What's New in Regional Data Libraries 2025-03¶
- Material Costs now Default to “High Volume” Price Points for Casting Process Groups
- Updated Wage Grade Associations for PCBA and Wire Harness
- Machines Added
- RDL Data Trends
Material Costs now Default to “High Volume” Price Points for Casting Process Groups¶
For the 2025-03 RDLs, the default material purchase volume for the casting process groups now is set to 10t with a purchase factor of 1.0. This makes the purchase volume assumptions for Casting - Die, Casting - Sand, and Casting - Investment, as well as the older Casting process group, consistent with other process groups. Previously the casting process groups used a default purchase volume of 0.5t and a purchase factor of 1.34.
This change will affect material cost estimates for customers using either of the following:
- An aPriori baseline Digital Factory
- An overlay Digital Factory that both
- Inherits from a baseline Digital Factory, and
- Does not have an existing override to purchase volume specified.
As a result of this change, the material cost per kg used in the Casting process groups now will be approximately 25% lower than in previous releases.
Note:
If a different purchase volume and purchase factor previously were specified for an overlay Digital Factory, this override will be respected, and material cost estimates will not change.
This change was implemented in response to widespread customer feedback that the 10t purchase volume and associated material costs are most representative of their buying power
If desired, administrators can modify this setting for casting process groups to again reflect low-volume material purchasing and pricing levels. To do this, open the Material Factors table and set the purchase volume 0.5t as the Default value for each casting process group of interest, as shown below. This change must be made for each Overlay Digital Factory.
Unlike other process groups that inherit factors from the Digital Factory, casting process groups have their own distinct purchase factors.
Note:
When a user changes the Digital-Factory-level purchase volume, this is not reflected in the casting process groups .
Updated Wage Grade Associations for PCBA and Wire Harness¶
aPriori reviewed and updated the wage grade associations and labor rates for many of the electronic assembly processes.
In response to customer feedback about electronics labor rates in their supply chains, aPriori investigated and updated wage grades for the PCBA and Wire Harness modules. The wage grade was increased for all PCBA processes, reflecting that a higher-skilled worker is required for these processes than previously specified. The wage grade also was increased for four of the Wire Harness processes. The labor rates for these processes increased as a result of the higher wage grade association.
| Process Group | Process Name | Previous Wage Grade | New Wage Grade | % change (2025-03 RDL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCBA | Adhesive Dispense | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Adhesive Staking | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Adhesive Underfill | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Automated Optical Inspection | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| PCBA | Automated Xray Inspection | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| PCBA | Bake Out | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Batch Wash | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Component Prep Automated | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Component Prep Manual | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Component Software Load | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Final Assembly | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Final Assembly Component Setup | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Functional Test | 3 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 19% |
| PCBA | Hand Wash | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Heat Sink Install | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | InCircuit Test | 3 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 19% |
| PCBA | Inline Wash | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Ion Chromatography | 3 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 19% |
| PCBA | Jumper Wire Install | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Label | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Light Up Test | 3 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 19% |
| PCBA | Manual Solder | 2 - Electrical | 5- Electrical | 58% |
| PCBA | PCB Flip | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | PCB Load | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | PEMS | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | PTH Auto Insert | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | PTH Component Setup | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | PTH Hand Install | 2 - Electrical | 5- Electrical | 58% |
| PCBA | PTH Hand Solder | 2 - Electrical | 5- Electrical | 58% |
| PCBA | Potting | 2 - Electrical | 5- Electrical | 58% |
| PCBA | Press Fit | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | RF Test | 3 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 19% |
| PCBA | Reflow | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | SMT Auto Placement | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | SMT Component Setup | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | SMT Hand Placement | 2 - Electrical | 5- Electrical | 58% |
| PCBA | SMT Hand Solder | 2 - Electrical | 5- Electrical | 58% |
| PCBA | SMT Visual Inspection | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| PCBA | Screen Printing | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Selective Solder | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| PCBA | Shunt Assembly | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Software Load | 3 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 19% |
| PCBA | Solder Jetting | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Solder Paste Inspection | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Standoff Insert | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Stencil | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| PCBA | Visual Inspection | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| PCBA | Wave Solder | 2 - Electrical | 3- Electrical | 21% |
| Wire Harness | Formboard Setup/Test | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| Wire Harness | Hipot Test | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| Wire Harness | Solder | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
| Wire Harness | Tin | 2 - Electrical | 4- Electrical | 44% |
Machines Added¶
In the 2025-03 release, the following machines were added to the Forging process group, for the new Mechanical Press process.
| Process Group | Process | Machine |
|---|---|---|
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Schuler PK1250 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Schuler PK2000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Schuler PK3150 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Schuler PK4000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Schuler PK5000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Schuler PK6300 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPA-10000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPA-6000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPA-6500 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPA-8000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPZ-2500 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPZ-3000 |
| Forging | Mechanical Press | Sumitomo FPZ-4500 |
RDL Data Trends¶
aPriori is pleased to announce an updated release of the RDL Data Trends webpage. URL: https://support.apriori.com/hc/en-us/p/data-trends.
To access the link, users must be logged into the aPriori Support site.
With this update aPriori has added the ability to view Labor Rate Data Trends in addition to the previously released Material Cost Data Trends.
Labor Rate Data Trends gives the user the ability to review the average wage grade for a specific process across several regions. The available regions are selected from the top 20 most-used regions (determined by analyzing aPriori's cloud usage data). These 20 regions cover about 90% of known costing activity.
aPriori currently provides labor rate data trends for processes in the Plastic Molding, Sheet Metal, and Machining process groups.
By default, information is displayed for the following regions:
- China
- Germany
- India
- Mexico
- USA
Users can change the regions to display in the chart by clicking in the regions box in the upper right of the web page.
aPriori also now provides the ability to export the charts to a .csv file. An Export to CSV button now is located in the upper right of the screen. This option is available for both the labor rate trend data and the material rates trend data . The export will consist of the information visible in your chart view.