Customized quotations in Manufacturing. Processes to speed them up.

Blog: Flokzu

Customized quotations in Manufacturing can be a headache for companies in that industry. Manufacturing non-standard products is often difficult, involving leaving the standard operation and production chain. Because of this, estimating prices, delivery dates, and sending special quotes for customized products requires collaboration between several areas. These workflows can take much more time than expected, generating cost overruns and eventually losing the sales opportunity.

In this article, we present a solution to this problem that has proven to be very effective. The fundamental idea is to have a formal, traceable process with due dates in its tasks, to ensure that customized quotes are correctly built and sent in time.

Customized quotations in Manufacturing

The basic solution we propose to better serve the requests for custom quotes is:

Allowing customers to request quotes through a public form. In this form they will already specify all the details of the special quotation. They will also indicate the desired delivery date, as well as all the additional elements needed to build the quotation.
Having a workflow to analyze, build, and send the customized proposal to the client. This could also mean eventually adjusting the proposal according to customer feedback. This workflow will have alerts to ensure that deadlines are met.

Scheme of attention to personalized quotations in Manufacturing through a public form and a process to attend them.

Use your own website form

If you already have a form on your website to receive a quotation request, it can be integrated with the Flokzu process. In the existing form, you just need to send the information of the fields to Flokzu. To do this, Flokzu provides a Public API, which allows you to start a new process instance (in this case a new customized quotation).

Embed the public form in your website

Another possibility is to embed Flokzu’s public form on your own website. When the public form is configured, a standard HTML code is generated, which can be inserted into any web page. In this way, the entire identity and functionalities of your website are preserved, and at the same time, the functionality of the public form is obtained immediately.

The process of issuing a custom quote

Each manufacturing company has a different process for issuing customized quotations. As such, it is vital that you are able to adjust the process to your particular needs.

Flokzu is one of the leading (if not the leading) low-code / no-code BPM Suite in the world. This means that it does not require programming or complex technical configurations to model and automate processes. Therefore, it allows each company to adjust its processes to its needs in a simple and agile way.

Below is an example of a process for issuing customized quotes. The BPMN standard for process modeling makes it easy to read and understand the workflow.

BPMN Model of the Customized Quotation Process in Manufacturing

Special quotation automation benefits.

By automating the process of issuing customized quotations for clients of manufacturing companies, you will get the following benefits:

Fewer errors when understanding the needs, since the customer expresses them with a higher level of detail. It is possible in the public form to define mandatory fields and attachments to obtain all relevant information.
Lower commercial cost, since the customer specifies the need in detail.
Ensure that you reply in time to each request for quotation, either with a proposal or an explanation of why it is unfeasible.
Ensure that you are meeting the deadlines for each stage of the process. Also, generate alerts if they are overdue.
Generate a unique and centralized repository with all the requests for quotation, and proposals.
Generate process performance indicators (KPIs) to objectively measure and improve the process

Conclusions

Receiving the request and issuing a customized quotation in manufacturing companies is a key business activity. And it is also complex to manage and respond in time due to the number of people and areas that it can involve.

Automating this process with Flokzu allows you to receive requests with a public form. From there, you can follow up on the proposal delivery ensuring meeting the deadlines and SLA’s.

Dozens of manufacturing and other companies have automated this process with our technology. And they have adapted it to their own needs, generating sustainable competitive advantages.

We invite you to learn more about these experiences. In a one-hour meeting, we will build together a complete process to manage personalized quotes in your company much more efficiently.