According to characteristics of small and mediumsized manufacturing enterprises in China, an approach to manhour ration was proposed based on shape features. A new manhour ration system for turning was developed by using Visual Basic 60 and Microsoft EXCEL. Using the system, machining allowance and parameters were determined automatically according to stock and feature dimensions, therefore the operation was simplified, the calculation speed and calculation accuracy were improved. The system provides data support for accounting of the product cost as well as arrangement of the production plan.