To the aussie teams that did casting, did you read the rules to say you should cost the material and the process seperate? In the cost of operations table it shows stampings, castings, and moldings with the phrase "process cost only". I take this to read that they want the process costed at $X/lb and material at $X/lb. What did other teams use for casting or molding (moulding for all you non-Americans)?

When we costed of our castings (aluminum) we did them as $X/lb (casting only, risers and such can be remelted) with the necessary labor rate.

Make sure to include in the labor the time it took to make the mold. For our lost-foam casting we had to include about 30 seconds of CNC labor on the foam. I imagine that plastic casting is the same.

For injection molding I'd cost the material in $X/lb and labr. Heck, for the short run of 1000 units we're to assume these parts can be cranked out in less than a week.