What belongs in a complete request for quote?

What is a complete request?

Three requests arrive on a Friday afternoon. The first has a model and a drawing for every part, the second only drawings, the third a STEP model and a line asking what it will cost. Only the first is a complete request: enough to build a cost without going back to the customer.

Every part needs a STEP model and a PDF drawing. Alongside them sit the material specification and its temper, a requested quantity and how often it repeats, the delivery date, the quality requirements, and customer-specific requirements such as marking, packaging and certificates. Each of those touches a line in the estimate: material, setup, machining, inspection or subcontracting.

Whatever is left out does not go away. It turns into a question for the customer, which costs time, or an assumption by the cost engineer, which lands in the price without a note.

Which file carries which requirement?

The STEP model carries the shape: the exact 3D geometry of faces, holes and pockets. Behind the name STEP sits ISO 10303, a standard with several application protocols. The .step extension therefore tells you little: the content depends on the protocol chosen and on what the CAD system wrote out at export.

AP242, one of those protocols, can carry PMI alongside the geometry: dimensional tolerances, geometric tolerances and datums in the model itself. NIST's STEP File Analyzer and Viewer reports which PMI a file contains. A STEP file arriving at a shop often holds the geometry and little else; tolerances, roughness and material then sit on the PDF drawing beside it.

That is why the requirements live on the drawing: dimensions with tolerances, form and position, roughness, material, finishing and notes. The title block gives the part number, revision, material and general tolerance. For how far that general tolerance reaches, read what a general tolerance does and does not say.

What to ask for: the checklist for inside sales

Inside sales handles the request first. Run through this list before it goes to the cost engineer: only then is it a complete request. Every no becomes a question for the customer, collected in one email rather than five separate ones.

• A STEP model and a PDF drawing for every part.
• The model and drawing pairing holds: the same part number and the same revision, as stated in the title block.
• A material specification with temper, for example EN AW-6082 T6, not just ‘aluminium’, and whether the customer supplies the material free issue.
• A requested quantity per part, any quantity breaks, and whether it is a one-off or repeat work.
• The delivery week wanted, and whether part deliveries are acceptable.
• Finishing with its specification: the treatment, the colour or coating thickness, and what must be masked.
• Quality requirements: first article inspection, an inspection report, sampling or full inspection.
• Paperwork with the delivery, such as a material certificate, and which EN 10204 type.
• Customer requirements: marking, packaging and the standards the drawing refers to.

What to send: the checklist for the customer

This list is for the buyer or engineer sending the request, and it can be forwarded as it stands. The more complete the package, the sooner the quote comes back and the fewer assumptions it carries.

• The STEP model of every part, named the same as its drawing.
• The PDF drawing of every part, at the revision you want to order.
• The material as it appears on the drawing, with its temper, any alternatives you accept and whether you will supply it yourself.
• The quantity per part and, if you already know it, how often it will come back.
• The delivery date you need.
• Finishing with its specification, and whether the machine shop may subcontract it.
• The documents you want with the delivery: inspection report, first article inspection, material certificate and its type.
• Marking and packaging requirements, and the standards your drawing refers to.

What applies when the model and drawing disagree?

Where they differ, the drawing leads on requirements: tolerances, roughness, material and notes. The model remains the source for the exact 3D shape. If the drawing calls for a Ø8 H7 hole that measures Ø8.2 in the model, price it to the drawing and ask which size is meant.

ISO 16792 recognises two ways of working: a 3D model on its own, or a 3D model with a 2D drawing. Under model-based definition, then, the drawing remains a valid carrier of requirements. They are only in the model if the designer put them there. When a request arrives without a drawing, ask outright whether the model carries the requirements.

Record which revision and which file you worked from, and why. A conflict settled by an assumption belongs in the quote as a stated condition, so the customer can confirm it.

How do you avoid a silent revision change?

A new drawing revision can bring a tighter tolerance or an extra note while the STEP model stays exactly as it was. The reverse happens too. Open only the file you are used to and you miss the difference.

A quote therefore names the exact revision it was based on. A new revision coming in is a new question for the estimate, even when the shape looks much the same.

Repeat work follows the same rule. A true repeat order, with the same part, the same revision and the same route, can reuse the program and the setup know-how already built up. With a new revision, check that the program and setups still hold before you reuse them.

Which details slip through most easily?

The shape arrives as soon as there is a model. The details around it slip through most easily, because they sit outside the model and only surface late in the estimate. Three of them deserve a second look on every request.

Finishing. Anodising, hardening or coating needs a specification, a supplier quote and a lead time that fits the delivery date, all at the estimating stage. That supplier quote partly sets how soon your own quote can go out. If the price is still missing, leave the line open; a finishing step without a price explains why.

Quality requirements. A first article inspection shows that a new or changed production process turns out parts to specification; in European aerospace, EN 9102 sets the requirements. That check, or an inspection report, takes inspection and reporting time, and deserves its own item in the price. If the requirement is not in the request, that item is missing from the quote as well.

Paperwork. A material certificate is a requirement in the request and a line in the price: the material supplier has to be able to provide it, and someone has to add it to the shipment. So ask which EN 10204 type the customer wants.

The types differ in the testing behind them and in who signs. A 2.2 test report gives results of non-specific inspection and is confirmed by the manufacturer. A 3.1 inspection certificate gives results of specific inspection, confirmed by the manufacturer's inspector, who is independent of production. A 3.2 certificate is also signed by an inspector acting for the purchaser, or one named by regulation.

An instant price on an uploaded STEP model prices the shape alone, and these three items are not in the shape. When they surface after the quote has gone out, the shop pays for the anodising, the inspection time and the certificate out of its margin, or goes back to the customer to raise the price. And a buyer who compares shops on that kind of price picks the shop that leaves out the most.