4cost-prediction
4cost-prediction

4cost-prediction

Multidimensional regression analyses for precise cost forecasts

What is 4cost-prediction?

The costing software 4cost-prediction enables you to check the adequacy of the costs and prices of products and product groups on the basis of freely selectable parameters. With the software, you can easily and quickly see which specific features of a product affect its costs and price and to what extent. In this way, non-identical products can be compared with the help of benchmarks, cost reduction potentials for individual products can be determined, outliers can be identified and price forecasts for new products are possible.

4cost-prediction was specially developed to quickly determine usable correlations between price and performance within any number of data sets and to display them graphically in a clear manner. For unique cost transparency and increased cost understanding.

  • Quick identification of cost drivers and savings potentials

  • Universally applicable with automatic determination of the best target price formula

  • Valid cost forecasts thanks to multidimensional predictions

Areas of application

  • Linear performance pricing

  • Non-linear performance pricing

  • Predictive costing, price forecasting

  • Should cost analysis, purchase price analysis

  • Benchmarking

  • Supplier and procurement price analysis, price structure analysis

  • Target prices, target costing

  • Target-performance comparisons

4cost White paper: Performance pricing

Free white paper

Increase cost transparency and identify potential for cost reduction

In this white paper you will learn:

  • How to apply performance pricing correctly in your company

  • How to improve the performance of your purchasing department

  • How to achieve greater cost transparency in your dealings with suppliers

  • How to uncover potential for cost reduction and value enhancement

Analyses of large volume of data in seconds with maximum transparency

Exploit the full potential of your product data sets by using performance pricing.

4cost-prediction provides your purchasing department with valid feature-based arguments for a strengthened negotiating position with suppliers. Your sales department can argue to customers with specific benefits on the basis of the determined correlations in order to justify the price of a product and to ensure consistent pricing. With 4cost-prediction, the development department receives a tool for evaluating alternatives to maximise customer benefits while minimising costs.

AI 4cost-prediction extracts the optimum from your input data. Based on the data set entered, the software automatically suggests the model from four regression models (linear and non-linear) that provides you with the most valid correlation and information. For precise results in every situation.

4cost-prediction outputs the formulas of the respective regression model that is used in the analysis. Furthermore, the influence of the model can be shown for all parameters as well as for individual parameters. This provides you with a better understanding of the interrelationships of the parameters and enables step-by-step validation.

Always keep an overview, even with large volumes of data. 4cost-prediction presents all data points to be analysed visually in diagrams from which you can immediately see which products have a good and which a poor price-performance ratio in comparison. Outliers and potentials become quickly visible and can be intuitively selected directly in the diagram for closer examination.

4cost-prediction has a powerful report generator that automatically provides you with the most important information. All generated reports can be exported as PDF. This provides you with meaningful results that the management can use to quickly derive measures, identify opportunities and minimise risks.

AI Make your analyses more conclusive by also examining the influence of text-based parameters such as manufacturer or region. 4cost-prediction is the only solution on the market that can process alphanumeric data (text values) in addition to numerical parameters (numerical values).
4cost-prediction already provides a basic set of data records (for machines and electronic components, among others) from installation onwards, which should make it easier for you to get started with the multidimensional analysis of product parameters and serve as orientation for the creation of your own databases.
Save a lot of time when mass importing data from Excel with the import wizard integrated in 4cost-prediction. It automatically checks your data for inconsistencies and duplications, so that errors are minimised in advance when creating the data records.
The user interface of 4cost-prediction is optimised to make your work with the software as pleasant as possible and to actively relieve you during data analysis. Comfort features include, for example, tabs for better organisation, context-based menus for selecting frequently used functions, input wizards to minimise errors, drag & drop for intuitive handling and switches for quickly activating/deactivating data set entries.
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Experience 4cost-prediction live

We would be happy to demonstrate the capabilities of our costing software 4cost-prediction to you in person.

Request a no-obligation online product demonstration now. Our sales team will contact you shortly.

Our clients report on their success with 4cost

“The comparison of providers revealed, that 4cost achieved the highest score. We were particularly convinced by the fact that 4cost’s solutions can be used for all commodities, regardless of technology. Equally decisive was the enormous speed with which cost estimates are possible despite limited information.” Christian Ahrens Team leader of the Value Engineering department, Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH “A major advantage of the 4cost software is the seamless interlocking of the two costing approaches, top-down and bottom-up. This appeals to a wide variety of cost estimators and ensures a consistent cost view without losing information across all project phases.” Alexander Nordmeyer Value Engineer, Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH “The departments experience made with the costing software from 4cost are very positive and associated with high savings. By increasing transparency in the cost structures, a monetary benefit in the seven-digit range can already be recorded. We have made the right decision in our selection process and are very happy about our success!” Manfred Billes Department head of the EEPC team, MAN “From small start-ups to large corporations, costs must be constantly kept in view and controlled, especially in these difficult times. This succeeds very well with the 4cost software and I believe we can generate real added value for our companies.” Sarah Wörz Officer, Digitalisierungszentrum Ostwürttemberg “The consistent calculation method of the 4cost tools convinced us right from the start. Very quickly we realised, that this methodology supports our needs in calculation, value engineering, purchasing and engineering excellently.” Frank Hoffmann Head of Supply Chain Management, Rheinmetall Electronics GmbH “With 4cost's modern parametric calculation models it is possible to estimate good and valid costs already in phases with limited detail of knowledge. In order to establish this, we not only made use of 4cost's software solutions, but also using their expertise in value engineering.” Senior staff member Purchasing department, Rolls-Royce “The 4cost-aces interface is user-friendly and logically structured, especially when compared to other cost estimation tools. This makes it easier to use the tool even for occasional users.” Thomas Fiedler Head of Cost Architecture A30X, Future Projects & Costing Performance, Airbus Deutschland “We decided on 4cost because we see a significant added value for our calculation and value analysis in a consistent approach from quick cost estimates to detailed calculations. We focus now on the main cost drivers and identify areas with the greatest potential for cost optimization.” Werner Seifried Technical Director, Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH (2009) “With 4cost we have a partner with whom we are implementing our objective of a long-term partnership in the areas of cost estimation, value analysis and cost structure analysis. We will continue to establish 4cost's solutions and use them even more intensively in the future, because the added value is obvious.” Werner Seifried Technical Director, Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH (2009) “With the parametric cost estimate from 4cost-aces, we are fast and reliably in estimating new assemblies and examine scenarios.” “With the 4cost-structure calculation tool, we are tracking target costs and manage our projects, including history and versioning.” Peter Schmidt Value analysis department, Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH (2009) “The partnership-based cooperation with 4cost enables us to arrive at rapid cost estimates for our projects both in-house and directly at our customers site. I would not have expected a calculation of the costs at such an early stage in the product development process with such depth, consideration of variants and meaningfulness of the answers!” Matthias Miesbeck Project engineer, HOLZER Firmengruppe “We were enthusiastic about the speed and cost transparency during the 4cost workshops. We used the results from the workshops as a base for our business case analysis. We froze the cost target as cost reference for the subsequent development process and continuously referenced and checked on them.” Hinrik Weber Head of the optoelectronics business unit, Pepperl+Fuchs “The speed in which the costs are determined is impressive with this method. Elaborate work plans do not have to be predefined and evaluated, because the parametric approach of 4cost-aces is based on material and value-added approaches.” Ernst Tabel Project manager, Pepperl+Fuchs “With 4cost-aces we are able to arrive at valid cost statements very quickly. Compared to a bottom-up calculation that typically takes several weeks, we only need one to three days for the first cost assessment.” Gregor Schwab Head of Orders & Offers, Production, EADS Defence & Security “In addition to the drastic time advantage of this costing method, the workshops have another effect that should not be underestimated: all participants agree on a common costing basis during the meetings and evaluate it in detail. The acceptance of the calculated cost values is very high due to the involvement of all participants.” Gregor Schwab Head of Orders & Offers, Production, EADS Defence & Security “The workshop with the 4cost team was convincing both in terms of methodology and result. We were getting an idea of how the parametric approach of the 4cost-aces costing software works. Many new possibilities could now be approached in our daily work.” Stefan Buchwald Strategic buyer, BARD Engineering “The 4cost solutions enable us to become an extended workbench to the costing departments of companies in our region.” Peter Schmidt Head, Digitalisierungszentrum Ostwürttemberg “The early breakdown of product and project costs with 4cost-aces not only offers us a high level of cost transparency, but in particular shows us optimisation potential for development and design. On the one hand, we are thus able to forecast future manufacturing costs in the case of design changes and on the other hand, to independently check manufacturing costs of already existing designs.” Martin Klotz Product Cost Engineer, Liebherr-Werk Biberach GmbH “The simplicity and speed of creating and comparing different technical, location and quantity scenarios in 4cost-aces is impressive.” Andreas Müller Senior Operations and Procurement Manager, AutoFlight Europe “Thanks to the workshop with 4cost, we received meaningful and transparent results in a short time, which allows us to take measures at an early stage to secure the profitability of our products.” Andreas Müller Senior Operations and Procurement Manager, AutoFlight Europe “The use of 4cost-aces has led to a considerable improvement in our efficiency, as we calculate up to 75 % faster. Cost calculations that would otherwise take us several weeks to complete are done within a few days with 4cost-aces.” Hanno Pieles Director Business Unit Performance, newboxes “4cost-aces has become a valuable tool for our company because we use it to help our clients increase their cost transparency significantly and take their cost management to the next level.” Hanno Pieles Director Business Unit Performance, newboxes "Parametric costing enables us to create valid calculations in the early quotation phases with relatively little effort." Tim Wiedemann Systems Engineer, MT Aerospace AG “Thanks to 4cost-aces, we can plan and implement our projects more efficiently. The software has established itself as an indispensable tool in our development process and contributes significantly to the success of our projects.” Hannes Büttner Head of Projects & Value Analysis, BAUER Maschinen GmbH “The calculations using parametrics are incredibly fast compared to the bottom-up approach, which allows us to react quickly to new requirements and designs. The design-to-cost process is streamlined and requires fewer resources.” Hannes Büttner Head of Projects & Value Analysis, BAUER Maschinen GmbH “With the introduction of 4cost-aces, we have consistently enhanced our established processes. Following an intensive testing and implementation phase, nearly all cost estimates at MTG are now carried out using 4cost-aces.” Michael Rudius Head of Operations, MTG Marinetechnik GmbH “With 4cost-aces, we can now perform calculations even in areas where we previously had to rely on approximate values—such as for project management, documentation, software, and maintenance costs.” Michael Rudius Head of Operations, MTG Marinetechnik GmbH Rheinmetall MAN digiZ Rolls-Royce Airbus Liebherr Holzer Pepperl+Fuchs EADS BARD AutoFlight Europe GmbH newboxes GmbH MT Aerospace AG BAUER Maschinen GmbH MTG Marinetechnik GmbH