What is the Factory in Blake?

For each machine you record the envelope, axes and hourly rate, for each material your purchase price with source and date, and for each subcontractor the prices for operations such as anodising, hardening and coating. Results calculated from these records are estimates.

How does Factory work in practice?

A cost estimate is only as good as the rates and prices beneath it. An hourly rate from years ago can turn out too low or too high, depending on how depreciation, wages, energy, maintenance, utilisation and other costs have changed since. If a subcontractor's price is missing, the line cannot be completed. Whether colleagues arrive at the same price for the same part depends partly on whether they use the same rates. How often you review rates is for your company to decide.

What is Factory often confused with?

The factory is not the shop floor: the shop floor is the hall with its machines and people, the factory is the recorded description estimates are calculated from. Nor is it the machine park, which is only the list of machines; the factory also holds materials, subcontractors and rates.

How do you see Factory in Blake?

For each machine you record envelope, axes and hourly rate. The material catalogue holds metals and plastics, with your own purchase price, source and price history. Subcontract operations appear in the estimate as a separate line; where the price is missing, that line stays visibly open. More on the factory.