pricing of an electronic project, an electronic product?

[MD_SHAHRUKH]

Hello everyone,

My question is how to calculate a project price based on the following situation.

Suppose I am having a requirement from a company "client", let 'ABC'. The requirement can be fulfilled, I have a plan to execute and have the manpower to execute.
Suppose the project contains:
1. Circuit design.
2. Component selection or BOM.
3. PCB layout.
4. Manufacturing.
5. Component assembly.
6. Firmware or software development.
7. Computer interface and application.

And the project needs 3 people to complete the project.

How to calculate the charge? What if the complexity increases and the time of the project are a little long?

For a product, there are some more constraints but suppose it's a new brand. And Suppose the product is an industrial product like a communication gateway (Isolated RS485 to CAN) then what should be the pricing of the product, How to calculate it?

Thank you..

 

[dick_freebird]

This has always been a challenge to me
and I tend not to bid firm fixed price on a
development job; there are too many
unknowns (which you would do well to
enumerate, track and ensure that any
contract holds the provision for "change
of scope" should anything not in the work
package arise from customer change-order
or incomplete original requirements, etc.).

When I was an employee my management
would pad out anything I gave them by 2-3X
(cost, and schedule), that's how wrong I
have generally been about effort and
expense.

I note that some things are missing from
your "cost item" category-list. Such as the
need to make a profit, to cover involved
overhead, reviews and program meetings,
and so on.

I might suggest you look at costing the job
on two bases - FFP, and "time & materials".
Development often makes more sense
as the latter (not to say that customers like
it), while production should be the former
as by that point all unknowns other than
customer demand profile should have
been chased out.

 

[Audioguru]

You need a "mentor" engineer to guide and train you until you have some experience.
That is an important part of earning an Engineering Degree here.

 

[dick_freebird]

I came out of an engineering program with
a BSEE and zero clue about how the business
of engineering works. And I found little help
in that regard from the similarly-situated
engineers in my departments. Grunt engineers
are supposed to stay in a square hole, if you
are at a large company run by business
types.

You may have to actively seek that mentor
if you are currently just another head of
livestock with fancy fingers, kept in a pen.

 

[MD_SHAHRUKH]

I wanted to know if there is any systematic approach like a COCOMO (Constructive cost modelling) model used long ago for any software project cost.

Similar to that, any theoretical approach?

I know the syllabus may be different in different places, it was not taught to me when I was in my graduation. Is there any book for costing any product or project? It will be fine even if it is not specific to electronics, at least I want to have an idea of the approach and constraints to be made before making a costing.

Thank you.