Objective At present, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) in the sheet metal industry have to invest much time in At present, small arid medium-sized enterprises (SME) of the sheet metal industry have to invest much time in offer preparations, because of the low probability of getting the job. The offer calculation is mostly done manually as an estimation. For example, the length of the contours to be cut are extracted from drawingsand summed up. Actual production time for workpiece problem areas like sharp angles and narrow radii can only be calculated by a post-prossesor simulation or by a comparison with a similar workpiece that was manufactured before. This complicates the cost calculation and adds an unsureness factor to calculation. Therefore, only experienced employees can estimate the costs for the cutting of 3-d workpieces. The aim of the proposed software ICACOST is the quick and automatic cost calculation for 3d laser cutting. Less experienced persons shall be able to use the configured tool. Therefore, characteristic numbers are generated on the basis of the workpiece geometry. They describe all necessary machine work to perform and the workpiece specific problem areas. As next step, the dynamic machine behaviour for these problem areas is projected to specific machine parameters. By connecting the characteristic numbers with the machine parameters, the machining time for a specific machine is calculated. This machining time is an important factor for the cost calculation. The characteristic numbers are also used to find similar workpieces within the planned offer database. This database is also implemented during the project and contains all created offers. As plausibility check the user can search for similar offers and compare them with the new one. A complete cost calculation must include all costs which are important for the production, not only the machining time. These diverse parameters come from various sources, and must be combined with each othe Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwarenatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabasesengineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringsubtractive manufacturingnatural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometrynatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics Keywords 3-d laser cutting characteristic numbers cost calculation sheet metal parts Programme(s) FP6-SME - Horizontal research activities involving SMEs: Specific activities covering wider field of research under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006. Topic(s) SME-1 - Co-operative Research (all areas of science and technology) Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Cooperative - SMEs-Co-operative research contracts Coordinator LASER ZENTRUM HANNOVER E.V. EU contribution No data Address Hollerithallee 8 HANNOVER Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (8) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all MARS LASERTECHNIK GMBH Germany EU contribution No data Address Am Köpfchen 9 EMLEBEN See on map Total cost No data CLW CLAUSTHALER LASER- UND WERKSTOFFTECHNIK GMBH Germany EU contribution No data Address Altenauerstrasse 44 CLAUSTHAL-ZELLERFELD See on map Total cost No data DISMODEL, S.A. Spain EU contribution No data Address B° LARRAGOITI, S/N SOPELANA See on map Total cost No data WILCO WILKEN LASERTECHNIK GMBH & CO Germany EU contribution No data Address Siemensweg 5 WADERSLOH See on map Total cost No data GUALINI LAMIERE INTERNATIONAL SPA Italy EU contribution No data Address VIA EUROPA N. 50 BOLGARE See on map Total cost No data TUBECUT EINGETRAGENER KAUFMANN Germany EU contribution No data Address Focherstrasse 158 SOLINGEN See on map Total cost No data LASER-TECH SPOL. S.R.O. Czechia EU contribution No data Address Vejdovského 4a OLOMOUC See on map Total cost No data FUNDACION ROBOTIKER Spain EU contribution No data Address Parque Tecnologico, Edificio 202 ZAMUDIO See on map Total cost No data
