Comparing Routing Options for a Quote in EDGEBIC

Comparing routing options for a quote in EDGEBIC means building one named scenario per option, simulating each against real capacity, and lining up lead time and cost side by side. In EDGEBIC by User Solutions, a scenario is a named variant of a quote's simulation: same product and quantity, but with a deliberate change such as a second shift on a machine, an outside vendor for one step, or weekend production allowed. Each scenario stores its own dates and costs, and the comparison view lets you pick the best trade-off with numbers instead of a hunch. Nothing touches the production schedule.

When one simulation is not enough

The base quote simulation answers one question: given the current shop, when does the standard routing finish and what does it cost? Often that is all you need. But when the standard answer misses the customer's date, the next question is "what would it take to hit it," and there is rarely one answer. A second shift on the bottleneck, an outside vendor for the slow step, and a weekend push all get you there by different routes at different costs.

Scenarios exist for exactly this exploration. Reach for a scenario when you are testing an alternative you might not adopt. Edit the quote itself when the truth changed: a new quantity, a new date, a new price. If you find yourself cloning a quote just to test "what if the mill ran a second shift," that is what scenarios are for. The distinction is covered in depth in what a scenario can and cannot change in EDGEBIC.

What a scenario can change

Each scenario is the current real shop plus one experiment. It respects your real capacity data, including per-day and monthly capacity overrides already configured, so it is not a fantasy calendar. On top of that, a scenario can:

• Boost or cut a work center's capacity, for that scenario only. A capacity slider at 150 percent simulates a second-shift equivalent; 50 percent simulates a machine at half strength.
• Allow weekend production, letting the engine schedule on weekend shift hours.
• Enable parallel processing and cap how many machines run at once.
• Set a custom start date, for example after raw material arrives.
• Override individual routing steps: skip a step, replace it onto a different work center, change its setup or process time, or move it in the sequence.

Step overrides are how you model an outside vendor. Replace the step's work center with the vendor's, and the scenario schedules the vendor for that step while leaving the rest of the routing intact. The four override types and when to reach for each are set out in reshaping a quote's routing with step overrides.

A worked example: three ways to hit the date

Acme asks for 500 units of Widget-A in a tight window. The base simulation with the standard routing finishes several days late. The bottleneck is CNC-Mill-1.

Scenario A: Standard. No overrides. Run it. This is the baseline, the thirteen-day answer, and it documents what "do nothing" looks like.

Scenario B: 2nd Shift on Mill. Add a work-center capacity override: CNC-Mill-1 at 150 percent (12 hours a day instead of 8), and enable parallel processing. Run it. Lead time drops to around nine days at a modest overtime premium. Closer, but still short of the target.

Scenario C: Outside Vendor. Add a step override on the cutting step: type Replace, alternative work center the vendor's. The vendor cuts far faster than the in-house saw. Run it. Lead time lands near six days, inside the target, at a vendor premium on cost.

Now compare. On the Comparison Analysis tab, tick all three. The Lead Time chart shows one bar per scenario:

Lead time (days)
  Standard      #############################  13
  2nd Shift     ###################             9
  Ext. Vendor   #############                   6   <- target 7
Cost ($)
  Standard      ####################            3,500
  2nd Shift     ######################          3,850
  Ext. Vendor   ########################        4,200

The vendor scenario hits the date with a day to spare at the highest cost; the second-shift scenario is cheaper but misses. With the numbers in front of you, the choice is defensible: quote the vendor routing and commit the date, or offer the second-shift option at a lower price and a later date.

The comparison spans three chart tabs (Lead Time, Cost, and Utilization), each showing one bar per selected scenario. Check utilization, not just lead time: a scenario that wins by running a machine at 100 percent or more for three weeks has zero absorption for a breakdown.

The discipline that keeps comparisons honest

A few habits make scenario comparison trustworthy:

• Always keep a no-override Standard scenario. Comparisons are meaningless without the baseline, and it records what "do nothing" looked like when the decision was made.
• Name the scenario after the lever. The name is all you see in the charts, so 2nd Shift on Mill beats Scenario 2.
• One lever per scenario. If a scenario changes three things at once, you will not know which one bought the improvement. Isolate variables.
• Remember scenarios run forward. For a backward, finish-by quote, judge each scenario by comparing its estimated end date to the customer date by hand.

From a winning scenario to a real order

When one scenario wins, select it and click Apply to Quote. That copies the scenario's dates, hours, and costs onto the parent quote. It does not change the product's real routing or any work center.

This is the step teams miss. If the customer accepts the outside-vendor scenario, you must make the real routing change in the routing editor before converting the quote, so the production run uses the vendor step. Apply to Quote updates the numbers; the routing edit makes the numbers real. Only then convert.

One honest limit worth stating to a customer: EDGEBIC does not hold or reserve capacity for a scenario. The simulation reads its numbers and discards, and no real job moves. Winning a scenario is a plan, not a reservation, so follow through with the real change before you commit.

Where this fits

Scenarios sit between the base quote simulation and conversion. The base run tells you where you stand; scenarios show you your options; applying the winner and making the routing real prepares the quote for conversion into an order. For the full what-if mechanism, see EDGEBIC what-if scenarios explained. For the quoting workflow end to end, follow the EDGEBIC quoting guide, and see the platform in full on the EDGEBIC overview.

The takeaway

Comparing routing options for a quote turns "can we hit the date?" from a guess into a decision. Build one named scenario per option, simulate each against the real shop, and read lead time and cost side by side. Keep a Standard baseline, change one lever at a time, and remember that a winning scenario is a plan until you make its routing change real. The result is a quote you can defend on both the date and the price, chosen from options you actually measured.