Pilot Implementation
Pilot Implementation — Technical Quotes
A four-week implementation package covering the technical quotation department or cost-estimating unit, from mapping the quotation process to deploying the first tools into the team's daily work.
4 weeks of work. The quotation, tendering, and technical cost-estimating department. Staged payment with a decision point after the first week.
Who it's for
The department profile this variant fits
For the technical quotation department, technical tendering function, or cost-estimating unit within a manufacturing company.
This variant is addressed to plants where quoting a new order begins with analysis of technical documentation supplied by the customer: a 2D drawing, a 3D model, a PDF file describing the design, or a combination of these formats. The common denominator is a configurable or made-to-order product, in which every order requires an individual calculation that goes beyond a standard price list. The industry profile may vary widely, from tool shops and moulding companies, through metal-processing plants and steel structure fabricators, to manufacturers of industrial installations, joinery, made-to-order furniture, or machined components.
The work of the quotation department combines three layers of decision-making: analysis of design feasibility within the plant's technology, selection of materials and components from the plant's database or supplier catalogues, and calculation of material costs, labour, and margin. Each layer is typically handled by a different set of tools: CAD programs, Excel spreadsheets, ERP material databases, reference files with the history of previous quotations. Calculation logic is scattered across documents, emails, and the individual experience of the people in the department. The Technical Quotes variant addresses the consolidation of these layers into tools that learn the specifics of a given plant, regardless of the product profile.
Department Discovery
Typical problem areas
A catalog of typical areas addressed by the diagnosis in the first week of the package.
- 01
Analysis of technical documentation from customers
Extraction of geometric, material, and quantity parameters from 2D, 3D, and PDF documentation supplied by the customer. Recognition of the design type, identification of the dimensions with the greatest impact on cost, and extraction of technical requirements from text descriptions.
- 02
Generating a BOM from design documentation
Mapping of design items to the plant's internal catalogue or supplier catalogues. Selection of specific components from the plant's database, proposal of substitutes in the event of insufficient stock, and calculation of material consumption.
- 03
Cost calculations scattered across Excel
Calculation logic scattered across Excel spreadsheets, emails containing assumptions, and the individual experience of the people in the department. This variant addresses the consolidation of calculation rules into a tool that learns the decisions of the plant's specific quotation engineers.
- 04
Design feasibility analysis (DFM)
Preliminary assessment of production risks and proposals for alternative solutions before the design department becomes involved. The scope of the DFM analysis depends on the plant's technological profile — different problems arise in machining, in injection moulding, and in welded structures.
- 05
Comparing new inquiries with past projects
Recognition of patterns in the plant's quotation history, use of earlier calculations as a reference point, and identification of similar projects. This function is especially useful in plants with a large historical order base whose value has not yet been exploited.
- 06
Converting quotations between formats for customers
An internal offer in the plant's spreadsheet, a customer-facing offer in PDF bearing the company's brand, a tender form in the required format, a language version for the export market. Conversion includes maintaining consistency of the calculation across all formats.
The catalog is a starting point, not a rigid list of package tasks. The Department Discovery phase in the first week of the package verifies which areas are actually relevant in the client's department, and identifies areas specific to the plant's profile. A client with a concrete idea of their own is not blocked by the catalog — the idea enters the scope as one of the priorities.
Course
How the package unfolds
The four weeks of work are divided into four stages, each with a defined function.
Week 1
Department Discovery
On-site work at the company's premises with the quotation department team. Conversations with the department manager and the staff preparing quotations, observation of the process from the moment an inquiry is received to the sending of the offer, and identification of recurring calculation and organisational problems.
Week 2
Workshop with the team
Workshop sessions in which the quotation department team, together with the consultant, identifies specific process problems and designs solutions. The workshop also involves people from the design department and sales wherever quotation work intersects with inquiry qualification or customer service.
Week 3
Solution design and start of build
Development begins on the priority tools, typically an application for analysing technical documentation, a BOM generator, or a cost-estimate configurator. The choice follows from the workshop's findings.
Week 4
Deployment and presentation to the management board
Deployment of the solutions into the company's working environment, training of the quotation department team, and support during the first days of use. The package concludes with a presentation to the management board covering the deployed solutions, a map of the department's problems, and a proposal for further cooperation.
The detailed mechanics of the package — the meeting schedule, workshop session parameters, the structure of the decision point after the first week — are provided in the offer proposal after the consultation. The mechanics are shared across all six variants of Pilot Implementation.
Results
What remains after four weeks
The Pilot Implementation in the Technical Quotes variant concludes with five parallel results that remain with the company.
- 01
Working solutions in daily use
A technical documentation analysis application, a BOM generator drawing on the plant's material database, a cost-estimate configurator built on the department's calculation rules, or an inquiry analyser that compares against the historical database. Each solution comes with user documentation and training.
- 02
A list of ideas submitted by the team
Proposed solutions formulated by the quotation department team itself during the workshop. The list reflects real problems from the quotation and tendering process, not a generic catalogue of AI capabilities.
- 03
Map of the department's everyday problems
A document organising the process problems: time required to prepare a quotation, inconsistency of calculation rules between individuals, lack of consolidated customer knowledge, and the risk of errors in cost estimates.
- 04
Descriptions of further solutions for future implementation
Ready-made descriptions of solutions prepared for further work. Each includes the objective, the target user profile (quotation engineer, designer, technical sales representative), the data required, and a complexity assessment.
- 05
Plan for further cooperation
A proposal for the next step after the Pilot Implementation: scope, timeline, terms of cooperation. No obligation to continue. The decision remains with the company.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about AI implementation in the technical quotes department
Answers to the questions that most often come up before deciding on an implementation.
How does Pilot Implementation differ from conventional quotation tools?
Conventional quotation tools (calculation modules within CAD programs, CAM-type applications with calculation functions, in-house Excel calculators) address individual fragments of the process. Pilot Implementation in the Technical Quotes variant addresses the process from the moment an inquiry is received to the sending of the offer, combining documentation analysis, component selection, calculation, and format conversion into a single workflow. In plants with CAD modules, the implementation integrates as an overarching or complementary layer.
How will the tool integrate with existing ERP systems?
The scope of integration depends on the plant's architecture (SAP, Comarch ERP XL, Comarch Optima, IFS, Microsoft Dynamics). Two models are possible: reading data from the material and historical database (BOMs from previous orders, purchase prices, stock levels) as context, and writing the resulting quotation back into the ERP. The specific scope is established during the Department Discovery phase.
How is customers' technical documentation covered by an NDA protected?
Documentation received from customers is most often covered by an NDA. The architecture addresses this directly: an on-premise deployment is possible, in which customer documentation never leaves the plant's server, as are hybrid models with isolation of sensitive layers. The specific architecture follows from the plant's security policy and the NDA requirements signed with end customers.
To what extent does the package cover DFM analysis?
DFM (Design for Manufacturing) covers the analysis of design feasibility within the plant's technology at the quotation stage, and the identification of typical production problems specific to a given technology. In machining, the analysis covers tool availability and machining directions; in welded structures, weld feasibility; plastic injection moulding, joinery, and sheet-metal bending each have their own sets of risks. The package builds a tool matched to the plant's technology, not a generic DFM analyser.
Will the tool replace an experienced quotation engineer?
No. The tool consolidates the domain knowledge of quotation engineers into an application that learns their decisions and speeds up the quotation of orders with a known profile. The quotation engineer retains full decision-making control, approving, correcting, or rejecting recommendations. Every correction becomes a permanent element of the plant's knowledge base. The result is a shorter quotation time and the consolidation of knowledge that had until then existed only in the heads of experienced staff.
Does implementing artificial intelligence in the quotation department require a consolidated historical database?
No. The implementation starts from the actual state of the plant's documentation, not from an assumption of a perfectly consolidated database. Part of the package covers organising and indexing materials scattered across Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, and emails. In plants with fragmented historical documentation, the first implementations often concern tools that consolidate the quotation database into a single operational resource.
Pierwszy krok
Decisions about the Technical Quotes variant take one conversation
A thirty-minute online consultation is enough to assess whether the package matches your department's profile and which problem areas from the catalog are relevant to your team's daily work.
Direct contact: kontakt@artechconsult.com · +48 609 065 717
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