With some notable differences, the user guided progressive die cost model is based on the same calculations as the GCD-driven cost model for progressive die found in the Sheet Metal process group.

An important difference between the user guided model and the GCD-driven model is that the latter assigns operations to individual GCDs, and then uses operation precedence and operation compatibility rules to assign operations to die stations. The user guided model, in contrast, uses geometric inputs (such as number of up bends, number of down bends, number of up forms, and number of down forms) to estimate the total number of die stations. Together with a calculated estimate of average die cost per die station, this allows the user guided model to determine tooling costs.

In general, costs are determined by aggregating material, labor, machine, and tooling costs.

This overview section summarizes assumptions and limitations of the following aspects of the model: