Connect Engineering Logic with Quoting Efficiency: Automate Custom Labor Costing and Pricing

Accurately calculating labor costs is one of the most critical, yet time-consuming, steps of quoting a PCB assembly job. Setup times, lead counts, part handling complexity, and attrition rates all factor into what should be a precise, margin-protecting calculation. But too often, this logic lives in outdated spreadsheets that require an Engineer's review, slowing down the quote process and limiting how fast a quoting team can respond to new opportunities. Labor costing and pricing becomes a bottleneck instead of a business driver.

PCB Assembly Labor Costing

PCB Assembly labor costing combines a mix of fixed and variable cost drivers, including:

• Set up labor, which can involve NRE, stencil creation, and programming.   

• Placement labor, such as SMT and THT.  

• Manual steps like parts handling, packaging, washing, hand soldering, inspection, and testing.  

• Attrition overhead, which must be estimated and built into the cost.   

Labor costing is often calculated based on tribal knowledge and formulas housed in spreadsheets, disconnected from the rest of the quoting requirements. Quoting teams must manually determine package types and lead counts, estimate attrition, and solicit engineering review for the spreadsheet formulas to apply labor costs correctly.

In high-mix EMS environments where many quotes across various builds and quantities are being managed, this adds too much time, effort, inconsistencies, and margin risk to the business.

Automating Assembly Labor Costing and Pricing

Modern labor costing solutions have emerged to address the issues of manual reliance by embedding engineering logic directly into the quoting workflow and automating the calculations. These tools parse the BOM and related project files, automatically identifying component package types and understanding the labor associated with assembling the board. Once components are recognized, manufacturers' custom pricing formulas are dynamically applied, which significantly reduces manual effort and improves consistency.

While various automation solutions exist, Boardera stands out by offering advanced AI-driven file parsing combined with a highly flexible custom formula engine. Boardera accurately identifies package types, component lead counts, and automates attrition calculations based on manufacturer-defined parameters. For instance, users can effortlessly implement attrition rules such as ordering 100 extra 0402 parts if their unit cost is below $1, but only 20 extra parts if the unit cost exceeds $1. Rather than requiring engineering teams to manually classify components or reference spreadsheets, users can define their facility's custom pricing formulas to automatically calculate labor based on actual manufacturing rules.  

Setup time, placement labor, and specialized operations can all be accounted for dynamically, using logic that reflects the business’s pricing strategies. The result is a quoting process that is faster, more consistent, and less reliant on engineering mediation or component research. By embedding manufacturing logic into the quoting system itself, teams reduce friction, improve quote turnaround time, and ensure that labor calculations accurately reflect their manufacturing capabilities and the true complexity of each job.   

Best Practices for Applying Labor Calculations

Automating labor costing and pricing can drastically improve quoting workflows; however, implementing formulas effectively requires more than basic rule-setting. It demands a platform that can replicate the nuanced pricing logic developed over years of real-world production. To be truly useful, the quoting system must understand and replicate internal manufacturing calculations, offer the flexibility to model facility-specific pricing scenarios, and provide guidance during implementation to ensure those rules are accurately and efficiently translated into the system.

Building Structured and Scalable Logic

At the foundation of a scalable automation approach is the ability to define clear, reusable variables and constants. These constants, whether they represent setup time, lead count, or placement volume, should be constructed with clarity and consistency. With this in place, the business’s logic can be turned into a cost. An effective system will allow labor calculations to be applied in units that reflect how costing is typically applied, for example, per board, placement, or mm². Additionally, the platform should accommodate markup strategies on PCB and assembly labor to protect profitability and accurately reflect margins. This granularity ensures that the cost structure matches the reality of how labor is consumed in production, rather than relying on blanket assumptions or flat-rate estimates.  

Labor pricing must be dynamic and context-aware. Conditional logic is essential for tailoring calculations to specific project characteristics. Applying the same fixed labor calculations to every project will not reflect accurate assembly labor prices, which is why Boardera supports conditional logic. Some facilities may only apply certain fees for projects under a given quantity, such as SMT setup costs. With conditional rules set up, the system will automatically adapt pricing for the appropriate scenario, so the staff does not have to. Controlling and automating when specific logic is triggered is key to defining smart and flexible calculations resulting in accurate costs and profitable pricing.

When it comes to assembly labor costing and pricing, every facility is unique, and Boardera understands this. The platform features a powerful custom formula engine that replicates real manufacturing logic down to the smallest, most intricate details. Whether it is component-specific attrition rules, lead-count labor, or mount-type-specific pricing, users can configure their calculations in a tool just as flexible as an Excel spreadsheet, which can understand and automate the input.   

Result of Automating Assembly Labor Costing and Pricing

Assembly labor costing and pricing can be a very time-consuming and heavily manual process that, when automated, is a key aspect of achieving an optimized CPQ workflow. Boardera helps EMS teams automate labor calculations, resulting in:

• Increased efficiency for quoting teams, enabling faster responses to new opportunities.  

• Significant time savings for Engineers, allowing them to focus on high-value tasks instead of quote triage.  

• Greater confidence for sales teams, ensuring that even complex builds are quoted accurately and profitably.  

• Improved labor cost visibility, reducing the risk of underpricing or confusion among customers. 

Compared to the hours often spent applying spreadsheet-based formulas, Boardera gives users full control to input all their labor costing logic to be applied automatically. Automated labor costing helps EMS providers generate quotes with great efficiency and accuracy, connecting engineering logic with the sales and quoting team.

Boardera's Complete CPQ Platform

Labor costing and pricing is just one of many key aspects of the PCB assembly CPQ process that Boardera automates. From AI file parsing and BOM sourcing to real-time PCB pricing and e-commerce storefront integration, every quote is powered by Boardera automation and driven by each manufacturer’s capabilities.

Learn more about Boardera Software Inc. or book a demo with our team.

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