While it is true that in some cases it can be more expensive, when you consider all of direct and indirect costs, investment casting reduces cost in many applications. This is especially true for long and repetitive runs, where the initial tooling investment can be allocated over many parts, lowering the cost per casting. It is also important to take into account the quality and consistency of investment casting. There is often a significantly smaller amount of rejected and off-spec parts. In addition, investment castings typically require very little or no machining and finishing, which saves on labor and waste.