Focused On Machining (FOM) is a Colorado CNC Machine shop that manufactures and ships precision machined parts in 2-4 weeks. For a long time, we quoted the same way as many other Colorado CNC Machine shops, but over the past year that has changed drastically.
Here is a look at our old process:
Receive RFQ and PDF prints from the customer.
Print entire package.
Organize and disseminate the package to the person in the shop that knew how to make the part I.E. lathe vs. Mill.
Receive prints with notes and times written on them.
Quote material and any tooling noted on print.
Build parts with material costs and run times into ERP System.
Send quote via email to the customer.
Depending on how busy our machine shop was, a package of 10-part numbers with the above process would easily take 5-10 business days. After losing work from long-standing customers due to quote lead times being too long, we knew we had to change something. We had always thought there could and should be a way to digitize this process to save time from all the administrative work. That’s when I came across an advertisement for Paperless Parts in Modern Machine Shop Magazine.
Paperless Parts is a digital quoting platform that automates and streamlines the quoting process. It analyzes 3D CAD geometry and automatically estimates setups, setup times, and run times. This is exactly what we were looking for. We began a trial of the software to see how it would handle some parts that we’d already quoted. After making some initial settings to the software about how we setup and ran parts, I’ll be damned if it didn’t quote that part to within 10% of what we’d quoted it originally. After seeing that, we signed up and our machine shop was on its way to start quoting digitally. From there the process went from 5-10 business days to 1-3 business days via the following procedure.
Here is a look at our new process:
Receive RFQ / CAD model from customer.
Upload CAD file into Paperless Parts.
Email production manager to have him review setups and run times.
Simultaneously work on material quotes.
Input material prices and review run time changes
Send a completed quote with Digital 3D rendering of the part to the customer.
We eliminated one step in this new process, but the time for each step has drastically decreased. We can get a part uploaded, emailed, and material quote sent within 10 minutes. Once we received the run time suggestions and material quote it only takes another 5-10 minutes to finalize the quote and send it off. This new, more efficient process has increased the speed at which FOM can get back to its customers.
Here is an example of what my customer can see.
Our machining customers have benefitted from our new process in the time it takes for them to receive their quote. They can now get back to their customers or managers quicker so they can make the appropriate decision even faster. They are also getting options along with their quotes such as delivery date and price so they can see how that impacts the total cost.
For our customers, we often see that price is less of a factor than time. The digital quote with 3D CAD viewer built-in makes communication with the customer during the quote process very easy. There is a feature within the software that allows us to identify, highlight and comment on a feature of the part in question. I can send my customers a link where they will view the identical feature, highlight, and see my comments about it. They can respond right in the comments section with information allowing us to finalize and send the quote not just faster, but more accurately. An example of a common question in this process is around an ID radius. Creating sharp ID corners can cause our shop to have to slow down the machine, which increases the price of the part. In the image below you can see an example of an ID radius that I’ve highlighted and sent to a customer for clarification.
Want to see our interactive quote in action?
Justin Quinn, President