Quote Forge
ERP and quoting intelligence for manufacturers, covering bid pipelines, material sourcing, inventory coverage, and customer order visibility.
What Quote Forge does
Quote Forge connects to your ERP and puts the full quote-to-order picture in one place. Estimators, buyers, and account managers can ask where a bid stands, whether material is covered, and when an order will ship, and get answers grounded in live system data.
Manufacturers whose estimating, purchasing, and customer service teams work from the same ERP but rarely the same view of it.
- Which quotes over $50K have been open for more than 30 days?
- If we win the Henderson bid, do we have the material to cover it?
- When is order 10482 going to ship?
Example questions. Answers come from your own connected data.
One RFQ in, a quote that holds its margin out
From customer request to a priced, dated quote in six steps, then scaled to a year.
Example dataA fictional manufacturer and customer. All names and figures are made up.
An 8-week job, due back in 5 days
Three parts, firm pricing, and a committed ship date.
RFQ-2291, Example Pump Works
| Part | Description | Qty | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| PH-2040 | Pump housing, machined ductile iron | 400 | 8 weeks ARO |
| SA-1180 | Drive shaft assembly, 17-4 stainless | 400 | 8 weeks ARO |
| MK-0310 | Seal and mounting kit | 800 | 8 weeks ARO |
Received Monday at 8:12 AM.
What answering it takes today
- Review 3 BOMs and their drawings
- Check the RFQ for completeness
- Chase the customer for what is missing
- Email suppliers for casting and bar prices
- Check stock in a spreadsheet from last Friday
- Price it in a workbook on standard costs
Never sees: BAR-174 already promised, or a 10-week foundry.
Where 6.5 days go
Hands-on work
Waiting on someone
By hand, 6.5 days
- Review the bill of material, hands-on work4 hrs
- Review the drawings, hands-on work6 hrs
- Check the RFQ for completeness, hands-on work2 hrs
- Go back to the customer for missing parts of the RFQ, waiting on someone1 day
- Wait on supplier replies for casting and bar prices, waiting on someone2 days
- Check stock in the inventory spreadsheet, hands-on work2 hrs
- Build the price in the quoting workbook, hands-on work6 hrs
- Wait on manager review, waiting on someone1 day
4 days spent waiting, on an RFQ due in 5.
Costs from what you actually paid
BOMs and routings from the ERP, priced on recent purchase orders.
Ductile iron housing casting
17-4 stainless round bar, 1.25 in
Sealed ball bearing, 6205-2RS
Passivation, outside processor
Mechanical seal, 1.25 in
Mounting hardware kit
Standard: item master. Last paid: most recent purchase orders.
Unit cost by quoted part
| Part | Qty | Labor per piece | At standard | At last paid | Gap on the order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-2040 | 400 | $85.50 | $124.00 | $128.60 | $1,840 |
| SA-1180 | 400 | $57.00 | $82.28 | $85.54 | $1,305 |
| MK-0310 | 800 | $6.00 | $20.95 | $21.10 | $120 |
Where each number comes from
- BOMs and routings, live from the ERP
- Material priced on the latest purchase orders
- Labor at each work center's shop rate
- Every figure links to its source record
Caught before it was quoted
BAR-174standard $9.80, last paid $11.62 (+18.6%)OSP-PASSpassivation up +32.1%
$3,265 of cost given away if quoted on standards.
A supplier that can make the date
Price, lead time, and on-time history, checked before a date is promised.
Ships = lead time + 3 weeks machining. Customer needs week 8.
The date that would have been missed
- Example Castings Co. now quotes 10 weeks
- Plus 3 weeks of machining
- Customer needs week 8
Ships week 13: 5 weeks late.
Paying a little more to keep the promise
- Acme Foundry Group: 5 weeks, 93% on time
- $1.50 more per casting
- Example Metals Supply is cheaper, but late on 28% of orders
$600 to ship on time. The estimator makes the call.
Only count stock that is not already promised
On hand, netted against booked orders and incoming purchase orders.
Ductile iron housing casting
17-4 stainless round bar, 1.25 in
Sealed ball bearing, 6205-2RS
Mechanical seal, 1.25 in
Mounting hardware kit
Free = on hand, minus booked orders, plus on order.
Stock the spreadsheet counted twice
- Spreadsheet: 900 ft of
BAR-174on hand - RFQ needs 640 ft
- 380 ft already promised to
SO-10482
Quoting the whole shelf leaves that booked order 120 ft short.
Shortfalls known before the award
- CST-2040400 ea$17,840
- BAR-174120 ft$1,394
- HW-310150 ea$330
Priced at the step 03 suppliers. Order the day it is awarded.
Out the door on day one, priced to hold margin
The same RFQ answered two ways, side by side.
The same RFQ, answered two ways
| Outcome | By hand | With Quote Forge |
|---|---|---|
| Sent | Day 5, supplier replies still open | Day 1 |
| Costs used | Standard costs | Last paid and sourced prices |
| Quote total | $130,624 | $135,704 |
| Margin on paper | 24.0% | 24.0% |
| Margin once parts are bought | 21.5% | 24.0% |
| Housings ship | Week 13, 5 weeks late | Week 8, on time |
| Booked order SO-10482 | Short 120 ft | Protected |
The quote as sent
| Part | Qty | Unit cost | Unit price | Extended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-2040 | 400 | $130.10 | $171.18 | $68,472 |
| SA-1180 | 400 | $85.54 | $112.56 | $45,024 |
| MK-0310 | 800 | $21.10 | $27.76 | $22,208 |
| Total | $135,704 |
Answering first wins more than a sharp price
- Answered within 2 days: won 4 of 6
- Took over a week: won 1 of 5
- Pulled from your own quote history
For Example Pump Works, speed beats the last dollar.
Review the evidence, not the workbook
- Every price opens to its components and POs
- Supplier choice and stock netting shown
- Manager approves, instead of rebuilding the math
What it is worth over a year
One quote, scaled to a year. Adjust it to your numbers.
Same RFQ, same scale
Hands-on work
Waiting on someone
By hand, 6.5 days
- Review the bill of material, hands-on work4 hrs
- Review the drawings, hands-on work6 hrs
- Check the RFQ for completeness, hands-on work2 hrs
- Go back to the customer for missing parts of the RFQ, waiting on someone1 day
- Wait on supplier replies for casting and bar prices, waiting on someone2 days
- Check stock in the inventory spreadsheet, hands-on work2 hrs
- Build the price in the quoting workbook, hands-on work6 hrs
- Wait on manager review, waiting on someone1 day
With Quote Forge, 1 day
- Cost build from the ERP and last paid prices, hands-on work0.8 hrs
- Compare supplier price, lead time, and on-time history, hands-on work1.2 hrs
- Confirm the casting price with the new foundry, waiting on someone3.2 hrs
- Net stock against open orders, hands-on work0.8 hrs
- Manager review with the evidence attached, waiting on someone2 hrs
Annual value, modeled
Starts at the example. Set your own numbers.
Estimated value per year
$1.22M
- Margin on additional wins$475k
5 more points of win rate adds $1.98M of revenue at 24% margin
- Margin kept on won work$342k
2.4 points of margin slip recovered on $14.26M of won revenue
- Estimator capacity returned$402k
17.2 hours saved on each of 360 quotes at $65 an hour
About these numbers
- Fictional manufacturer, illustrative figures
- Gains are assumptions, not promised results
- Runs on the ERP you already have, no migration
Key capabilities
Bid pipeline
Open quotes, aging, and win rates by customer, estimator, and product line, so nothing worth chasing goes quiet.
Material sourcing
Supplier options and lead times for the components on every quote, before you commit to a price or a date.
Inventory coverage
On-hand and on-order quantities checked against open quotes and orders, with shortfalls called out early.
Customer order visibility
Status, promised dates, and shipments for every open order, answered in seconds instead of a round of emails.
No ERP overhaul
Quote Forge works on top of the ERP you already run. No migration, no reimplementation, no new system of record.
Works alongside
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Learn more →See Quote Forge on your own data
Tell us which systems you run and where the questions pile up. We will show you what Quote Forge can answer.