Investing in additive manufacturing equipment is a significant decision for any company, and tracking the realized return on investment (ROI) is crucial for measuring business outcomes and justifying further investments. Earlier this year, we launched the ROI Dashboard in Eiger, enabling users to automatically track the ROI of their Markforged investment. We assured you this was "just the beginning" and promised to enhance its functionality.

Today, we are thrilled to announce the next phase! Read on to learn about the new Assessed Part Spend calculator and its additional capabilities for the ROI Dashboard.

Tracking ROI to Measure Business Success

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

1. Evaluate the initial purchase decision.
2. Quantify savings to justify increased printer utilization.
3. Support future printer purchases.

The ROI tools in Eiger are designed to measure and track realized ROI by comparing the costs of printing parts on a Markforged printer to the costs of manufacturing those same parts using alternative methods. These tools simplify ROI tracking by replacing manual methods that require tedious analysis of part data and print history.

Reliably Estimating ROI in Eiger

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Estimated ROI

Launched earlier in 2024, the ROI Dashboard introduced a fully automated method for tracking part spend savings without user input. Although easy to use, it lacks the ability to modify calculation values and tracks all parts in your Eiger organization, potentially including parts you don't want to track (such as personal prints).

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Assessed ROI

The new Assessed Part Spend calculator elevates ROI calculations and customization. This tool allows users to enter known costs and business details about both printed and traditionally manufactured parts. Users select the parts 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.

Additionally, for printed parts, the Assessed ROI tools account for material, labor, energy, and post-processing costs, providing a more comprehensive analysis than the Estimated ROI tools, which only consider material costs.

In summary, the Assessed ROI tools offer a more realistic estimate of realized savings while remaining user-friendly and automated.

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Assessed ROI Tools - Features and Benefits

- **Accurate Estimation of Part Spend Savings:** User-provided inputs specific to Markforged parts and traditionally manufactured parts offer 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, focusing on prototypes, tooling, and production parts while ignoring personal prints.
- **Understand Cost Drivers for Total Part Costs:** Discover the breakdown of material, labor, energy, and post-processing costs to identify the most impactful factors.
- **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 into value and business outcomes.
- **Map Existing Custom Metadata Fields to New ROI Fields:** Conveniently map custom fields already used to track ROI to assessed part spend fields.
- **Prices in Local Currencies:** Users can calculate cost savings in their currency of choice, based on the currency set on price per cc.

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The Workflow

Adding a part to the assessment is simple:

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

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

Summary

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

While we are no longer at the beginning of our journey, we are committed to continually enhancing and refining the ROI Dashboard. If you have any feedback on these tools, we'd love to hear from you!

**Note:** Assessed ROI tools are being rolled out between July 30th and August 1st.

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