By Jason Luce, Chief Technology Officer, Paperless Parts
May, 2024: For many shops, quoting is like living with chronic pain. It’s always there, it’s not pleasant and you just have to muscle through it. The discomfort becomes such an ordinary part of everyday life that it’s only when the pain is finally gone that you realize just how much it was holding you back. Instant quoting “marketplaces” were once heralded as the end of quoting pain, but those platforms generally encourage a race to the bottom in pricing and devalue a shop’s unique strengths and attributes.
The traditional quoting process is riddled with risk and laden with timeconsuming, low-value-added tasks and steps that zap valuable resources often a shop’s most tenured people from activities that could be adding value to the bottom line.
The steps in a request for quote (RFQ) process usually look something like this:
- The RFQ gets sent to a person’s email, often either a centralized mailbox (e.g.,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) or someone’s personal contact at the shop. - Quotes are logged in a tracking document, typically a project management tool or simple spreadsheet. The person reviewing those emails downloads files onto a shared drive; renames and organizes the files, matching related files and bundling models and prints together; and normalizes naming conventions to the shop standards.
Estimators then spend considerable time building out a bill of materials and organizing a costing spreadsheet or template Once that’s complete, estimators must carefully review all the documentation, ensuring each part requested has the correct accompanying data. Often, estimators will print out physical copies of prints and highlight any key specifications or tolerances.
Only once these steps are complete does an estimator actually start costing parts. On average, this process takes 3 to 5 minutes per line item (but often much longer), and with quote packages regularly including 10, 20, 50 or 100- plus line items, it can consume hours or days. Paperless Parts recently launched a new version of its software that transforms the quoting workflow. Leveraging our experience with processing millions of quote files and powered by our purpose-built AI engine, the goal of this new workflow is to streamline the quote setup process, automating each of the admin-heavy tasks into a simple click of a butt on so that estimators can stay focused on more valuable aspects of their job.
With this new workflow, whoever receives the RFQ email simply forwards the email into Paperless Parts whether that’s a salesperson on the road seeing the email on a mobile device from the car, an office admin or a team of estimators monitoring a centralized quoting inbox. The email is then automatically ingested, all files are scanned for malware and other malicious files that could pose a threat to security, and Paperless Parts’ AI Assistance tool scrapes the email for information.
Once inside Paperless Parts, key information like part numbers and quantities are auto-generated, and with a simple click of “Bulk Create Line Items,” the BOM is generated, and files are matched and tagged to corresponding part numbers. Thumbnails are auto-generated (without the need for CAD software), allowing users to scan the parts and identify any that might pose particular challenges. Lastly, the part setup tool enables estimators to review prints and critical data like part numbers revisions, materials, ASTM and mill specifications, and more. In minutes, the quote is fully organized, basic information is entered, potential challenges have been called out and the user is ready for costing. Shops are in the business of making money. To do that effectively requires a few key ingredients:
• Turning quotes around quickly and accurately. Quote too high and you lose the job. Worse, quote too low and you’re stuck making parts at a loss. Take too long to quote and another shop will generally win the job, even if you have a better price.
• Knowing which jobs to quote. Most shops will lose 50 to 70 percent of the jobs they quote. Wasting hours or days quoting parts you don’t win drains your bottom line.
• Using your most tenured, expensive resources efficiently. Experienced estimators are becoming increasingly rare. Shops need the right tools to make those people as efficient as possible while supporting the next generation of estimators.
• Strong communication with buyers. Buyers move quickly, and increasingly, individual buyers are responsible for larger and more complicated families of parts vs. specializing in the ins and outs of a small handful. As such, mistakes can happen frequently and files are outdated or incomplete more often.
Shops have a chance to distinguish themselves by being hyperresponsive to buyers’ needs and making their lives easier through fast, clear communication.
To see a demo of Paperless Parts’ automated quote setup workflow in action, visit http://paperlessparts.com/demo
