Use this article when your shop folds leaflets, brochures, or signatures and you need Estimator to price the fold as part of the quote. After this you will have a folding machine that prices correctly on quotes for folded products, with the fold step appearing on the price breakdown.
Steps
1. Configure the folding machine
Open Estimate Setup → Finishing Machines → Folding Step, then add or open the folding machine you want to configure. Fill in the fields below.
Identification
Name — recommended format is brand and model, so the machine is easy to recognise on quotes.
Tags — link this folder to the substrates and upstream presses it can run after. Estimator uses tags to pair the folder with compatible work.
Sheets this folder accepts
Sheet size — the press sheet sizes that can be fed in. Select from the drop-down. The options come from your configured substrates, so to add a new sheet size you must first create a substrate with that size — it will then appear here.
Width and height (min/max) — dimensions in millimetres (metric) or inches (imperial). For example, a minimum of 200 mm or 8 in. Only set these if you are not already restricting via Sheet size, to avoid double-constraining the same dimension.
Weight (min/max) — in gsm (metric) or lb (imperial). For example, 80–400 gsm, or 20–110 lb.
Thickness (min/max) — physical sheet thickness range in millimetres or inches. For example, 0.1–0.4 mm, or 0.01–0.04 in.
Speed
Sheets per hour — folding speed.
Speed unit — press sheet (sheets entering the folder) or finish sheet (folded units out).
Cost
Machine rate per hour — all hourly running costs (amortisation, electricity, consumables, etc.).
Labor rate per hour — operator cost. If the operator can do other work while the machine runs, enter a fraction of their full rate (e.g., 50%).
Minimum charge — floor amount. If the calculated fold cost is below this, Estimator applies the minimum instead.
Make-ready and spoilage
Make-ready sheets per section — extra sheets consumed during setup, applied per section on the job.
Running spoilage % — extra sheets consumed as a percentage of the total necessary sheets for the run.
Make-ready labor per section — fixed labor cost added once per section (multiplied by the number of sections on the job).
Included steps
Included steps — operations performed in the same pass on this machine (commonly crease with fold). When a step is included here, Estimator uses the higher make-ready of the two records rather than double-counting. If creasing and folding happen on the same machine, configure crease as an included step here instead of as a separate finishing record (see How finishing, binding, and cutting work).
Open the card view on the machine row to configure additional details:
Run speed variations — override sheets per hour for specific conditions (number of folds, paper type, etc.).
Volume markup — tier the markup by quantity (e.g., 50% on small runs, lower on large runs).
Save the change. The Pending Changes count increments by one in the sidebar.
2. Connect folding to the product category
Open the product category that uses folding (for example, Folded Leaflets). On the part row for the folded part, open Production Steps and add the fold operation so Estimator includes it on every quote that selects this category.
If the product is panel-based (a tri-fold, gate fold, or roll fold), open Page Folds in the reference data and confirm the panel count and fold layout match the product. The flat sheet size Estimator uses for the fold price comes from this layout.
Save the change. Pending Changes increments again.
3. Apply the changes
Open the Pending Changes panel in the sidebar and review the staged edits to the folding machine and the product category. Select Apply Changes to publish them to live setup.
The Pending Changes count returns to zero and the folding machine is now part of the active configuration.
Things to know
If the fold price looks wrong, check the flat sheet size on the price breakdown before the folder rate. The flat size Estimator uses comes from the finished size, the Page Folds layout, and the category rules — not from the folding machine record.
If folding on saddle-stitched and bound products is handled by the binding machine, you don't need to add a folding step on that product category.