Book
For job shops with repeat customers
We've made this part before, but nobody can find the old quote
A customer sends an RFQ for a part you know you've run. The old quote, the traveler and the real run times are out there somewhere, and nobody can find them fast enough to use.
Sound familiar?
- You know you quoted this part, or one close to it, but you can't find what you charged.
- The old quote is in someone's sent mail, and that someone is out today.
- Your quote log is a spreadsheet, and it's only as good as the last time someone updated it.
- Finding a part that's close but not the same is even harder, so you start from a blank page.
What it costs you
- You re-quote work you've already figured out, and it takes as long as the first time.
- The new price may not match the old one, and the customer notices.
- Lessons from the last run, like a setup that took longer than planned, don't make it into the new quote.
- The one person who remembers the job becomes the only one who can quote it.
Why it keeps happening
- Quotes, travelers and drawings live in different places, filed different ways.
- Part numbers and revs change, so a search for the new number misses the old job.
- What really happened on the floor doesn't always make it back to the quote.
- Keeping old records tidy is nobody's job, so it happens when someone has time.
Common questions
Why is it so hard to find an old quote?
Because the quote, the job and the drawing tend to sit in different places, under different names. If the part number or rev changed, a search won't connect them.
What if the old job ran badly?
Then that's worth knowing before you quote it again. Notes on what went wrong are part of what gets lost when nobody can find the old job.
Does this change how we price?
No. Pricing stays with you or your estimator.
What exactly do you build?
It depends on how you work today; we figure that out on the call.
Related shop bottlenecks
See all shop bottlenecks, or go back to the home page.
Tell me how you look up old jobs
Hunting through old files is busywork, and that kind of work can now be taken off your plate. Every shop files things its own way, so the fix is built around yours.
I'm Kevin Kirchner, and I'm the one you'll talk to. Tell me about the last repeat part that took too long to quote.
