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methods to expedite Quoting

JackatSDS

Plastic
Joined
Oct 25, 2019
Hi all! Wanted to pick your guys brain on quoting. Looking to expedite my quoting process to 5 days down to 1 or 2 days. I know that there are a lot of factors and that each project might very depending on several factors like outside processing, additional fixtures that needs to be made, and tools that need to be purchased. But was wondering if there are any tools, formulas, and software that you guys use to expedite the process.
 
The best tool is experience. There have been a couple threads about quoting software and spreadsheets before. There is probably good info there if you can find them.
 
5 days? Holy cow. I would get like no work ever, if I took 5 days to quote.

If you want to get some fun experience quoting fast, become a Xometry partner. You will have like 5 minutes to decide if a job is a money-maker or not :crazy:.

What is taking so long with your current process? Are you quoting very complex multi-process high-dollar parts maybe? Outside vendors for anodize, heat-treat, powdercoat, etc? High-volume where you need to be very precise with runtimes?

Regards.

Mike
 
Experience.

5 minute review of print and solids.
5 minutes to send an email to my material supplier.
5 minutes to add up some program/run time.

After all that do a quick review to see if you think the market will bare a higher or lower cost and adjust accordingly.

It's not rocket science. You will spend your whole life second guessing until you get a baseline for what a part should cost.
 
@finegrain Its usually me and my father running the shop. He has to wear several hats and would focus more on machining and making sure parts are correct. We do deal with parts that need a bit of outside processing, like anodize, and heat-treat, powder coat. Order can range. The highest volume we get is usually (100-200 piece order) or low volume (10-50. We are a Xometry Partner. I usually check Online Metals to see what the price price of material would be and see if there is a decent over head.
 
Do you have machining experience? If so, then it's not bad.

I write it up as operations for the part. OP1, OP2, OP3, etc. Say you have a quote for 20 pcs. Your shop rate is $100/hr and it takes 3 ops. Say OP1 takes 1 hr to setup and 3 min to run. OP2 takes 1 hr to setup and 5 min to run. OP3 takes 15 min to setup and 1 min to run.

setup cost= $11.25/pc
run cost= $15/pc

Then throw out a cost for consumables(tooling). Say it's aluminum, maybe $.50 per part
mat cost= say $6/pc.

That comes out to $32.75/pc. Obviously there are other variables that can go into it like shipping and handling, secondaries, shit customer you want to add a markup on. But if you don't know how long things should take, you're going to struggle.
 
We are a Xometry Partner. I usually check Online Metals to see what the price price of material would be and see if there is a decent over head.

Ouch on Online Metals pricing :-(. I have accumulated a decent stock of 6061 buying full lengths from Coast Aluminum. Even if I only need a couple feet, I just buy a whole stick. Now that I have a couple 1000 #'s in all sorts of configurations, I can almost always make a Xometry order from stock on hand

Regards.

Mike
 
Ouch on Online Metals pricing :-(.

Its a safe #. No calls, no e-mails, no RFQ's faxed all over the place.

Same with McMaster Carr. It gives you a # to work with TODAY to get
your quote out TODAY.

If you do it enough, you know. A 6 foot stick at online metals is $100.
You are going to need qty 4, 12 footers. So your material cost is probably
going to be about half of online metals small qty price. So a $100 a stick.

For me, the low qty stuff is more about "Perceived Value" than nickle and diming
it down to the penny and the second.
 
^Yep.
And HT and plating are going to be lot charges.
Tack on a percentage if it makes you feel better. I turn quotes within hours.
 
It takes me less than 5 min to get a material quote from 4 major suppliers with competitive pricing and delivery.

Small orders are always $100 minimum for 1 stick.

I have lot charge pricing and price/lb for overage from all my vendors. After 4-5 times requesting quotes and talking to them I have a reliable number to quote my customers from experience.

Order of operations gives me a way to quote each op easily. Add in time for tool changes and feeding out next part.

Order 10% extra material. Round up on each operation. See if total net for the shop is high enough to justify taking on the job. Then determine if my competitors can do it cheaper or if I feel I can increase my price due to market conditions.

My machines have a sweet spot (2,000-10,000 part runs). If the jobs are the right jobs for my machines I will always have a good price.

I have a few customers who want quotes within 72 hours. I also have long term customers that understand it is better to run a sample lot of 1,000-5,000 parts in order to quote higher quantities more accurately.

Example: I had a customer ask for 25k parts yearly with 5x 5000 part deliveries. It was a part that I could save 2,3,4 seconds on the cycle time after I have it dialed in. That ends up being $500,$750,$1000 yearly. Enough to justify doing a time study in order to properly quote the yearly needs. I gave the customer a quote on 5,000 that I knew I could live with if they wanted all 25k at once but also knew I could offer decent savings if they let me re-quote the rest after the initial run.

Sometimes its best to be honest and try to work within your customers schedule. You cant waste time quoting every job down to the second.

Experience is the only thing that will make this an easier process for you. Talk to your vendors and customers and dont be afraid to ask questions. Just make sure you dont ask the "dumb" ones that make them think twice about dealing with you.
 
It might be old school, but I keep a collection of parts, and I also have projected tool life for each tool listed in the programs on jobs that had any decent volume to them. I often can find something similar enough that I can come up with a cycle time and projected tool usage in minutes. Most my stuff is lathe work and the milling is all secondary operations.
 
I would STRONGLY urge you to look beyond just the quoting process and consider the entire thing from "customer inquiry to receiving the payment". You can have a guy that is super good at quoting (i.e. could be all in his head and pretty accurate) but then how does the shop know to make the part? What if they order another one that's a bit different? The process of quote>receive order>process into work order>invoice/packing slip is essentially a manufacturing process with only tools and information. I'm not trying to sell you on ERP because this can in theory all be done on paper, Excel, etc.

If there's any one "key" issue it's to be able to store/recall/process/maintain information in an accurate, quick and accurate manner so that the end product in not only a good quote but that the info can be "passed on" (to order processing, scheduling, production, accounting, etc.) after an order is received. Doesn't matter if it's one person or a whole bunch of departments.

Good luck,
The Dude
 
I take the costs of material, processing, etc and enter them into my EPR software. Then, I estimate set set up times and run times for each operation and enter them in. Then I enter I a markup based on what type of job it is (long running stand alone, or pita, monkey with each piece job) and also what kind of customer it is. (picky assholes who don't pay on time)

Then I take another look at the part and pull a number out of my ass.
 
Hi all! Wanted to pick your guys brain on quoting. Looking to expedite my quoting process to 5 days down to 1 or 2 days. I know that there are a lot of factors and that each project might very depending on several factors like outside processing, additional fixtures that needs to be made, and tools that need to be purchased. But was wondering if there are any tools, formulas, and software that you guys use to expedite the process.

I used to use spreadsheets before MRP and still reverted to them even after. You might want to check out Paperless Parts. It is a software package specific to the quoting process. I wrote about them at my blog a while back and have kept in touch. They are relatively new but are doing very well. https://jobshopblog.com/blog/f/ceo-jason-ray-of-paperless-parts-discusses-their-quoting-software
 
I would STRONGLY urge you to look beyond just the quoting process and consider the entire thing from "customer inquiry to receiving the payment". You can have a guy that is super good at quoting (i.e. could be all in his head and pretty accurate) but then how does the shop know to make the part? What if they order another one that's a bit different? The process of quote>receive order>process into work order>invoice/packing slip is essentially a manufacturing process with only tools and information. I'm not trying to sell you on ERP because this can in theory all be done on paper, Excel, etc.

If there's any one "key" issue it's to be able to store/recall/process/maintain information in an accurate, quick and accurate manner so that the end product in not only a good quote but that the info can be "passed on" (to order processing, scheduling, production, accounting, etc.) after an order is received. Doesn't matter if it's one person or a whole bunch of departments.

Good luck,
The Dude

I agree 100%. With MRP you can save TONS of time from beginning to end. The work you do defining the part for the quoting process gets pulled forward for all of the other functions when it becomes a PO. I think it is a must for all but the smallest shops. I suggest checking out ProShop ERP. Review of ProShop ERP Shop Management Software
 
I find the hardest part about quoting is getting started.

I have to force myself to stop and get started...it goes surprisingly fast for most jobs. Material I can ballpark with Online or McMaster...larger orders I am sure to put those RFQ's out first to vendors as well as secondaries, plating anodize Heat treat etc. I then figure out the process, machine time, setup and if I have not received my quotes back I start making calls to follow up.
I can usually get a pile of them returned within a few hours or less...IF I get started. Singles I have a habit of saying, I'll do it later and later never comes.
 
Typically we approach this with two people. I work directly with the president or production supervisor

For my part I coordinate and communicate with the customer, get material quotes and outside process RFQ's . Material again as one other poster stated I can get several quotes from my regular steel suppliers in less than a few hours. I can and have used the McMaster for a base quote if for small quantities. As for the outside process I have worked with my vendors long enough I can ball park a quote on what I want to within 5%-7% of their cost. It takes a while but is doable. Ask them if these have standard pricing they can give you , so you can calculate yourself. Most do

The other person (pres or foreman) takes the prints and puts the operations down, and time to complete each.

We then meet for about 10 minutes and bring everything together and discuss lead time

99% of our quotes are turned in 48 hours or less, and most of those are under 24.

a few key things are you need to make the time to set and get it done, if you or your dad are the only ones that can quote, then you need to free up your time and make RFQ's a priority, or you need to turn over the reigns to someone else who can help. We solicit input from our experienced operators too for times.
 








 
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