Manufacturing
Draft complex quotes from the jobs you have already done.
For engineered-to-order and rebuild work, we use AI to read the customer's scope, find similar past jobs, parts, labour and margins in your ERP, and produce a draft quote for your estimator to check.
The short answer
Can AI write a quote for engineered or configured products?
AI can draft one, and an estimator should approve it. The draft is built from the customer's scope document plus your own history: similar jobs, parts lists, labour hours, prices and margins. The estimator corrects quantities, prices and scope, and those corrections improve the next draft.
Where it breaks
Where this usually goes wrong.
Scope documents take days to read
Customer RFQs and scopes arrive as long PDFs and spreadsheets that an engineer reads line by line.
History is hard to reach
Past quotes, actual job costs and margins sit in the ERP, but pulling them out means manual reports and exports.
Large quotes, many revisions
Quotes can run to thousands of lines and go through several revisions, each one reworked by hand.
Knowledge sits with a few estimators
Pricing logic lives in a few people's heads and spreadsheets, so quoting capacity does not scale.
How it works
How it works on the Microsoft Power Platform.
01
Read the scope
AI extracts the product or machine, required work, parts, options and exclusions from the customer's RFQ or scope of work.
02
Find comparable work
Microsoft Fabric brings past quotes, jobs, parts, labour and costs together, read-only from your ERP, so similar work can be found quickly.
03
Build the draft
Lines are matched to parts and labour, priced from your current rules, and assembled into a draft quote that shows where each line came from.
04
Estimator review
The estimator reviews the draft in a Power Apps screen, corrects quantities, prices or scope, and approves it.
05
Learn from corrections
Corrections and won or lost outcomes are stored, so the next draft starts closer.
06
Send and track
Approved quotes go out through your existing quoting or CRM process and are tracked to outcome.
Where we start
What a first release looks like.
One product line or job type, read-only ERP access, and a draft quote the estimator can check against quotes they have already issued. Accuracy is measured against real past quotes before anyone relies on it.
- Scope extraction for one job type
- Read-only access to past jobs and pricing
- Draft quote with the source of every line
- Side-by-side test against past quotes
From our delivery work
Where we have done this.
Client names are withheld for live engagements unless a case study has been published.
Mining equipment OEM
We are scoping an AI quoting MVP for rebuild and overhaul work, where quotes can run to several thousand lines and drafts are built from scope documents and past SAP jobs for human review.
Custom signage manufacturer
We are working on configurator and CPQ automation so customers can design, price and order without a manual quote.
Questions we get asked
Frequently asked questions.
How accurate is automated quoting?
It depends on how consistent your past data is. That is why we test the first version against quotes you have already issued, line by line, and measure the gap before it is used on live work.
What is CPQ, and do we need it?
CPQ (configure, price, quote) software suits products built from a defined set of options. If most of your work is engineered to order, or rebuild work driven by a scope document, AI-assisted drafting from past jobs is often a better fit. Many manufacturers need a bit of both.
Does the system write to our ERP?
Not to start with. The first version reads from your ERP and keeps the draft quote separate. Write-back, such as creating the job once a quote is won, comes later and only with your approval.
Why use Microsoft Fabric for quoting?
Quoting needs years of jobs, parts and costs in one place that can be searched quickly. Fabric provides that data layer inside your Microsoft environment, without copying your data into another vendor's platform.
Will this replace our estimators?
No. It removes the reading and searching, so estimators spend their time on judgement, pricing strategy and the customer.
Related
Where this usually connects.
CAD and PLM to ERP integration
We connect CAD and PLM systems such as SolidWorks, Inventor, Windchill and Creo to your ERP, so released BOMs, part numbers and drawings reach purchasing and production automatically.
RFQ and supplier quote automation
We automate the request-for-quote process: building RFQ packs from your BOM, sending them to the right suppliers, collecting responses and turning the chosen quote into a purchase order.
Production, inventory and job-cost reporting
We bring ERP, scheduling, CRM and spreadsheet data together in Power BI and Microsoft Fabric, so leaders see true job cost, margin, WIP and stock without waiting for month-end.
Bring us one quote that took too long.
In a 30-minute discovery call we'll look at where the time went and whether your past jobs can carry an AI-drafted quote.