Case study: from a 48-hour quote queue to an automated first quote in under a minute

This anonymised manufacturer received a high number of enquiries through online advertising, its website and email. The sales and estimating team had to open the CAD file, check geometry, calculate in Excel and create the quote document for every request. There was no formal measurement of this work, but customers commonly waited up to 48 hours for a first response when capacity was tight.

• Before the rollout, first responses commonly took up to 48 hours. The time was not formally measured and depended on estimator capacity.
• The pilot used the manufacturer’s real historic data to adapt calculation rules, costs and the quote layout before the homepage launch.
• Now a customer can upload a CAD file, receive a consistent initial quote in under a minute, and book an engineering meeting after accepting it.
• The same workflow supports sales requests from email and other channels. It frees the team for consultation and filters out requests outside the intended price range early.
• It is not a promise that every part is fully understood on the first run: malformed geometry, threads and undercuts can be missed. These cases need review and improve the next release.

The calculator was introduced through a pilot with the manufacturer’s own historic data. Once the rules and assumptions had been tested, it was integrated into the homepage. The customer flow became: upload a CAD file, receive an initial quote, then book time with engineering if the price and project fit. Sales also used the same workflow for requests arriving by email and other channels.

The result was not an unattended quote machine. It gave customers a quick, consistent first answer and gave the team more time for consulting, feasibility and important business. Partner engineering offices could also see the price effect of design changes earlier, without waiting through repeated quote cycles.