WorkflowSuppliers & Contract Manufacturing

Contract Manufacturing RFQ Quote Preparation

Contract manufacturing RFQ preparation where each balloon on the drawing carries its operation, its cost and an assumption, and the estimator, the engineer and the program manager sign the quote.

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Follow balloon 17 from a drawing note to a sent quote ↓

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The problem

One finish note on page two that never reaches the price

An OEM request for quote lands as a stack of drawings, a bill of materials, a volume sheet and a quality requirements file, with a due date two weeks out. The estimator reads it alongside every other open request, and the engineer is asked for cycle times between jobs.

The costly misses are small. A surface finish tighter than the shop's usual turned finish, a material on the bill of materials that disagrees with the drawing, a cleanliness note with no limits. Each one is either priced in silently, priced out by mistake, or found after the order is won.

Built forEstimatorsManufacturing engineersNPI program managersSales leads

The Problem Today

An estimator reads every drawing note by hand, and one missed finish callout changes the cost of every part shipped.

600: requests for quote each year at a large contract manufacturer our estimate

Read by hand today

Drawings
Parts list
Past jobs
Questions

Notes missed in the packetA finish or material callout never reaches the cost
Questions asked too lateUndefined requirements surface after the award

The Solution

Each feature balloonedDimensions, tolerances, notes and symbols numbered on each drawing
Routed from past jobsOperations and cycle times calibrated by what similar jobs actually ran
Questions draftedEach gap in the packet becomes a question, priced both ways meanwhile
People price and signThe estimator prices, the program manager approves, sales sends

Built-in controls

Agents never set a price or a margin
The approver opens the drawing note before signing
No other customer's name leaves the shop

What You Get

The quote goes out with every assumption tied to a drawing note, and the questions asked before the order.

$491K: a year of reading and costing time at six hundred RFQs our estimate

Finish and material gaps foundEach one asked and priced both ways
Cycle times from actualsCalibrated by what past jobs really ran
A package the customer can readPrices by tier, one-time costs and each assumption

One spine RFQ, one morning

A contract manufacturing RFQ for a polyaxial pedicle screw system

A machined-implant shop receives a request for quote from a spine business: 14 drawings, 9 part numbers and three annual volumes, due in 13 business days. The estimator wants a first pass within two days of receipt.

demoThe OEM, the shop, its people, the parts and the prices are sample data.

01Morning
14 drawings, 9 part numbers, and nothing ballooned until the read
Estimator
The drawing rail lists every sheet in the packet with its revision. The shank drawing sits in the middle, clean, with an empty panel beside it: the agents have not read this packet yet. Until they do, no balloon, assumption or price appears, so nothing on the screen can pass for a reviewed quote.
02Morning
Balloon 17 asks for Ra 0.4 µm, and the shop's shanks measure 0.6 to 0.8
Estimator
After the read, all 170 features carry balloons. Balloon 17, the neck and sphere finish, is the one no earlier job needed. The routing planner adds a polishing step, $2.28 on every shank, and the question drafter asks whether Ra 0.8 µm is acceptable. Both options will be priced while the answer is out.
03Morning
The special thread has pitch and diameters but no flank angles
Estimator
On the tulip head, Detail D defines a special internal thread without a gauge definition. The assumption panel shows how it is quoted meanwhile: $12,600 for gauges made to the customer's gauge drawing, and a thread mill at $4,200. Confidence reads 64%, which the screen marks as a call a person must make.
04Morning
Six questions, each tied to its balloons and priced both ways
Estimator
The questions screen holds what the packet left open: the shank finish, a cleanliness note with no limits, the thread gauges, a crown material that differs between drawing and bill of materials, a tulip revision mismatch, and no release size. Each says how it is priced until the customer answers. Nothing is sent from here.
0508:21
Routing confirmed after he opened what past jobs actually ran
Manufacturing engineer
The engineer opens the calibration basis first: the closest past jobs, quoted against actual. The last tulip ran 12% over its quote, so its cycle moves from 10.3 to 11.5 minutes. Only then does the confirm button work. He signs with his own login, and any cycle-time change would carry his typed reason.
0608:25
Both finishes priced: $87.65 polished, $84.36 if Ra 0.8 µm is accepted
Estimator
The cost roll-up builds unit cost from the confirmed routing and the signed machine rates. She applies the margin ladder, 30%, 28% and 26% by volume, and signs the prices for both options. At 65,000 sets a year, option A comes to $6,522,750 and option B to $6,308,380. The agents never set a margin.
0708:31
Two records open before her approval counts
NPI program manager
Her approval page lists what she must open first: the drawing note for balloon 17 and the draft package with every price and question. The package checks run beside them: prices match the cost sheet, six questions attached, no other customer named, and a capacity note on the machines added at higher volumes.
0808:33
Rev A approved for release, with the capital terms in her signature
NPI program manager
She approves Rev A. At 65,000 sets a year the quote needs two more Swiss machines and two more mill-turns, funded inside the rates against a volume commitment, and her signature covers that. Sending stays with the sales lead, who must open the package first. A customer answer would make it Rev B and need her again.

$21.55 for one polished 6.5 mm shank at 65,000 a year

The cost roll-up for one shank, option A, each line rounded to the cent and then summed.

Machining, 7.4 min at $118 an hour	$14.55
Setup, spread over monthly lots	$0.34
Polishing and profilometer checkthe step balloon 17 adds	$2.28
Tumble, anodize, passivate, clean, laser mark	$1.75
Inspection	$0.93
Titanium bar	$0.84
Scrap at 4%	$0.86
Shank cost	$21.55

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Cycle times corrected by what the last jobs actually ran

The routing planner's CAM estimate, scaled by the actual-to-quoted ratio of the closest past job.

Part	CAM estimate	Actual ÷ quoted	Quoted
Shank, 6.5 mm solid	6.8 min	1.086	7.4 min
Shank, 5.5 mm solid	6.3 min	1.086	6.8 min
Shank, 6.5 mm cannulated	7.4 + 1.8 gundrill	1.20 on the gundrill	9.6 min
The tulip head	10.3 min	1.12	11.5 min
Crown	2.3 min	1.05, no close job	2.4 min
Set screw	3.0 min	1.033	3.1 min

demoSample data, from the working solution. The crown has no close past job, so its factor is the shop's standard Swiss factor, and the engineer sees it as the weak basis it is.

Around the quote

Queue, packet and capacity behind the RFQ quote

What the sales lead, the engineer and the program manager open around this request.

RFQ queue with open requests, stage, owner, received and due dates, and five proposed for no-bid with a sampled check — **RFQ queue**21 open requests with stage, owner and due date, and five proposed for no-bid: the sales lead signs them together, and the program manager checks a sample of two.

RFQ packet inventory: drawings with revision in the packet against the bill of materials and the differences found — **The packet**Each drawing's revision against the bill of materials, with the two mismatches found, and the NDA referenced for the legal team, not read.

Past jobs quoted versus actual: cycle time, ratio, scrap and finish used to calibrate the manufacturing quoting — **Past jobs**Quoted against actual cycle time, scrap and finish on the five closest jobs. Customer names show only inside the shop.

Capacity by annual volume: Swiss and mill-turn hours, machines needed, free machines today and machines to add — **Capacity**Machine hours and machines by volume. The tulip head, not the shank, sets the mill-turn need, and new machines take about 20 weeks.

Audit trail of a medical device contract manufacturing quote with signatures, sessions and meanings — **Audit trail**Each read, confirmation, price and approval with role, session, reason and signature meaning, exportable as CSV or an evidence pack.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Who reads the packet

Seven agents read and cost the packet, and none of them prices it

They balloon, route, compare and draft. People confirm, price, approve and send.

Packet reader

Inventories the packet and checks drawing revisions against the bill of materials.

Never accepts terms or reads documents marked for the legal team

Drawing balloon reader

Numbers each dimension, tolerance, note and symbol on each drawing, with its location.

Never guesses a value it cannot read

Routing planner

Proposes operation, machine and cycle-time driver per feature from standard routings and CAM estimates.

Never confirms a routing
Never changes a validated process

Similar job finder

Finds past jobs by geometry, material and process and reads quoted against actual from the ERP.

Never shows another customer's name outside the shop
Never treats a quote as an actual

Question drafter

Drafts a question for each difference or undefined requirement, with how it is priced meanwhile.

Never sends anything to a customer

Cost roll-up

Computes unit cost per line and tier from the confirmed routing and signed rates.

Never sets a price or margin

Package assembler

Builds the quote package and checks totals, assumptions and that no other customer is named.

Never sends a quote or releases an unapproved package

Price, approval and sending stay with named people

The agents prepare the quote. These steps carry a person's signature.

Margins and pricesThe estimator applies the margin ladder and signs prices. Anything under the floor needs the sales lead's signature first.

Routings and cycle timesThe manufacturing engineer confirms them after opening the calibration basis, and any change carries his typed reason.

Approval of the quoteThe program manager opens the balloon 17 note and the draft package before approving, and a send-back clears the estimator's signature.

Anything sent to a customerOnly the sales lead sends, only an approved package, after opening it. Questions travel inside that package.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

What estimators ask about contract manufacturing RFQ preparation

What is contract manufacturing RFQ preparation?

Contract manufacturing RFQ preparation, from the packet to the sent quote: agents read the drawings and documents, balloon each feature, propose routings and cycle times from past jobs, and draft questions. The estimator prices, the engineer confirms the routing, the program manager approves and the sales lead sends.

Do the agents set prices or margins?

No. The cost roll-up computes unit cost from the confirmed routing and signed rates. The estimator applies the margin ladder and signs the prices, and a price below the floor needs the sales lead's signature before the program manager can approve.

Can another customer's name end up in a quote?

No. Past jobs show customer names only inside the shop, and the package assembler checks the quote for any other customer's name before it can be approved. That setting is locked on.

What happens when the customer answers a question?

The estimator records the answer after opening the reply. The quote moves to a new revision, the affected balloon and price change, and the program manager approves again.

Does it send questions or quotes to the customer?

Never. Only an approved package can be sent, and only the sales lead sends it, after opening it.

Where do the cycle times come from?

From a CAM estimate scaled by the ratio of actual to quoted time on the closest past job. The manufacturing engineer opens that calibration before confirming the routing, and any change he makes carries a typed reason the approver must read.

Suppliers & Contract Manufacturing