Reliably Measure Savings with Expanded ROI Tools in Eiger

Estimating ROI before purchasing a printer helps justify the investment. After a printer is purchased, it becomes important to measure and track the realized ROI to:

• Evaluate the initial purchase decision 
• Quantify savings to make the case for increasing printer utilization
• Justify future printer purchases

The ROI tools in Eiger are built to measure and track realized ROI by comparing the costs to print parts on a Markforged printer to the costs to manufacture those same parts using alternate methods. Having these tools in Eiger makes tracking ROI easy because it replaces manual methods that require tedious analysis of part data and print history.

Estimated ROI

The ROI Dashboard was launched earlier in 2024 and it introduced a fully automated method for tracking part spend savings that required no user input. While easy to use, there is no ability to modify the values used in the calculations. Further, it tracks all parts in your Eiger organization, so it may include parts that you don’t want to track (such as personal prints).

The new Assessed ROI tools takes ROI calculations and customization to the next level.

Assessed ROI (NEW!)

The Assessed Part Spend calculator allows you to enter known costs and business details about both the printed part and the traditionally manufactured part. Users select the parts they want to be included in the assessment, enter cost factors and lead times, and the calculator computes cost and time savings for all printed parts automatically.

Another enhancement is that, for printed parts, the Assessed ROI tools account for material, labor, energy, and post-processing costs. This is more comprehensive than the Estimated ROI tools, which only consider material costs.

In short, the Assessed ROI tools calculate a more realistic estimate of realized savings, while still being user friendly and automated.

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• Accurate estimation of part spend savings - User provided inputs that are specific to Markforged parts and traditionally manufactured parts provide a realistic, trustworthy estimate of part spend savings. 
• Track only the parts you care about - Control which parts to track and which parts not to track. There is value in tracking prototypes, tooling, and production parts but there might be no value in tracking personal prints, for example.
• Understand cost drivers for total part costs - Discover the breakdown of material, labor, energy, and post-processing costs to see which factors have the most impact.
• View savings for individual parts or all selected parts - View a summary of savings for all assessed parts or drill down into savings for a specific part. 
• Track positive business outcomes - Tag the intent and functionality associated with each part and use future reporting features to gain insights on value and business outcomes.
• Map existing custom metadata fields to new ROI fields - Conveniently map custom fields that have already been used to track ROI to assessed part spend fields.
• Prices can be set in local currencies - Users can calculate cost savings in their currency of choice, based on the currency set on price per cc.

Adding a part to the assessment is simple:

1. Select the part from your Eiger Library and confirm you have selected the intended part.
2. Provide costs and details associated with the intent and functionality of the printed part.
   1. The only required inputs are Touch Time per Part and Labor Hourly Rate.
3. Input traditional manufacturing costs and lead time.
   1. The only required inputs are Total Single Part Cost and Lead Time.
4. Review the information and complete the assessment.

After the assessment is completed, the Assessed Part Spend and Assessed Cost Savings Per Year charts will automatically update. It is also possible to edit part assessment details to ensure rates are current and to delete an assessment altogether.

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The ROI Dashboard contains intuitive and reliable tools for measuring and tracking the realized ROI of your investment in Markforged. Use this data to communicate with stakeholders about evaluating and justifying business decisions. 

We aren’t at the beginning of the journey anymore but we certainly aren’t at the end. We will continue to enhance and refine the ROI Dashboard over time. If you have any feedback on these tools, we'd love to hear from you!