by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most quoting headaches don’t start with pricing. They start with ambiguity. A customer sends an RFQ with a STEP file and a vague note: “Make this like the last one, but stronger.” The estimator guesses at material, assumes standard tolerances, skips...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Every digital manufacturing shop has at least one estimator who just knows things. They know which aluminum alloy machines cleanly without built-up edge. They know the exact infill percentage that balances strength and print time for a specific FDM material. They know...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
You send a quote. The customer asks for a material change. You revise. They want a tighter tolerance. You revise again. Three iterations later, the job finally lands — but the estimator spent two hours on a $400 order. That math doesn’t work.Revision cycles are...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Every digital manufacturing shop knows the feeling: an RFQ lands in the inbox, the estimator drops everything to model, nest, and price it — only to discover the customer had no budget, vague specs, or was just fishing for a baseline. Meanwhile, real orders sit...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Speed gets the quote out the door. Accuracy decides whether the job makes money. Most digital manufacturers track how fast they quote, but far fewer measure how close those quotes land to actual production costs. The gap between estimated and real cost is where margin...
