by Chris Anjel | Jul 13, 2026 | Materials & Pricing, Quoting & Estimating
Every shop owner knows the moment: material costs climb, labor gets tighter, and the margins that used to feel comfortable start to shrink. You need to raise prices. The question is how to do it without watching your best customers walk to a competitor.The...
by Chris Anjel | Jul 13, 2026 | Quoting & Estimating
Most shops track their quote win rate. Fewer know what to do when it moves. A rising rate feels good — until margins erode. A falling rate triggers panic — until you realize you’re dodging unprofitable work. The number itself isn’t the insight. The insight...
by Chris Anjel | Jul 13, 2026 | Quoting & Estimating
You sent the quote. The customer said they’d review it. Days pass — no reply. Do you email again? Call? Wait longer? Most estimators and shop owners wrestle with this daily. Follow up too soon and you look desperate. Wait too long and the job goes elsewhere.The data...
by Chris Anjel | Jul 13, 2026 | Materials & Pricing, Quoting & Estimating
You open an RFQ, spend 45 minutes analyzing wall thicknesses, draft angles, and tolerances, then send a quote — only to hear nothing back. Or worse, the buyer asks why there is a $150 “engineering review” line item they never expected. Why the Conversation...
by Chris Anjel | Jul 13, 2026 | Materials & Pricing, Quoting & Estimating
Injection molding shops know the drill: a new RFQ lands, and the quoting process splits into two tracks. One estimator tackles the mold tooling — cavities, steel selection, surface finish, expected life. Another calculates the piece-part price — cycle time, material...
by Chris Anjel | Jul 13, 2026 | Materials & Pricing, Quoting & Estimating
Laser cutting quotes live or die on three numbers: how tightly parts nest on a sheet, the usable material yield that nesting produces, and the actual machine run time required to cut the job. Get one of them wrong and you either lose the order or lose margin on the...
