In any company that buys a machine—whether it’s laser, waterjet, EDM, plasma, or something else—the same question appears almost immediately:
How do we calculate the cost of the parts produced on this machine?
At a high level, everyone understands what must be included in the price:
- Machine depreciation
- Operator salaries
- Workshop rent, electricity, heating
- Additional operations: bending, engraving, painting, assembly, packaging, bonding, and more
But the real challenge is different:
How do you translate all of this into the cost of a single part?
Imagine a real order:
You need to cut 10 different parts, 5 pieces each, from sheet metal.
You can more or less calculate how much material to buy—but what about everything else?
- How much operator salary should be assigned to each part?
- How do you account for workshop costs?
- How do you turn this into a clear and understandable price list?
- How do you calculate all of this quickly, without involving half the company?
Every manufacturing business must answer these questions to truly understand its cost price.
Linking Costs to Machine Time
One practical approach is to tie all calculations directly to machine operating time.
That’s exactly why we built CUTL.online — an online service designed to simplify and accelerate part cost estimation.
But all of this only works if you clearly understand the cost of cutting one meter for each material.
And that cost must also be calculated.
Why Manufacturer Cutting Tables Are Not Enough
Many companies that just bought a machine start with the cutting parameter tables provided by the equipment manufacturer.
These tables show:
- Cutting speed
- Power
- Supported materials and thicknesses
But there’s a critical detail:
These parameters are calculated under “ideal conditions.”
Perfect calibration. New optics. Clean mechanics.
In real production, achieving stable results over time usually requires different settings.
What Actually Affects Cutting Speed
Every machine has its own behavior, influenced by:
- Speed reduction on curves
The smaller the radius, the slower the movement.
Some controllers even have internal tables limiting speed by curve radius. - Positioning time
The cutting head needs time to move to the start point. - How the controller interprets geometry
Some CAD or vector tools convert arcs into hundreds of tiny line segments.
Visually it looks fine—but for the machine, cutting a smooth arc is very different from cutting 1,000 short segments. - Tool behavior at corners (especially plotters)
Stop → lift → reposition → lower → continue.
Every corner adds time.
Accounting for all of this per drawing is difficult—but you can average it.
Averaging by Cutting Equal-Length Contours
A simple principle:
Cut different contours with the same total length and compare the time.
For example, a drawing with three 1-meter contours:
- a straight line
- a smooth curve
- a complex curve
If your machine cuts all three in the same time—great.
If not, use the result closer to the curved contour, not the straight one.
Measuring Real Cutting Time
Let’s say:
- You cut the test file
- Total cutting time: 68 seconds
That means:
- ~23 seconds per meter
(assuming one continuous cut without stops)
Next experiment:
- Cut 1 meter split into 10 segments
- Total time: 30 seconds
Conclusion:
- ~7 seconds spent on positioning, piercing, and transitions
- Average piercing time: 0.7 seconds
So for this material:
1 meter of cutting = 23.7 seconds
How Much Does One Hour of Laser Time Cost?
Now the math.
Monthly costs (example):
- Operators:
2 people × 100,000 = 200,000 - Machine depreciation:
5,000,000 over 3 years ≈ 139,000 - Workshop (100 m²):
Rent + utilities ≈ 90,000
Total: 429,000 per month
Real machine utilization
- One shift: 8 hours
- Real cutting time: ~7 hours per shift
- Average working days: 21 per month
7 × 21 = 147 cutting hours per month
Required revenue per hour:
- 429,000 / 147 ≈ 2,918 per hour
- 48.64 per minute
Final Cutting Prices
Now we combine everything:
- 1 meter cutting: 23.7 seconds
- Cost per minute: 48.64
Result:
- 1 meter of cutting = 18.65
- 1 piercing = 0.57
This is not profit.
This is the price that simply justifies the existence of the workshop.
What Comes on Top of This Price
Beyond pure production costs, every company also has:
- Sales managers
- Warehouse and logistics
- Accounting
- Management
Each business adds:
- Overhead
- Risk
- Desired profit margin
And that final price list is what goes into CUTL.
From Calculation to Quotation — in Minutes
With CUTL:
- Cutting length
- Number of piercings
- Material area
are calculated automatically.
A manager gets a ready price in minutes, usable for a commercial offer.
Of course, experience still matters:
- Nesting efficiency and scrap
- Order volume (small orders may need a minimum price)
- Customer complexity
- Customer-supplied material risks
But these are business decisions, not technical calculations.
One Source of Truth for Everyone
- Accounting sees planned material consumption
- Procurement knows how much material to buy
- Managers can quote fast and confidently
That’s the idea behind CUTL:
clear calculations, real production logic, and less guesswork.