Quote automation for job-shop manufacturing — your CAD files already hold the answer
A request lands as an email: a PDF drawing, sometimes a STEP file, quantities in free text. Someone reads it, calculates in Excel and re-keys it into the ERP. We iterated a concept through three versions.
Challenge
The problem pattern.
A request for quotation arrives by email: a PDF drawing, often a STEP file, quantities somewhere in the text. A skilled engineer opens the drawing, reads off dimensions, holes and profiles, feeds an Excel model that calculates cutting time and price, then creates articles and the quote by hand in the ERP.
The answer was already in the email — the STEP file the calculation is based on is never read by a machine. Most quote work is spent on quotes that never become orders, while market platforms have already set the expectation of same-day quoting.
Solution
What we build.
An automated pipeline: read the request, extract geometry, calculate, and create quote lines directly in the ERP — with a human approving before anything is sent.
We iterated the concept through three versions. Each version changed the data source; each change lowered risk and price:
Design principles held through every version: determinism before guessing (CAD/CAM before AI interpretation), transparent error handling (missing or low-confidence fields are flagged, never guessed), human-in-the-loop preview before ERP push, and a feedback loop for continuous improvement.
Architecture
How it’s put together.
- Input layer: upload of .eml emails, STEP files, PDF drawings (inbox monitoring as a later step)
- STEP processor: parses 3D geometry, identifies cutting features, counts components, extracts dimensions
- Extraction: multimodal LLM pulls customer, quantities and material from email/PDF
- Calculation: the customer's own rules — or their CAM system's API
- Output: schema-validated quote lines created in the ERP, drawings linked, files filed in the right preparation folders
Value
What it’s worth.
The majority of requests at a typical job shop concern articles of ≤500 units/year — exactly the segment where manual preparation doesn't pay and automation helps most. Roughly 95% of requests already include CAD files.
Questions about quoting
Can we price a job straight from the customer's CAD file?
Where the file carries real geometry, yes. Lengths, cuts, bends and material are read from the file itself, so the price rests on measurements rather than on somebody's reading of a drawing. A flat PDF with no geometry behind it still needs a person. The gain is largest on repeat parts, where the same shapes come back at different quantities.