Manufacture and Cost

Manufacturing routes are selected on the basis of lowest total cost to produce the desired performance. In the past, performance requirements have favoured certain processes such as, for example, forging instead of casting, but more recently attention to quality improvement techniques in casting has levelled up in-service properties and cost is emerging as the deciding factor.

It is difficult to assess the relative total costs of different material/manufacturing route combinations at the early stage of a design and, therefore, wherever possible, finalising the precise geometries should be delayed until possible materials and manufacturing routes have been identified, otherwise there will be an avoidable cost penalty.