What Manufacturing Processes and Estimating Scenarios Does Costimator® Support?

Costimator® is manufacturing cost estimating and quoting software from MTI Systems. It supports machining of parts and sheet metal fabrication, and it can be used with or without a 3D model. It ships with hundreds of industry-validated cost models (cycle time calculators), plus activity-based time standards and speed and feed grades. If your estimating work centers on machined parts, fabricated sheet metal, or both, Costimator® is built for those scenarios.

Machining of Parts

Costimator® creates cost estimates of machined parts with or without the aid of a 3D model. This matters when a customer sends a drawing or a PDF instead of a CAD file: you can still produce a quote without waiting on a model.

The software includes feature-based machining estimating. Cost models use industry-validated machine shop strategies and formulas — speeds and feeds, machine-specific capabilities, tool change times — to generate cycle times.

Example cost models listed by MTI Systems

These are shown as samples of the model library, not the full list.

Sheet Metal Fabrication

Costimator® can quote sheet metal parts quickly, accurately, and consistently using hundreds of cost models. The same estimating engine that handles machining also covers fabrication work, so a shop that does both does not need to switch tools between job types.

Estimating and Quoting Scenarios

Beyond individual part processes, the software covers the estimating workflow around them:

• Estimating with or without CAD — 3D model optional.
• Manufacturing data libraries — activity-based time standards and speed and feed grades are built in.
• Should Cost — a listed capability for should-cost analysis.
• ERP integration — MTI Systems lists ERP integration among the supported scenarios.
• Shop rate calculator — available as a resource for setting rates used in estimates.
• Quoting — quote turnaround is the stated outcome, with welding cost models among the quoting inputs.

What This Means for Your Shop

Choose Costimator® if your estimating work is concentrated in machined parts, sheet metal fabrication, or a mix of the two, and you want pre-built cycle time models rather than building every calculator yourself. The with-or-without-3D-model capability is the deciding factor if many of your RFQs arrive without CAD data.

If your work falls outside machining and sheet metal fabrication, the page evidence does not describe coverage for those processes — verify your specific process with MTI Systems before assuming support.

Verifying Fit Before You Commit

MTI Systems offers a free quote, a demo request, and a pricing request through the site. The published resources include webinars, video blogs, shorts, reels, articles, case studies, and press releases, plus a customer portal for existing users. Contact channels listed are [email protected] and 413-733-1972.

A practical sequence: request a demo, bring one real part from your shop — ideally one with no 3D model — and check whether the relevant cost model produces a cycle time you recognize as realistic. That single test tells you more about fit than the model count does.