Customer Story: How Solutions Manufacturing Accelerated Quoting with CalcuQuote

How can EMS companies move beyond manual quoting processes and homegrown tools? In this customer story, Betsy Cunnane shares how Solutions Manufacturing streamlined BOM review, improved pricing visibility, and accelerated quote turnaround times after adopting CalcuQuote.

Betsy Cunnane, Account Manager, Solutions Manufacturing
Betsy Cunnane
Account Manager, Solutions Manufacturing

Betsy explains how Solutions Manufacturing transitioned from a highly manual quoting environment to a more structured and scalable process. The discussion covers BOM management, pricing visibility, workflow improvements, and the impact on quoting efficiency.

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Key Takeaways

The starting point was manual and homegrown

Solutions Manufacturing had a homegrown system with many manual processes and decisions at each step. 

  • Manual oversight made quoting harder to manage 
  • The quoting process could become lengthy 
  • CalcuQuote was selected as the preferred replacement 

 

BOM import became a major improvement

Betsy calls consistent, easy BOM import one of the biggest changes after implementation. 

  • Cleaner input format 
  • Easier review process 
  • More consistency for the quoting team 

API stock and pricing changed supplier workflows

The transcript highlights API-based stock and pricing returns as a major change compared with sending bid sheets to every supplier. 

  • Faster component information retrieval 
  • Less manual supplier outreach for some work 
  • Better sorting and review of information 

Separate materials and labor ownership helped

Solutions Manufacturing has different people quoting materials and labor, and Betsy describes that split as helpful because each area needs different expertise. 

  • Materials teams know suppliers and supplier relationships 
  • Labor quoting requires a different mindset 
  • Specialization supports clearer ownership 

Turnaround improved most for components

Quote turnaround has been faster overall for components, while heavily fabricated work has largely stayed the same. 

  • Component quotes turn around more quickly 
  • Fabricated work still has external and manual factors
  • Feedback came from the quote team and program managers 

The roadmap discussion surfaced practical needs

The session also highlighted future opportunities and feature requests raised during the discussion.

  • Package quote export could be improved
  • BOM Health helps engineering identify potential problem parts
  • BOM version history was highlighted as a valuable enhancement