For UK manufacturers that quote before they make, 50 to 500 people
Quote automation for UK manufacturers that make to order
Quote automation means every request is read, checked against your own rate tables and past jobs, and set out as a draft quote before your estimator opens it. We build that step for one quoting team, your estimator approves every quote, and we’re measured on your quote turnaround time.
Or send us one quote request as it arrived, and see the draft it would become.
What the websites say
Almost no make-to-order firm tells a buyer how fast it quotes.
6 of 80
printers, packaging makers and engineering firms in our study say on their website how fast they will quote.
24 hours
is what five of those six promise. The fastest promises four hours.
10 of 80
let a customer upload a drawing with the quote request.
2 of 209
UK supplier websites mention AI in how they take orders or quotes. Both describe plans.
From our October 2026 study of what 209 UK supplier websites tell customers. It can’t show how fast quotes really go out. Read the research note.
The problem
Most of a quote’s delay happens before anyone prices it.
Ask an estimator where the morning went and the answer is rarely the arithmetic. It went on opening PDFs, finding the quantity in the third paragraph, looking up what you charged last time, and writing back for the missing drawing.
Requests arrive by email, web form and phone, and all of them join one queue. The buyer may have sent the same request to two other suppliers. A firm that quotes the same day, and says so, stands out: only 6 of 80 in our study state a turnaround at all.
Comes in
Hi, can you price 250 and 1,000 of the bracket on the attached, 2mm 304 stainless, brushed? Rev C. Need them by the end of the month. Thanks, Tom
Checked
- Bracket, revision C, two quantities: 250 and 1,000
- Quoted at revision B in March; changes from B to C listed
- Laser, fold and brush costed from your rate table
- Drawing says 1.5mm, email says 2mm
Waits for your estimator
Draft quote · 2 quantities · 1 question
Priced on 2mm as asked. Ready to send to Tom: “Your drawing shows 1.5mm. Which should we quote?”
Illustration with invented data.
How it works
How to automate quotes and keep the estimator in charge.
- Every route in goes to one queue: the quotes inbox, the website form, and a short note for requests taken by phone.
- Each request is read, attachments included: quantity, material, size, finish, delivery date, and any mention of an earlier job.
- It is checked against your records: the customer, what you quoted them before, similar jobs, and what your rate tables need to price it.
- Gaps and contradictions become questions, written ready to send to the customer.
- A draft quote is costed from your own rate tables, in your quote layout. Anything that needs judgement, such as a cycle time on a new part, is left blank and marked.
- Your estimator changes what they disagree with and approves. Nothing reaches a customer before that.
What it connects to
It works from what you already use.
- Quotes inbox
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, through access you grant and can withdraw.
- Rate tables
- The spreadsheet or estimating screen your estimator prices from today. We build from your rates and leave them where they are.
- Past quotes and jobs
- So repeat and similar work starts from what you charged, and from what the job really took.
- MIS or ERP
- If it accepts quotes from outside, through an API or an import file, the approved quote goes straight in. If it doesn’t, your estimator copies it across, as now.
What it costs you today
Work out your own number first.
Slow quoting costs you twice: estimator hours, and work that goes to whoever replied first. For the first, put your requests a day, minutes per quote and the cost of an hour into the quote desk calculator.
For example, 15 requests a day at 25 minutes each is 31.3 hours a week, or £43,750 a year at £28 an hour. The second cost we measure with you before the build, from your own sent times and win rate.
Illustration with invented data.
What you get, in order
From a first call to a quote desk measured every month.
-
30 minutes
Call with you
Which team’s quotes, how they arrive, and where they wait.
-
1 hour
Session with your estimators
We watch real requests being priced. The same day you get a one-page verdict: the workflow to fix, the KPI it moves, today’s baseline and a fixed price. Or a written no.
-
A fixed number of weeks
Build
Connected to your inbox and rate tables. Your estimator approves every draft from the first day.
-
Every month
Run and report
We run it and report quote turnaround against the baseline. Stop at any report.
Nothing is subcontracted. If we don’t find anything worth doing, we’ll tell you and leave.
By trade
What it looks like in your trade.
-
Printers
Print estimating
The step before your MIS. 5 of 32 printers in our study state a quote turnaround.
-
Packaging makers
Carton and corrugated quotes
Checked against your board prices and cutters. None of 23 packaging makers states a turnaround.
-
Engineering firms
Subcontract engineering RFQs
Drawings and revisions read part by part. 1 of 25 engineering firms states a turnaround.
For work outside the quote desk, see AI for UK manufacturers.
Questions
Questions people ask about quote automation.
- What is quote automation?
- Software that reads a quote request, checks it against your own rates and records, and leaves a costed draft for your estimator. In what we build, the estimator still approves every quote before it goes out.
- Does it replace our estimators?
- No. It takes the reading, looking up and retyping off them. Pricing calls that need judgement stay with them, and nothing reaches a customer until one of them approves it.
- Do we need new estimating software?
- No. We build from the rate tables, spreadsheet or MIS you price from today. If your MIS accepts quotes from outside, the approved quote goes straight in; if not, it is copied across as now.
- How much faster will our quotes go out?
- We don’t promise a figure before we have measured yours. The one-page verdict gives today’s baseline turnaround, and every monthly report shows your turnaround against it.
- What does it cost?
- The build has a fixed price, written on the one-page verdict and valid for 30 days, then a monthly fee for running it. You can stop at any monthly report.
Contact
Thirty minutes about your quote desk.
Tell us what you make and how quote requests reach you. Or send us one quote request as it arrived and we’ll send back the draft it would become.
The Open Build. We’ll build one UK supplier a quote desk system, free and in public, measured on its own numbers. Everyone who applies gets a one-page read of their own workflow. Applications close at 5pm UK time on Friday 6 November. See the Open Build.