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Paperless Parts’ New AI-Supported Workflow Promises to Slash Quote Setup Time

March 4, 2024
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Paperless Parts, Boston, MA, has added artificial-intelligence (AI)-supported quote-setup workflow to its quoting and collaboration platform. The update, company officials say, significantly streamlines the repetitive, error-prone tasks associated with request for quote (RFQ) intake and prep work.

Says Jason Ray, company co-founder and CEO: “Some of the most experienced people inside a shop waste hundreds of hours per year performing repetitive administrative tasks just to get to the point where they can determine which quotes to prioritize. That is a process that, with the right tools, can largely be automated.”

For most shops, the process of receiving an RFQ and preparing to quote requires several time-consuming steps: receive the RFQ via email or from a supplier portal, log the RFQ in a project-tracking spreadsheet, download files to the estimator’s hard drive, organize them into line items on a shared drive, print out files for markup and review, and then build out the bill of materials in clunky spreadsheets or ERPs. With the average line item taking 2-5 min. to set up and review, this can lead to hundreds of hours of administrative tasks that may or may not lead to won revenue. 

A beta user of the new quote-setup workflow from Paperless Parts, Justin Quinn, president at Colorado-based shop Focused on Machining, shares, “Getting through 30 to 40 quote packages, each with 5 to 15 files per line item, would have taken hours before; now I can get it done in 30 min. The new workflow also has improved communication within our team by allowing us to get started on quotes faster.” 

Another beta user, Jim Fitch, VP of engineering at Nu-Way Industries, adds, “The new quote-setup workflow makes getting quotes—especially large, complex ones—much easier to set up in a much more visible and intuitive way.” 

The new quote-setup workflow tools, available at no additional cost for Paperless Parts customers, include:

       Email forwarding: Users can forward an RFQ from their email inbox to Paperless Parts to instantly start a quote with all quote files attached.

       AI-powered line-item extraction and file assignment: A proprietary, domain-specific AI reviews RFQ emails and associated files for part information, to build line items and auto-assign files to line items.

       RFQ file management: Quotes within Paperless Parts now have a designated area for storing and organizing all files related to a quote.

       Bulk and drag-and-drop line-item creation: Users can copy and paste directly from an email or CSV, or manually manipulate line items, assemblies, and supporting files with desktop-like drag-and-drop functionality, to organize quotes in a way that best suits their shop.

       PDF viewer with part-setup tool: The platform’s PDF viewer makes it easier to pull data from prints and into a quote by offering data-entry fields side by side with prints, putting everything on one screen. It also leverages AI to detect and suggest data fields for critical part information. 

       Malware and virus scanning: Paperless Parts automatically scans files for malware and viruses upon both receipt and download.

Industry-Related Terms: Download, Functionality, Point
View Glossary of Metalforming Terms

 

See also: Paperless Parts

Technologies: Software

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