Automating quotes and orders in made-to-order manufacturing

The customer asks for 500 pieces but would gladly order 1,000 if they knew the price. Preparing several variants means several separate calculations.

The calculator prices several quantity tiers and material variants at once, e.g. a different board, sheet thickness or type of cardboard. The customer receives one quote with a comparison, and the sales rep sees the margin for each variant.

Quotes are sent and then you wait. No one gets back to the customer after a week, and the reason for a lost order remains unknown.

A few days after the quote is sent, the sales rep receives a reminder, or the customer gets a short message asking about their decision. Lost quotes are tagged with a reason, such as price or lead time, which shows where you are losing orders.

After a quote is accepted, someone retypes the data into the ERP, creates the order, attaches the drawing and sets the routing. Every retyping is a risk of an error in dimensions or quantity.

Accepting the quote creates an order in the ERP with the parameters, bill of materials, operations from the calculation and the attached drawing. The process engineer checks it and releases the order to production.

The lead time in the quote is given off the top of someone's head. When the shop floor is busy, the date slips, and the customer finds out at the last minute.

During calculation, the system checks the workload of the machines and workstations needed for the order and the material delivery time, and suggests a realistic date. The sales rep sees which orders are blocking faster delivery.

Demand for boards, sheet metal, cardboard or granulate is calculated by hand from several orders. Material is ordered too late or with surplus stock that piles up.

The bill of materials for each order is compared with stock and orders in transit. The system prepares a draft supplier order with a date based on the production plan.

Customers call to ask what stage their order is at. The sales rep walks to the shop floor or calls the shift manager.

Operators confirm completed operations on a tablet or by scanning the code on the order. The status updates itself, and the customer is informed when production starts, when the order is ready to ship and of any delay.

Panel lists, cutting lists and product labels are prepared by hand based on the order. A mistake in one dimension only shows up at assembly.

Order data generates cutting lists, labels with the order code and packing instructions in the format needed at each workstation. A change to the order updates the documents automatically.

The customer requires a material certificate, a declaration of conformity or food contact documentation. An employee looks for supplier files and assembles them by hand.

Supplier documents are linked to the material batch, and the batch to the order. At shipping, the system assembles the required certificates and declarations and sends them to the customer together with the delivery note.

A complaint arrives by email with photos. Establishing which order, material batch and shift the product came from takes a lot of time.

The customer submits a complaint through a form. The system links it to the order, material batch and operations, opens a case for the quality team and tracks response deadlines.

For made-to-order work, an advance payment is often taken. Advance invoices, final invoices and settling advances are issued by hand, and mistakes are easy to make.

After the quote is accepted, the system issues an advance invoice, and after shipping a final invoice settling the advance. Both go to KSeF in the FA(3) structure and to the customer, and payments are linked to the order.

Prices of boards, steel or granulate change every month, but the calculator uses a price list from last quarter. Quotes go out with a lower margin than it seems.

Purchase invoices downloaded from KSeF update material prices in the calculator. When a material price rises above a set threshold, sales reps are notified and open quotes with that material are flagged.

After delivery, no one checks whether the order earned as much as the quote assumed. The same pricing errors repeat in later orders.

After an order is closed, the system compares material usage and operation times with the calculation. Every month, the process engineer receives a list of products and operations with the biggest differences, to improve the pricing rules.