How fast should a job shop answer an RFQ?

As fast as the buyer asks, so start with the RFQ itself. A formal request can name the day quotes are due: the federal government's own request form, Standard Form 18, asks for quotes by close of business on a date the buyer fills in. If the RFQ names a date, that's your deadline. If it doesn't, ask.

Either way, the clock is running. A 1996 Lancaster University study of make-to-order companies puts it plainly: in most cases, a company has to answer a customer's enquiry within a limited time.

The buyers who matter most are your own. When a regular customer sends an RFQ, ask when they need the number back, and write it down next to the day it came in.

Not always, but speed and depth trade off. The Lancaster study explains how: a quicker, rougher estimate is likely to get a higher price, to cover costs that come in over the estimate. An estimate given reasonable time and care can carry a thinner margin, which improves the chance of winning the order.

It also notes that with limited time, and far more bids than wins, a company can rarely work out every detail and price every component of every job. So it has to choose: cost everything in detail, or look closely at the critical parts and use averages for the rest.

For your shop, the question is which kind of quote your customer is asking for. A quote for a price comparison and a quote for a new production part are different jobs, and it's fair to ask which one they need.

Because a lot happens before anyone sets a price. Someone has to open the RFQ, read the print, pull out the material, quantity, tolerances and finish, check what's missing and look up what a similar part cost last time. If only one or two people in your shop know how to price, all of that waits for them.

The Lancaster study splits answering an enquiry into four stages: deciding whether to bid, deciding how much estimating effort the job gets, making the cost estimates, and setting the price and lead time. In small component suppliers, it notes, those stages may all be combined and done by one person.

So the first look at a new RFQ slides to tonight, then to tomorrow. More on that in RFQs pile up when only one or two can quote.

You can do a first pass before any pricing: confirm what's being asked for and flag what's missing. That pass doesn't need your pricing know-how, and it gets your questions to the customer while the RFQ is still fresh, not on the day you finally sit down to quote it.

Check these on every RFQ:

• Part and rev: the part number and revision, and that the print matches the rev on the RFQ.
• Quantity: how many, and any quantity breaks they want priced.
• Material: the grade or spec called out, and whether you'd need to buy it.
• Tolerances: the tight ones, and any callouts you'd want to talk through.
• Finish: coating, plating, heat treat or other outside work.
• Certs: material certs, a first article report or other paperwork they expect with the parts.
• Due date: when they need the parts, and when they need the quote.
• What's missing: anything you'd have to ask about before you could price it.

Send your questions that day, in one message. If they want a first article report, see First article inspection paperwork: a checklist for small shops.

Write it down for a month. For each RFQ, log the day it came in and the day the quote went out. At the end of the month you'll see your real turnaround, which RFQs waited longest and why. That's a number you can act on, and no survey can give it to you.

Keep it simple. One row per RFQ: the customer, the part, the day it came in, the day the quote went out, and a short note on what held it up. Add the RFQs you chose not to quote, with the reason.

There's no benchmark here to hold your month against, on purpose. Your own numbers are the baseline. Once you have them, you can see whether the wait is in the first look, in chasing answers or in the pricing itself.

• Only one or two people can quotePhoto by RDNE Stock project on Pexels
• RFQs and emails fall through the cracksPhoto by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
• Nobody can find the old quotePhoto by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

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