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Product Overview

CostEngine (MfgIQ) - Intelligent Manufacturing Costing & Quotation System

Strategic Foundation

CostEngine transforms how manufacturers handle RFQ-to-quote workflows by making costing transparent, repeatable, and fast.

Vision

Build trust between manufacturers and their customers through explainable, defensible costing.

Mission

Enable MSME/SME manufacturers to: - Quote faster without sacrificing accuracy - Maintain consistency across estimators - Defend every line item in their quotes - Preserve tribal knowledge in a structured system

Core Principles

1. Excel-First Approach

Import, Don't Replace

CostEngine absorbs your existing Excel logic rather than forcing you to rebuild from scratch.

Why this matters: - Zero disruption to existing workflows - Faster onboarding (days, not months) - Preserves institutional knowledge - Gradual refinement over time

2. Operations-First Model

Manufacturing is about operations, not just materials:

graph TD
    A[Setup Time] --> D[Cost per Piece]
    B[Cycle Time] --> D
    C[Batch Size] --> D
    E[Machine Hour Rate] --> D
    F[Tooling Cost] --> D

    style D fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

CostEngine handles: - Setup vs. cycle time - Batch amortization - Tooling and fixtures - Machine hour rates (MHR)

3. Explainability & Auditability

"Why this number?"

Every cost must be traceable: - Source of data - Assumptions made - Defaults applied - Manual overrides - Impact on total cost

4. Customer-Specific Intelligence

Different customers have different economics:

Factor Varies By Customer
Base Margin Volume, relationship, sector
Payment Terms Net 30/60/90, advance %
Freight Location, packaging requirements
Minimum Order Economic batch size

Target Market

Primary Users

Manufacturing Estimators - Small to mid-sized factories (5-500 employees) - Handling 50-500 RFQs per month - Currently using Excel + tribal knowledge

Industries: - Metal fabrication & machining - Sheet metal & stamping - Plastics & injection molding - Assembly & contract manufacturing

Pain Points We Solve

Pain Point CostEngine Solution
No Costing takes 2-4 hours Yes 15-30 minutes with CostEngine
No Inconsistent across estimators Yes Standardized logic & templates
No Can't explain assumptions Yes Full breakdown + change tracking
No Lost quotes (bad margins) Yes Multiple margin scenarios
No No version history Yes Immutable audit trail