Quoting Digital Inventory Parts

Most shops know how to quote a part they’re making from scratch. But digital inventory — where a customer stores approved CAD files with you for on-demand production — introduces different variables. You’re not quoting design time or first-article risk. You’re quoting file retrieval, verification, machine setup, and per-unit production at low volumes.

What Changes With Digital Inventory

Traditional spare parts quoting assumes a drawing package, a material cert, and maybe a sample part. Digital inventory assumes the customer has already validated the design. Your quote covers:

• File integrity checks (STL/STEP corruption, revision matching)
• Machine readiness (calibration status, material availability)
• Per-unit cycle time at batch sizes of 1-5
• Quality documentation per shipment

The customer pays for speed and certainty, not engineering.

Build a File Verification Step Into Every Quote

Before you hit print or press cycle start, someone needs to confirm the file matches the approved revision. That takes 5-15 minutes depending on your PLM integration. Don’t absorb it. Add a line item: “Digital file verification — $25-50 per unique part number.” If the customer orders the same PN quarterly, you only charge it once per year unless the revision changes.

Quote Setup Separately From Run Time

Digital inventory orders are typically small batches. A 3-part SLS run still needs a full build prep, nest, and post-process. Quote setup as a fixed fee per release, not buried in the per-unit price. Example structure:

• Setup & file prep: $120 per release
• Per unit (nested): $18 each
• Post-process & inspect: $8 each
• Pack & ship: actual cost

This makes reorder economics transparent. The customer sees exactly what drives cost at qty 3 vs qty 20.

Account for Material Minimum Buys

You might need 200mm of bar stock for a 50mm part. With digital inventory, the customer doesn’t own the remnant — you do. Two approaches work:

1. Quote material at full minimum buy, credit remnant value to their next release
2. Keep a “digital inventory material pool” — pre-stock common alloys for your top 10 digital inventory customers, amortize across releases

Option 2 wins on lead time. Option 1 wins on cash flow. Pick per customer.

Version Control Is a Billable Service

Customers will send “updated” files. Sometimes the revision letter changes, sometimes it doesn’t. Your quote should state: “Any file differing from the approved revision triggers re-verification at standard rate.” This prevents scope creep when a tweak becomes a redesign.

Offer a Standing PO Framework

The best digital inventory relationships run on a blanket PO with release schedules. Your quote becomes a rate card: fixed setup, fixed per-unit, defined SLAs (e.g., “ship within 3 business days of release”). Review pricing annually. This shifts the conversation from “how much for 3 parts?” to “here’s our annual capacity reservation.”

Conclusion

Digital inventory quoting rewards shops who systematize the repeatable: file checks, setup, material logic, version control. Price the certainty, not just the geometry. Solvi helps digital manufacturers build quote engines that handle these variables automatically — so every release prices itself.