Quote Management

the part-book is a Quote management software solution for automotive suppliers

We believe quoting is the most important and overlooked business process for automotive suppliers.  We say that quoting is the most important process because it’s the foundation for profitable sales growth, which every business desires.  We say that quoting is the most overlooked process because automotive suppliers need to quote with precision and accuracy, and instead operate within a culture of chaos and  confusion. 

The Part-Book improves the speed and accuracy of the typical automotive supplier quote process by an average of nearly 50%; and it helps prevent companies from winning or losing business for the wrong reasons.

The Part-Book gets everyone on the same page by providing a standard format and central location for all quote related inputs and documents.  The Part-Book allows users to visualize a part while quickly creating a quote from a bill-of-material (BOM) and operations; and then create variations to look at different options or scenarios; while making it easy to see the complete quote and price history.

     What separates quoting with a software solution like the Part-Book -vs- using spreadsheets is that the data is stored in a database, so it can be queried, reported on and analyzed.  Why this is important for automotive suppliers is because in high-volume production even small mistakes can cost a lot of money, plus the lifecycle of a part including the service period is usually 20+ years and a lot can change during that time period, including the people.

The automotive supplier community has several unique challenges to their quoting process:  Automotive Suppliers are usually locked into the price they quote for the life of the Program and Part while it’s in production, and possibly during the service period, so they need to think about long-term economic factors.  Automotive suppliers are often pressured to give productivity reductions or sign long term agreements to reduce the price of the part, so the long-term financial impact of these reductions should be considered as part of the quote and price setting process.  Material economic adjustments and scrap revenue sharing are also important factors to be considered during the quoting process.  Volumes are also a big factor, especially when their are significant capital investments; and it’s tough when your customer always seems to overestimate by about 20% and hold you responsible for being able to make way more than they will likely sell.

The Part-Book was designed specifically for automotive suppliers; and it’s equipped to handle all of the unique challenges that come with operating in the automotive supplier space.

Here are a few things that separate the Part-Book from other quoting software solutions:

• Workflows – streamline and standardize your quoting process to minimize waste and eliminate inconsistent results; all while avoiding unnecessary meetings with a built-in sign-off and approval process.
• Customized input fields – the Part-Book is not a one-size-fits-all solution.  The input fields in the Part-Book are customized, so whether your core business is casting / forging / machining / metal stamping / plastic injection mold, or something else; we have a model designed specifically for your business, or a system flexible enough that if it doesn’t exist one can be created at no additional cost.
• Bill-of-Materials (BOM) Management – the BOM drives the cost and price, and the Part-Book is a BOM driven quote system.  The Part-Book provides the ability to seamlessly manage multiple BOM versions and options, and then compare them side by side to make the most cost effective, capacity optimizing decisions.
• Feasibility, Cost and Timing – price doesn’t matter if it’s not feasible to manufacture the part as designed, or if it can’t be delivered on time.  The Part-Book helps reduce risk by making sure all manufacturing concerns are captured and communicated to the customer as part of the quoting process; and once you receive the PO it helps keep things on schedule by automatically laying out and tracking the tool timing dates and milestones according to the number of weeks quoted.
• eRFQ – our eRFQ (electronic Request for Quote) tool allows an automotive supplier to send an RFQ to their suppliers, then compare the responses side by side, select which supplier quote to use; and they system will roll-up the feasibility, cost and timing of the chosen suppliers quote into their quote.
• Project Tracking Matrix – our proprietary Project Tracking Matrix report keeps track of every quote that’s in process, so everyone can see if things are on schedule, and nothing slips through the cracks.
• Automated Customer Cost Breakdowns – tired of moving data from one spreadsheet to another in order to complete the customer cost breakdown?  We were too, that’s why we automated the process.