Why are accepted and processed counts different?

Processed count includes pieces that consumed welding resources. Accepted count includes pieces available to ship; the whole run cost is allocated across that smaller quantity.

Where do I put weld repair cost?

Include repair personhours in loaded production labor and repair consumables in the per-piece allowance. Do not add the same repair charge twice.

Does loaded labor include shop overhead?

Use the labor burden your costing policy assigns to welding. Exclude power or consumables from that rate when you already entered them in the consumable allowance.

Can I use the result as a selling price?

Add the required profit and any excluded operations to build a selling price. This result is the welding cost allocation for each accepted weldment.

Welding & Fabrication calculator

Welding Cost per Part Calculator

Find the welding cost carried by each accepted weldment. You need processed and accepted counts, consumables per processed piece, fixed setup cost and loaded production labor.

What this calculator does

Allocate welding run cost across accepted weldments, including consumables spent on rejected pieces.

Formula used

Consumables cost = processed weldments × consumables per processed weldment
Run cost = consumables cost + fixed setup and tooling + loaded production labor
Welding cost per accepted weldment = run cost ÷ accepted weldments

Inputs explained

Processed Weldments: Routing count of all weldments processed, including rejected pieces.
Accepted Weldments: Final accepted count from inspection or shipment records.
Consumables per Processed Weldment: Pilot or ledger allowance for wire, gas, tips and power.
Fixed Setup and Tooling: One-time programming, fixture preparation and setup charge.
Loaded Production Labor: Production personhours times loaded rate, excluding separately entered setup.

How to use the result

Best suited to quote review after welding inspection, allocating setup across a repeat batch.
Excludes base material, cutting, finishing and customer freight. Repair labor must already be included in the production labor total.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for steel mill products stands at 381.162 (BLS, Aug 2026), up 23.4% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
Industrial electricity averages 9.77 cents per kWh across the U.S. (EIA, Jul 2026), up 4.7% from a year earlier. Energy-intensive steps carry this directly into unit cost.
U.S. iron and steel import customs value ran $2.2B in Aug 2026 (Census International Trade). The U.S. ran a trade deficit of $0.6B in the category that month. This dollar total mixes price, quantity, product mix, origin, and timing; it does not measure physical import volume or prove a tariff or reshoring effect.
The U.S. has 53,790 fabricated metal products establishments employing about 1,441,471 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

Why are accepted and processed counts different? Processed count includes pieces that consumed welding resources. Accepted count includes pieces available to ship; the whole run cost is allocated across that smaller quantity.
Where do I put weld repair cost? Include repair personhours in loaded production labor and repair consumables in the per-piece allowance. Do not add the same repair charge twice.
Does loaded labor include shop overhead? Use the labor burden your costing policy assigns to welding. Exclude power or consumables from that rate when you already entered them in the consumable allowance.
Can I use the result as a selling price? Add the required profit and any excluded operations to build a selling price. This result is the welding cost allocation for each accepted weldment.

Related guides

Last reviewed 2026-10-06.