Introducing the Recipe Calculator

Introduction

When you add a product to a quote that is linked to a recipe, the quote wizard will open which will guide you through configuring the product for the quote at hand. The recipe will be updated with the selections you make, and the calculator will calculate the price which is added to the grid. In more complex quotes, we may need to further modify the wizard to change values for materials and processes that were not included in the wizard. 

• Review the summary section
• Add or Delete Materials - modify material costs [link]
• Add or Delete Operations -  modify operation costs

Opening the Recipe Calculator

The calculator can be opened from the quote or job grid by pressing the calculator button in the quote grid. If there is no icon then the product has not been setup with a recipe

The Summary Section

If the quote wizard has been entered correctly then it is unlikely that any value in this section will require changing. The summary section shows the size of the product, quantity and markup along with a overview of the costs.  To change any value click on the blue text and press the green button to save one you have edited

Changing the quantity (1) will recalculate the costs of the job for the revised quantity. When you change the quantity it will no longer match the quantity in the grid, so when you exit the calculator a new line for this quantity will show in the grid.

If you change the product size (2) then press the [recalculate] button to transfer the new sizes across the job. Advanced imposition details are contained in the [more] tab which may be appropriate if you change the size

The markup percentage is added to the total cost of materials and operations. If you change the markup then the summary costs will refresh to show the update costs. 

The Materials Section.

The materials section is a list of materials and their associated costs. An explanation of the functions is below.

1. The refresh button (1) recalculates the calculations in the panel
2. The [Add Material] button opens a popup form to allow you to add a new material to the grid
3. The sort number (3) allows you to re-order the items in the panel. A lower number will place the item above the higher number
4. The display as field allows you to enter an additional description which can show on the job card. It is useful if the same material is used for multiple sections of the job and you need to describe what that row is for
5. The [parts per each] button lets you specify the quantity of the material that is used for each unit. For instance in this case there are two panels of composite panel to each A-Frame Sign. There might be 4 eyelets in the corners of a sign.
6. The [width] and [height] (6) relates to the size of this material within the job. Note: this size is updated to the product size unless the 'lock size' button is selected in advanced settings (12)
7. The notes section (7) allow you to write detailed notes that will guide your team in the manufacture of the job, or the assumptions you have used in the quote. Commonly this is where you might record the quote number of the suppliers price, or specific manufacturing instructions.
8. The quantity section shows the calculated quantity based on the formula applied to the row. If you want to use a different quantity then you can place a value in the overwrite quantity field (15) and this quantity will be used in the calculation.
9. The price (9) is the price used for the the calculation. Note that this price is automatically applied based on the list price of the material. If you want to manually change the price then you must "lock the row" using the button (13) 
10. The markup percentage is applied automatically from the markup specified in the material list.    If you want to manually change the markup then you must lock the row using button (13 or it will reset to the list markup
11. The total field (11) shows the result of the calculation -  quantity (8) x  unit price (9) + markup (10). If you want to use a different total to the calculated total then you can place a value in the overwrite column (16) 

Common tasks for the materials section are to

• Delete a material row
• Add a material
• Overwrite the calculated cost or quantity required
• Lock a row from updates
• Configure with advanced options
• Reorder the rows in the section

Delete a Row

The [X] button will delete the selected row from the recipe calculator

Add a Material

Press the button (2) to see the full material list. You can then select one or more materials and add them to the list. When added they will inherit the size of the product along with the price and markup recorded for the material

Overwrite the Calculated Cost

Each row will show the quantity and total based on the calculations applied to the row. The job at hand may not allow for all factors affecting these values so you can overwrite these values by entering a quantity or price in the overwrite columns (15) and (16). If you put a value in both columns the Overwrite total column (16) will be used in the price calculation

Lock a Row from Updates

If you want to use a different material price or markup to the list price (in the materials record) then you must "Lock the Row" first using button (13) or it will revert to the list values when you refresh (1) the panel. Note: You can also lock the size values (6) but the tick box for this is accessed through the advanced options button (12)

Configure with Advanced Options

The advanced options panel opens a popup form that contains more options used infrequently. In most cases you would set this options in the master recipe and they would be copied forward to the quote.

Reorder the Rows

If there are are multiple material rows you can set their display order by entering a number higher or lower (3) than the adjacent row 

OPERATIONS

The operations section contains the processes that are used to turn the materials into a finished product. While the prices of a process will depend on the charge-out rate, we do try to estimate the amount of time needed to complete a process so that it can be used for scheduling purposes. An explanation of the different operations section is below

1. The refresh button (1) recalculates the calculations in the panel
2. The [Add Operation] button opens a popup form to allow you to add a new operation to the grid
3. The sort number (3) allows you to re-order the items in the panel. A lower number will place the item above the higher number
4. The display as field allows you to enter an additional description which can show on the job card. It is useful if the same operation is used multiple times of the job and you need to describe what that row involves
5. The setup time (5) is usually entered in minutes, but can be changed to hours with a setting. The setup time is the fixed amount of time a process will take to complete irrespective of the quantity required. For processes that have a fixed amount of time (artwork or drawings) then the setup time will equate to the total time of the project. If the process requires processing multiple components then the setup time is the time required to setup the machine or process so that it is ready to process the first unit
6. The run rate (6) is the cycle time for the process, often called the throughput. This is how many times the process can be completed in a given time period (the default is units per hour)  The quantity entered will be depend on the unit that you are using in the calculation. Common measures of throughput might be 
   • • 25 square metres per hour  (digital printing)
     • 180 worksheets per hour  (sheet feed printing)
     • 100 lineal metres per hour (laminating)
7. The notes section (7) allows you to entered details work instructions you want staff to follow on when completing the job
8. The quantity (8) is the calculated quantity to be processed through an operation. It will depend on the formula applied. 
9. The units (9) shows the unit of measure that will be processed in the operation
10. The calculated time (10) shows the result of the setup time + the runtime. The formula is calculated as:
    • [Quantity] / [run rate]  + [setup time].  A printing job requires 70 lineal metres of laminate. The laminating machine processes 100 lineal metres per hour. The run time = 75/100=0.75 hours.  It also takes 15 mins (0.25 hrs) to setup the laminating machine ready for use. The time for the process is 0.75 + 0.25 hrs = 1.00 hr. 
    • This value can be overwritten by entering a value in the override field (15)
11.  The charge rate (11) is the dollar value that will be charged for the process. For processes that are charged at an hourly rate the charge rate will the hourly rate. For processes that are charged in a square metre then the rate is expressed as dollars per square metre.
12. The total is calculated by the quantity x the rate. This total can be overwritten in the calculation by entering a value in (16)
13. The Advanced options button gives access to a popup form that lets you set more options for the row. These would include applying presets. Presets are a group of settings for a process that are predetermined.
14. The lock row button (14) allows you to lock the row to prevent the values you enter manually from being overwritten by values in settings.