FOR FOUNDRIES
Most foundries quote a rate per kg from a spreadsheet and find out months later that the yield was worse and the fettling took longer. Kojo builds each casting quote from your own metal, melting, moulding, fettling and machining rates, then follows the job onto the floor and through to payment. It runs in the browser, so the owner, the estimator and the shift supervisor see the same numbers.
HOW THE WORK IS PRICED
Most castings are sold at a rate per kg of finished casting weight, with pattern cost and any machining charged on top. Behind that rate sits the cost of liquid metal: the charge mix of pig iron, steel scrap, foundry returns and ferro-alloys (plus nodulariser and inoculant for SG iron), melting power or coke, and melting loss. Yield decides how much of that metal ends up in a saleable casting. Runners, risers and feeders go back into the furnace, but you paid to melt them, so a small cored casting with poor yield costs far more per good kg than a heavy, simple one.
On top of metal come the conversion costs: moulding, core making, knockout, shot blasting, fettling and grinding, heat treatment where the grade needs it, and an allowance for rejection. Pattern cost is either charged once to the customer, who then owns the pattern, or spread over an agreed quantity. Many OEM buyers link the rate to pig iron and scrap prices and revise it monthly or quarterly, so a foundry that does not track its own charge cost loses money every time the market rises and the revision is claimed late.
THE HEADACHES
An average rate per kg looks fine across the order book, but small cored castings with poor yield lose money while heavy, simple ones carry them. Few foundries know which is which until the year-end numbers arrive.
Pig iron, scrap and ferro-alloy prices change month to month. Quotes worked out on last quarter's charge cost go out wrong, and agreed rate revisions get claimed late or not at all.
Blowholes, sand inclusions and shrinkage often show up only after fettling or machining, or at the customer's incoming inspection. By then the casting has used up metal, power, labour and machine time.
Scrap, pig iron and power are paid for quickly, while OEM buyers pay on long credit terms and deduct rejection debit notes along the way. Without a clear view of who owes what, overdue amounts sit unchased.
THE WORKFLOW
The buyer sends a drawing or sample with grade, annual quantity and machining scope. You check casting weight, cores, any existing pattern and whether your moulding line can take the box size.
Estimate poured weight with gating and risers, likely yield, cores, fettling effort and machining. Quote a rate per kg, plus pattern cost and machining charges.
The pattern is made or modified, and samples are poured and sent with dimensional, chemical and mechanical reports. Automotive buyers often ask for a full PPAP before regular orders.
Orders are grouped by grade so each heat pours one alloy, and moulding and core making are planned to keep pace with the furnace.
Each shift records boxes poured, good castings, rejects and downtime. Castings move through knockout, shot blasting, fettling, any heat treatment and machining.
Final inspection and weighing, then dispatch with invoice and test certificates. Payments are followed up and rejection debit notes reconciled.
WHERE KOJO FITS
COMMERCIAL
LIVEPick the customer and the casting, and Kojo builds the quote from your own rates and costing rules, set up during onboarding: charge cost from the raw-material price master, yield, conversion costs, rejection allowance and margin. The PDF quote is ready in minutes and worked out the same way, whoever prepares it.
Explore module →OPERATIONS
ROLLING OUTDefine each casting's charge mix, cores and consumables once. Kojo shows the true part cost at today's pig iron, scrap and alloy prices, and the consumption variance when actual metal use runs above standard.
Explore module →COMMERCIAL
LIVEFor castings you supply machined, it applies your senior estimator's cycle times, machine hour rates and setup allowances to every part, so the machining line on the quote is as dependable as the per-kg rate.
Explore module →OPERATIONS
ROLLING OUTSupervisors log production, rejects, downtime and raw material for each shift on a tablet with big buttons. It works offline and syncs later, which suits a melt shop where the wifi keeps dropping.
Explore module →OPERATIONS
ROLLING OUTTracks pig iron, scrap, ferro-alloys, sand, resin and other consumables against real usage, and warns at the reorder point, rounded up to the supplier's minimum order quantity.
Explore module →COMMERCIAL
ROLLING OUTReminds buyers before and after each due date on WhatsApp, email and SMS, and shows who owes what and for how long, so long-credit OEM accounts don't drift.
Explore module →STARTER TO ENTERPRISE
Start with quoting, add production, inventory and payments, then scale across plants with integrations and a dedicated support team.
STARTER
Start with quoting. Your metal prices, yields, conversion rates and margins go into Kojo, so every casting is priced on the same basis and you can see the cost behind each per-kg rate.
GROWTH
Add shop-floor logging, inventory and BOM costing to compare real rejects and real metal use with what you quoted. Payment reminders and receivables ageing keep the cash side in step.
ENTERPRISE
For groups running more than one foundry, or a foundry plus a machine shop, Enterprise adds multi-plant roll-up reporting, an open API and integrations for your accounting or ERP system, a dedicated support team and an uptime SLA.
NUMBERS TO WATCH
CASTING YIELD
Good casting weight against metal poured sets your real metal cost per saleable kg.REJECTION RATE, INTERNAL AND AT THE CUSTOMER
Every rejected casting has already used metal, power and labour, and customer rejections add freight and debit notes on top.MARGIN PER KG BY PART
The average rate hides which castings make money and which ones lose it.OVERDUE RECEIVABLES
Metal and power are paid for quickly, so cash stuck with buyers decides how much you can melt next month.COMMON MATERIALS
Each material page has properties, equivalent grades and a free weight and machining cost calculator.
QUESTIONS
Kojo builds each casting quote from your own rates and costing rules, set up during onboarding: metal cost, yield, conversion costs, rejection allowance and margin. You see the cost behind the per-kg rate, and every estimator follows the same method.
Kojo keeps a raw-material price master. Update the metal prices there and new quotes use them, while BOM costing shows each part's true cost at today's prices, so you can see which rates need revising.
Yes. The shop-floor module runs on a tablet with big buttons, works offline and syncs when the connection comes back. Supervisors log production, rejects, downtime and raw material for each shift.
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