Methods Workshop has released its next-generation Engineered TruCost Version 9, the benchmark for costing and methods engineering in the fashion and sewn products industry.

ETC 9 enables developers, manufacturers, and sourcing professionals to accurately predict product costs, define operational best practices, and benchmark global manufacturing performance.

In company tests, ETC 9.0 performs up to 60% faster than prior versions while maintaining its documented predictive costing accuracy of ±5% vs. actual production cost. The new software is now available for general delivery worldwide.

Built on Microsoft’s .NET Framework and leveraging Microsoft’s SQL Server database software and Visual C# development tools, ETC 9 delivers powerful new capabilities and significantly improved performance through an entirely new, visually stunning user experience and rock-solid computing platform. Engineered TruCost maintains its core methods time measurement (MTM)-based standards that enable product developers and manufacturers to quickly and accurately predict product costs in advance of production, define operational best practices, and benchmark manufacturing performance against global standards.

ETC 9.0 comprises numerous new or improved time and cost-saving benefits, including:

• Simple drag and drop operation for creating  styles and operations
• Clone existing styles/operations to streamline creation of new items
• Feature (sub-assembly) level costing enables quicker response to style changes
• Apply changes to one style, selective styles, or globally “where-used”
• Identify costs, production capacity, machine and thread requirements by factory or department
• Advanced search capabilities save time and eliminate redundancies
• Export style and operation details to Excel for specialized company outputs and evaluation
• Attach video, audio, image, and documents to styles, operations, or other system components

According to Methods Workshop President John Stern, “ETC 9.0 brings measurable new value to our current and future clients. Combining our industry-proven motion time standards with the latest Microsoft technology takes Engineered TruCost to a whole new level of usability, productivity, and price-performance results.”

Other important performance, security, and usability features of ETC 9 include:

• Browser-style back/forward navigation; drop-down navigation to recent pages.
• System setup time reduced to a single day in most cases.
• Convenient concurrent user licensing; multi-language and multi-currency.
• Enhanced user access control; system security at the user or role levels.
• Flexibility to create and add company-specific time/motion values to system elements.
• Re-engineered, automated change log for improved administrative control.
• Library of preconfigured reports; create custom reports using SQL Server Reporting Services.

Since its inception in 1982, Methods Workshop has provided more than 400 apparel, footwear, furniture, home fashion, transportation, industrial textiles and other sewn-products companies with the systems, certification, consulting, training and support they need to increase competitiveness and accelerate speed to market. 

Engineered TruCost™ (ETC) is an industry-specific Predetermined Motion Time System (PMTS) that enables production and sourcing professionals to quickly and accurately predict product costs in advance of production, define operational best practices, plan for production and supply chain execution, and benchmark manufacturing performance against global standards. 

Quick TruCost™ (QTC) is a companion or stand-alone costing solution for early-stage design and development needs. Based on answers to eight to ten simple product description questions, QTC provides an immediate estimate of total manufacturing costs with typical accuracies of ± 2% of actual final costs.