Production Scenario Tab, Basic options

The first (“Production Scenario”) tab is divided into sections for gathering important, basic information about your component for costing.

Note: Your aPriori System Administrator may have customized this tab so that the fields and groupings reflect your company’s standards and workflows. This section describes how this Cost Guide tab appears out of the box and may differ from what you see on your screen. For more information, see the “Managing Dialog Views” section of the aPriori Professional System Administration Guide.

Recently used settings: If you have already costed other components and can use their values as a starting point for the current model, use this pull-down menu to either select a specific component, or select Choose another... to bring up the Search tool to find it (see Using the Search tool on page 1).

Selecting a previously-costed component populates the Cost Guide with the values used for that previous costing, and you can either use them as is, or modify them for your current component.

In general terms, Recently Used Settings copies everything. More specifically, it copies all inputs provided for the previous scenario and tries to apply them to the new scenario. All routings and processes are copied, even if they do not apply to the new scenario. For example, if you copy from a scenario with 3-Axis Mill pinned, and 3-Axis Mill is not feasible for the new scenario, the routing will be copied, but it will fail costing.

For operation/GCD-level settings, aPriori tries to do some geometry matching to find similar features in similar locations. For example, if you have a hole that has a tolerance in your source model, and you copy those settings to a model where the hole has moved a small amount, the match will probably succeed. However, if the hole has moved across the whole part, the match will probably fail.

Note: This functionality applies only to parts, NOT assemblies. However, you can copy welds between assemblies as discussed at To copy virtual welds.

Process Group: Perhaps the single most important setting you need to consider is the Process Group selection. When aPriori first encounters a new CAD file, it has no way of automatically determining what kind of component it is. So if, for example, you open a model of a roto-molded plastic milk jug, and do not change the Process Group setting from the default value of Sheet Metal to Roto & Blow Molding before costing the component, aPriori will do its best to route the milk bottle through a sheet metal process. Obviously the results will not be particularly useful. So, the first thing you should always do when preparing to cost a new component is to select the appropriate process group.

Note: When you select Manually Costed from the Process Group drop-down menu, a Currency field also gets displayed, allowing you to change the displayed currency. Additional options may also be displayed in this section when you select the Casting, Forging, or 2-Model Machining process groups. See the aPriori Cost Model Guide f or an explanation of these additional options.

VPE: The Virtual Production Environment (VPE) is a cornerstone of aPriori costing: this represents a virtual factory that typically defines production capabilities and related production cost factors such as available machines, process routings, speeds & feeds, labor rates, and so forth, at one physical location. aPriori provides a set of Starting Point VPEs (formerly called "Baseline VPEs"), which typically are modified at each user site as needed. If you need to change to a different VPE (for example, if the component is to be manufactured in Mexico instead of the USA), click the “...” button to display the Virtual Production Environment Selection window.

If you specify a secondary process such as painting, you can control the selection of the VPE for that secondary process either automatically or by manually selecting it as follows:

• If you want the secondary process to be completed in a specific, different area than the primary process, select that VPE for that secondary process the same way you do as for the primary process.

• If you want to automatically use the default VPE for that process, leave Use primary VPE as default for secondary processes unchecked. aPriori will use whatever default has been defined for that process. (These defaults can be set using Tools > VPE Toolset > Deployment Data > Process Groups.)

• If you want secondary process to be costed using the same VPE as the primary process, check Use primary VPE as default for secondary processes.

Administrators can find more information about VPEs and how to customize them in the VPE Administration Guide.

Process Routing: Process routing is the sequence of manufacturing steps that a component must go through to be created. Typically, there are several primary alternative routings with differing costs that could be used to accomplish the same end-result. For example, a cast component may be created by either sand-casting, die-casting, or permanent-mold casting routings. There are also secondary processes such as heat or surface treatments that can be added after the main work on the component has been completed. The default is to have aPriori analyze the various possible routing options for a component, determine which are feasible from a manufacturing perspective, and of these then choose the most cost-effective one. However, you may be aware of specific constraints that make a specific routing necessary.

To specify the routing, click the “...” button next to aPriori-computed routing to display the compact Routing Selection window. (This is a smaller, simplified version of the complete Routing Selection window available from the Manufacturing Process panel Edit > Routing Selection menu. It shows only primary routing alternatives and not secondary processes such as Heat Treatment or Surface Treatment)

You can also specify secondary processes from the Cost Guide by clicking the “...” button next to the second option under the Process Routing section (with the default No optional process overrides setting).

This displays the Include or Exclude Secondary Treatments window.

Select the treatment that you wish to control and then click either Include or Exclude at the bottom of the window. Click OK when done.

Material: Clicking the “...” button next this field brings up the Material Selection window that is also available from the Manufacturing Process panel Edit > Material Selection menu. Use this to override the default stock chosen by aPriori. See Selecting material on page 1 for information about using this window.

Volume and Batch Size: The values for volume and years are generally self-explanatory: how many units of this component do you expect to produce annually, and for how many years? The batch size value is typically the expected monthly rate, and so is usually calculated as volume/12. The batch value is used in many of the calculations shown in each of the process group chapters. You can either have aPriori automatically calculate the batch value or specify it yourself if the field is enabled via preferences. Default values for all these settings are made through Tools > Preferences (see Changing user preferences on page 1).