---
title: "Partimation — plan the operation for every feature, not a gut call"
url: https://partimation.com/process-planning/
description: "PlanDFM matches each recognized feature on a part against a versioned library of manufacturing strategies, gated by material, tolerance, quantity, and accessibility, and returns an explainable selected/rejected/deprioritized/uncertain verdict per strategy — priced through the same engine as every quote. Start free."
product: "PlanDFM"
domain: plandfm.com
---

# Plan the operation for every feature — not a programmer's gut call.

*Feature-to-operation matching · explainable verdicts · setups & machines · cost-linked*

PlanDFM matches each recognized feature — a hole, a pocket, a thread, a tight bore — against a versioned library of manufacturing strategies, gated by material, tolerance, quantity, and accessibility, and returns a selected/rejected/deprioritized/uncertain verdict per strategy with the specific requirement it passed or failed. The winning strategy's parameters, plus the setups and machine it needs, feed straight into the same cost engine behind every quote in the suite.

- **Feature-level** — holes, pockets, slots, threads, chamfers, bosses planned individually
- **Explainable** — every strategy verdict names the requirement it passed or failed
- **Never a silent guess** — missing data lands as "uncertain," not a fabricated pass
- **Cost-linked** — the winning strategy prices through the same engine as every quote

Free to start · no credit card · your files stay yours.

## The plan and the price shouldn't be two different numbers.

- **The operation choice is tribal knowledge** — Drill straight through or centre-drill first, tap or thread-mill, rough conventionally or clear adaptively — the right call for THIS feature, at THIS tolerance and quantity, usually lives in one programmer's head.
- **Hard features get the easy plan** — A tight-tolerance bore or a feature with poor tool access should change the operation, not just the cycle time — but without a documented rule, it often gets planned like every other hole until it fails on the machine.
- **The quote doesn't know what the plan knows** — The programmer's actual operation choice and the spreadsheet's cycle-time guess are two different numbers, built by two different people, that happen to end up on the same quote.

## An operation plan you can read the reasoning behind.

- **Feature by feature — Every hole, pocket, thread, and bore gets its own operation** — Recognized features are matched individually against a versioned strategy library — drill-from-solid, ream-to-tolerance, form-tap, adaptive-clearing, and more — not one blanket approach applied to the whole part.
- **Gated on what actually matters — Material, tolerance, quantity, and access decide the operation** — A strategy only wins when it clears the part's real requirements — the same requirement Partimation names when a strategy is rejected or flagged uncertain, not a silent pass.
- **Uncertain stays uncertain — Missing data is flagged, never guessed over** — When accessibility, tolerance, or another requirement isn't known for a feature, the verdict says so — "uncertain" — instead of quietly picking a strategy anyway.
- **One number, not two — The winning strategy prices through the same engine as every quote** — Setups and machine assignment ride the same engine that already prices the rest of the suite, so the plan's operation and the quote's price stop being two different guesses.

## Four steps from recognized features to a priced operation plan.

1. **Start from an analyzed part** — Features already recognized on the part — holes, pockets, slots, threads, bosses — feed the matcher directly.
2. **See the strategy verdicts** — Each feature gets selected/rejected/deprioritized/uncertain verdicts against the strategy library, with the requirement named.
3. **Check the setups and machine** — The winning strategy's setups and machine assignment come off the same engine that prices the rest of the suite.
4. **Get the price** — The plan's operations price straight through — one number, traceable back to the strategy that produced it.

## Start free. Upgrade when it's winning you work.

Priced for a one-person job shop and a production programmer alike. Feature matching is unmetered — plan as many parts as you like.

| Tier | Price (EUR / USD / GBP) | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | €0 / $0 / £0 | 10 parts a month; Feature-to-strategy verdicts; Advisory analysis, draft resolution; No credit card |
| Pro | €199 /seat · mo / $199 /seat · mo / £169 /seat · mo | Unlimited parts, full resolution; Setups + machine assignment; Cost-linked plans, exports; 30 simulation runs a month |
| Shop | €699 /mo · 5 seats / $699 /mo · 5 seats / £595 /mo · 5 seats | Everything in Pro; Your shop's strategy & machine data; Quote calibration + API access; 150 pooled simulation runs a month |
| On-prem | €15k yr 1, then €10k renewal / $15k yr 1, then $10k renewal / £12.5k yr 1, then £8.5k renewal | Runs on your hardware; Unlimited simulation, no metering; Signed updates, never phones home; 10 seats · optional device lock |
| Enterprise | from €25k / from $25k / from £21k /yr | Multi-site licensing, custom strategy packs, a model tuned on your own plan history, and an SLA. |

EUR and GBP prices exclude VAT, added at checkout where it applies. Early adopters keep their price as the suite grows.

## In the cloud by default. Behind your firewall when it has to be.

- **Cloud — Nothing to install** — Sign in and plan a part from any browser. We run the compute, ship the updates, and keep your data yours.
- **On-prem & air-gapped — For plans that can't leave the building** — Aerospace and anyone under NDA can run the whole thing on their own hardware. Custom strategy packs are the single largest concentration of a shop's own manufacturing knowledge — licenses and updates are signed files, so an air-gapped install stays air-gapped.

## The process is picked. This is how the plan gets built.

ProcessDFM answers which process family should even be in the running. PlanDFM plans the operations inside that family, feature by feature. RouteDFM plans the handoff when a part needs more than one family to finish. All three sit on top of the same DFM screening and should-cost engine as the rest of the suite.

**The planning cluster — Decide, plan, and sequence the work** — One part, three questions, in order:

- Process selection
- Process planning (this page)
- Routing

Priced by [CostDFM](https://partimation.com/costing/) — see the rest of the suite at [partimation.com/#modules](https://partimation.com/#modules).

## Related pages

- [ProcessDFM](https://partimation.com/process-selection/)
- [RouteDFM](https://partimation.com/routing/)
- [MachDFM](https://partimation.com/machining/)
- [Partimation Core](https://partimation.com/core/)

## Plan the next part's operations, not just its price.

Plan a real part free in your browser, or book a walkthrough set up for your shop's strategies and machines.

## Tell us about your shop.

We reply within one business day.

> PlanDFM is decision support, not a guarantee — every strategy verdict names the requirement behind it, and a feature with missing data is flagged "uncertain," never silently resolved. Validate against your shop's tooling and practice before you commit a setup.