Manufacturing use case
AI-Assisted RFQ and Quote Preparation
RFQ details often arrive through email, PDFs, spreadsheets, and customer portals. Sales and engineering teams must locate prior quotes, confirm specifications, and coordinate pricing before a response can move forward.
Current-State Problem
RFQ details often arrive through email, PDFs, spreadsheets, and customer portals. Sales and engineering teams must locate prior quotes, confirm specifications, and coordinate pricing before a response can move forward.
Typical Manual Workflow
- Receive an RFQ and gather attachments or portal details.
- Read specifications, quantities, due dates, and exceptions manually.
- Search prior quotes, customer history, capacity notes, and pricing inputs.
- Build a draft response, circulate it for review, and send the final quote.
Improved Future-State Workflow
- Capture RFQ details into a structured intake record.
- Use approved knowledge and templates to prepare a traceable draft.
- Route exceptions, missing inputs, and pricing decisions to the right owner.
- Finalize, document, and deliver the approved quote.
Human Decision Points
- Approve pricing, margin, lead time, and commercial terms.
- Resolve unclear specifications and customer exceptions.
- Confirm the final quote is accurate before release.
Required Information and Systems
- Email or customer portal access
- CRM and prior quote history
- ERP, pricing, and capacity information
- Approved quote templates and product documentation
Risks and Guardrails
- Protect customer specifications and pricing data.
- Keep source documents and assumptions visible for review.
- Do not allow automated drafting to approve commercial commitments.
Potential Measurements
- RFQ-to-quote cycle time
- On-time quote completion
- Rework or revision rate
- Quote completeness and review turnaround
Start with evidence, not assumptions. The right scope, measures, and implementation approach depend on your process, systems, data, and governance requirements. This use case is intended to support a practical evaluation—not to promise specific savings.
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