side of the calculation. Material is worked out by nesting software, and the wider configure, price and quote flow is set out on CPQ software for manufacturing.
To calculate laser cutting cost, multiply the cutting time, worked out from cut length, pierce count and material thickness, by the machine hourly rate, then add material including scrap, setup and margin. steelit reads the geometry from the CAD file and runs this calculation automatically.
Machine time
The largest line on most laser parts. It follows the contour and the pierce count, which is why two parts of the same weight rarely cost the same to cut.
Material
What the sheet actually gives up to the job, nested and counted, rather than a flat scrap percentage added at the end of the calculation.
Setup and handling
Programming, loading and unloading. Small on a long run, decisive on the single-piece work that fills most order books.
Margin
Applied by a rule that holds across every estimator and every enquiry, so a discount is a decision rather than an accident.
Upload the CAD File from the RFQ
Drop in the STEP, DXF or DWG files that arrived with the enquiry. 2D and 3D both work.
steelit Reads Cut Length, Piercings, Material and Bends
The geometry is read from the file itself, so nothing is measured off a drawing by hand.
Your Machine Rates and Material Prices Become the Cost
Cutting, bending and downstream steps are costed with the rates your shop actually runs on.
The Finished Quote Goes Out While Others Are Still Measuring
One branded PDF, every cost line visible, ready to send before the enquiry cools.
The Shop That Prices First Is Usually the Shop That Gets the Order
An RFQ that waits three days for a considered price often loses to one that was answered the same morning. Send us a set of laser parts and watch steelit read them, cost them at your rates and produce the quote.
What Manufacturers Say About Working with figureit
“figureit has developed digital sales support tools for several of our business areas. I was thoroughly impressed by the professionalism of the team and the quality of the solutions from figureit. I highly recommend figureit.”
Silvan WildhaberCEO, Filtex AG“figureit has demonstrated its ability to support the digital networking of industrial processes with very good concepts. What is particularly impressive is not only their understanding of processes but also their focus on delivering maximum customer benefit while ensuring the best possible efficiency. We always feel understood and optimally advised.”
“figureit has convinced us. High expertise combined with quick comprehension and professional implementation make the collaboration a pleasure.”
Dr. Urs RickenbacherCEO, Lantal Textiles AGGuessed Cut Times Are Costing You Margin on Every Laser Quote
The price of a laser part is mostly time. In most shops that time is estimated by eye, from experience, or with a rule of thumb per metre of cut. Every guess is either margin given away or a job lost on price, and neither one shows up on a report.
A rule per metre ignores pierce counts, contour complexity and thickness. The simple thin part is overpriced, the complex one is underpriced, and both errors leave the building inside the same offer.
The fix — Cut time and pierce counts are read from the real part geometry.
When the hourly rate lives in a personal spreadsheet rather than in the tool, the cost of an hour depends on who opened the file. The same drawing comes back at two prices in the same week, and neither can be defended to the customer.
The fix — Your machine hourly rates and material prices are applied every time. Same part, same price, no matter who quotes.
Quoting from a drawing hides the real production steps: the piercings, the micro-joints, the setup, the bend that follows the cut. What is missing from the estimate still happens on the shop floor, and is still paid for.
The fix — Bends, nesting and downstream steps are priced in the same quote.
Bring a Laser Job You Have Already Run. Compare the Numbers.
Choose an order where you know what the machine really took and what the job really earned. We load your machine rates and material prices, run the same files through steelit, and put the two calculations side by side. Thirty minutes, on work you can check against your own records.
Laser Cutting Quoting Software FAQs
What is laser quoting software and how does it work?
Laser quoting software prices a laser cut part from its CAD file instead of from an estimator’s judgement. It reads the geometry, works out the time on the machine, applies the shop’s own hourly rates and material prices, and returns a quote. steelit does this for the whole part, so the bends and the steps after the cut are priced in the same calculation.
How do I calculate the price of a laser cut part?
Multiply the cutting time by your machine hourly rate, then add material including scrap, setup and handling, any operations that follow the cut, and your margin. The difficult number is the cutting time, because it follows cut length, pierce count and thickness rather than the size of the part. steelit reads those from the CAD file and calculates the rest.
Does steelit quote only laser cutting, or bending and welding too?
steelit quotes the whole part, not only the cut. Bending and deburring are recognised from the geometry and priced with your own rates, and further operations such as coating, welding and assembly are added as cost lines in the same calculation. A real enquiry is rarely cut-only, so the quote should not be either.
Which file formats can steelit calculate from?
steelit calculates from the CAD files that arrive with an enquiry: STEP for 3D, DXF and DWG for 2D. The geometry is read from the file itself, so there is nothing to redraw, measure or retype before a price can be worked out.
How long does it take to set up steelit?
Setting up steelit is a configuration job rather than an IT project. Your machine hourly rates, material prices, sheet formats and margin rules are loaded in, and an ERP connection is added where a shop wants one. How long that takes depends on how much of it already exists in a usable form, which we go through with you before you commit to anything.