But in this case, the more time it takes, the less money you make.
Fast: What is the most important function in your workshop?
This is a clue: it can be said to be the most vulnerable part of the operation.
Just as the quote is as important to the manufacturer, dedicating your best people to it usually prevents them from making parts on the floor.
Although this may seem a bit exaggerated, please consider this: if you cannot estimate and quote your work efficiently, quickly and consistently, then you will either not win the job, or you will eventually win the job, which proves to be unprofitable. But what makes it fragile? You may need the most experienced mechanic to help with your quotation. If that person happens to catch something or go on vacation, then, to say the least, your ability to get a profitable job will be hindered.
On the other hand, you may need to rely on you to complete this work. When you make a quotation, you are not developing your business (such as looking for other potential customers) or managing operations, because you are occupied in other areas—probably hours or even days.
There is one more element to add: time.
Let's face it: nowadays people don't want to wait for anything, whether it's a package from Amazon or an offer for X quantities of processed components. To enter the game, you need to be fast. In order to stay in the game, you need to be accurate from the perspective of delivery to customers and whether you can make money from manufacturing parts.
The automated quotation process enables users to quickly generate accurate quotations, so that stores of all sizes can compete more effectively for work.
Paperless Parts research shows that generating a quote for a single part can take up to two hours. The process includes obtaining the RFQ, putting it into the system (usually a manual task), engineering it (for example, determining whether it can be done on an available spindle), and assessing the availability of materials (based on increasing considerations) supply Chain interruption is now part of daily work), determine the price of the work, review the work, ensure that production capacity is available to meet the due date, and contact external suppliers (for example, tools and materials) to ensure they respond to the needs of the work.
Normally, it can take more than two hours to complete all these tasks, and if Bob or Sally (your preferred person in the workshop) is not there, then your store may not get a quote at all. But what is the solution to this problem?
Just as physical automation can increase store throughput, digital automation can also be used for estimating and quoting activities. According to Paperless Parts, its cloud-based security platform can speed up the quotation process: 15 minutes to complete work that would otherwise take two hours.
Essentially, this is done by centralizing the quotation process into a platform where all quotation data is stored and searched. Manufacturers can view PDF and 3D CAD files from Paperless Parts to understand all the content of the parts or assemblies they reference, from settings to processing requirements.
"When we don't have time, the quotation itself becomes a full-time job."-Cody Stephenson, co-founder of Double Tap Engineering
This is not something that takes months to implement. The Paperless Parts team is committed to helping customers realize instant value from the platform, which happens as soon as they gain access. When customers are able to follow a targeted onboarding plan, most deployments will be completed within a few weeks, sometimes in just one week.
The time spent there to implement paperless parts has not greatly improved, and it is well worth it, because it has been determined that when a potential customer is provided with a fast and accurate quotation, the customer is more likely to place an order with you.
For most shopkeepers, the more orders won — and the profit remains the same — the better for everyone. Although it sounds great, here are some practical examples of how paperless parts can save real stores a lot of time and help them make money, even when their Bob or Sally is not in the office.
Let's take a look at some real use cases:
Black Mountain Manufacturing is a contract factory in Greeley, Colorado that provides milling, turning, waterjet cutting, MIG and TIG welding, laser cutting, sheet metal forming, and pipe manufacturing on its floors. This is an ISO 9001 certified store. This of course means that it consistently produces products that meet high customer and regulatory requirements.
It not only consistently meets customer requirements, but also frequently. This is because it implements a cloud-based quotation system.
Paperless Parts' cloud-based quotation system enables Black Mountain Manufacturing to easily analyze the geometry of parts during quotation, thereby reducing process time.
Co-founder and production manager Jonathon Friedl is responsible for the quotation. He developed a very detailed spreadsheet method, but one problem is that they did not analyze the geometry of the part. This means that quoting is an arduous task that takes several days, and the ERP system is not as helpful as they hoped. They hired a software developer who created an ERP-like system that included geometric analysis, but this attempt did not go as expected.
Friedl considered creating their own system for the store, but they deployed paperless parts in Black Mountain. This decision was made to take advantage of Paperless Parts' cloud-based quotation system, which enables Black Mountain Manufacturing to easily analyze the geometry of parts during quotation, thereby reducing process time. It took two weeks to get up and running.
Spreadsheets have given way to systems that use geometry engines to drive pricing formulas. The Paperless Parts software analyzes the CAD geometry so that setup, setup time, and production run time can all be part of the calculation. Since PDF quotations have given way to digital quotations, Friedl stated that their response to RFQ has been three times faster than before. "The faster you provide an offer, the more likely you are to win the job," he said, which is good news for Black Mountain Manufacturing.
More importantly, Friedel is no longer the person in charge of all quotations. It is estimated that 90% is handled by managers using paperless parts systems.
Successful deployment in one week
Jacksonvill Precision Manufacturing uses paperless parts to produce quotes six times faster.
Although its official name is Jacksonville Precision Manufacturing, they are more commonly referred to as Jax Precision in a time-driven world. This Florida store handles materials ranging from aluminum to tool steel, and from copper to titanium. Its number of runs has increased from a single part to 1,000. Founder Juan March founded JAX in 2018 and has been developing customer quotes by himself. On average, it takes three to four days.
After implementing paperless parts, the quotation process was six times faster. This means that the quotes for the past two days are now one hour. It is worth noting that March and his team mastered the software in only a week.
Now, the store’s monthly workload has increased by 2.5 times and its revenue has increased by more than 300%.
When people want quick parts, they pay
Focus on machining-perform precision CNC milling (3 and 4 axis, vertical and horizontal) and CNC turning for prototyping and mass production-serving the aerospace, medical, energy and defense industries. The store deployed paperless parts in 2019.
Justing Quinn of Focused On Machining said that because of the speed and accuracy of the quotation system, Paperless Parts enabled his store to provide expedited delivery charges.
The company’s president, Justin Quinn, stated that one thing not included in their products is expedited delivery charges. Paperless Parts offers the option of including expedited fees in digital quotes so that stores can be paid for the speed of their work. They found that parts buyers expect faster turnaround times and are willing to pay for speed. In the first year after implementing paperless parts, Focused on Machining achieved 3.5% revenue growth based on accelerated premiums.
The art of five-minute quotes
The Sweetwater Machinery Workshop in Sweetwater, Tennessee, performs various CNC milling and turning, as well as surface grinding, CNC plasma cutting, heat treatment, etc. Store manager and owner Jordan Raper said that in the past it took him 30 minutes to produce paperless parts, but now it only takes 5 minutes, which is 6 times faster.
Raper attributed the success of Sweetwater Machine Shop in Paperless Parts to the degree of customization of his shop on the platform, which enabled his team to achieve maximum quotation efficiency. "With Paperless Parts, you won't get some cookie-cutter general-purpose software," Raper said. "Unlike a typical CAD or CAM system, you can sit down with the Paperless Parts team to fine-tune and sculpt the software to suit your workshop."
Work all day. Quotation overnight.
Smaller shops such as Double Tap Engineering can also benefit from Paperless Parts' quotation system. According to co-founder Cody Stephenson, it shortened the quotation time by two-thirds and devoted his time to actual manufacturing.
Smaller shops such as Double Tap Engineering can also benefit from Paperless Parts' quotation system. According to co-founder Cody Stephenson, it shortened the quotation time by two-thirds and devoted his time to actual manufacturing.
"For a long time, I had to stay up until midnight to quote the work in my garage," Stephenson recalled. He added, “When we don’t have time, the quotation itself becomes a full-time job.” After all, the business is milling, turning, manufacturing and laser cutting. Quoting prevents people from focusing on running a business.
The implementation of paperless parts resulted in shortening the 60-minute quotation to less than 20 minutes to establish the quotation. Standard quotation-facilitated by a system that stores quotation information and other useful information-50 to 100 elements take a few minutes. Mike Stepheson, Cody's father and another co-founder, said that he "has been less helpful in the quotation process because [he] took too much time." Now he is also involved.
This means that if Cody Stephenson is occupied, the quotation process can continue.
Vaupell Molding and Tooling is a diversified prototype design and production company dedicated to providing molding, composite materials, additive manufacturing, molds, machining and other manufacturing fields for the defense, aerospace, and life science industries. Unfortunately, the company's rapid solutions team in New Hampshire-focusing on prototyping and light production-developed a bulky backlog of quotes that it tried to eliminate through automation.
Andy Reeves, business development and department manager, worries that the company must build its own system. "When we first started working on quotation automation solutions," he said, "we thought we might eventually need to develop solutions in-house — costing about $1 million — to achieve the flexibility we need for quotation automation. Much Different production processes."
Fortunately, for Vaupell, this is not necessary. "Because the paperless parts algorithm is based on our actual costs and inputs, it provides the flexibility we need to simplify and automate all work, prototyping processes, and manufacturing method quotations," Reeves said. This satisfies Vaupell's needs for diversified manufacturing capabilities and enables the company to eliminate its backlog of quotations.
This kind of automation is very much needed. "The way we used to develop quotations required multiple applications to query the manufacturability of the model, populate spreadsheets to calculate costs, and enter into our [ERP] system," Reeves said. This means putting the same data into multiple systems, which slows down the whole process.
The quote will now be released within 24 hours. "Time is precious," Reeves said. "With Paperless Parts, we can create and send 20 quotations in the time it took us to complete one quotation in the past."
You read that right: the company's offer is 20 times faster.
Consider the observation of Juan March of Jax Precision: “Today’s young engineers are accustomed to instantly quoting the experience of large companies. Paperless parts allow us to quote quickly and accurately, so we can stay competitive with the large players in the industry. "
If you use Excel spreadsheets and PDFs to generate quotes, and those young engineers are on the receiving end, how would they think about your company? It might be something like before. This is bad for your profitability. With Paperless Parts, you can quickly and efficiently obtain accurate quotations, thereby shaping the image of an advanced modern manufacturer. Using paperless parts, Hyundai's quotation is competitive, profitable and fast.
Request a demo to see how Paperless Parts can help your team quote faster, smarter, and more consistently.