How to construct a profitable quote

Are your shop's quotes profitable? Is your quoting activity handled by longtime employees that have knowledge others don't? What can you do to ensure that quoting is accurate and profitable no matter who does it? Modern software can help. Getty Images

Industry studies suggest that seven out of 10 quotes sent by a manufacturer result in no revenue.

That’s pretty shocking, but it’s also easy to believe. How many shops really have the information technology infrastructure in place to get a real-time look at a job to see if it is profitable? Many shops conduct a post-job analysis of how much cost was tied to a job and then compare that to the original quote, but that is all after the fact. A metal fabricator would be in much better shape if the quotes it sent out had a more solid base in reality.

Jason Ray, co-founder/CEO of Paperless Parts, the developer of a software platform designed to improve quoting accuracy and response time for metal manufacturers, believes that fabricators are trying to get their quotes right—and spending a lot of time doing so—but still aren’t able to achieve profitable quotes. He calls this “overengineering” the quote.

In a webinar on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 2 p.m. ET, he’ll discuss how modern technology can help a metal fabricating shop gain the right insights from the data it generates in the quoting process. Leaning on software, fabricators can leverage the geometry of the part to create more intelligent—and profitable—quotes. If you are interested in attending “How Over-engineered Sheet Metal Fabrication Quotes Are Costing You,” visit here.