GUIDE

How does AI quoting software work?

AI quoting software moves an RFQ through a fixed pipeline: intake creates the job, extraction turns each document into structured fields, geometry measurement handles anything with measurable features, catalogue matching resolves items against the shop's own parts, and a pricing engine applies labour standards and rate cards. A person reviews the result before anything is sent.

Key facts

Category
Understanding AI quoting
Applies to
Wire and tube fabrication
Stages
Intake, extraction, geometry, matching, pricing, review
Last verified
August 28, 2026

How does a job get started?

A job starts the moment a document arrives, usually a forwarded email with attachments. The system creates the job automatically and works out what it has been sent: a drawing package, a BOM, a spreadsheet, or some mix of them.

How does a document become data?

Each document type gets different treatment because each one carries information differently: a title block holds part number and material as labelled fields, a drawing view holds dimensions tied to geometry, a spreadsheet holds a table, and a scanned print holds all of that as pixels rather than structured data.

How does data become a price?

Once features are extracted, they are matched against the shop's own catalogue, codes and equivalents, then priced using the shop's own labour standards and rate cards, never a model's guess at what a job should cost.

What still needs a person?

Whether to bid, what margin an account deserves, and what to do when a specification and a drawing disagree are judgement calls, not extraction problems, and they stay with a person. Anything the system could not read with confidence is flagged for the same reason: a quote should never leave with a guessed number standing in for a measured one.

Frequently asked questions

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