A seven-step walkthrough showing what a CPQ system looks like when it is built around your products, your materials, and your margins.
An accurate description of how most precision manufacturers quote today — and why it costs them time, margin, and orders.
An enquiry arrives. It goes to an estimator. The estimator emails engineering for material costs. Engineering replies two days later. A spreadsheet gets built and emailed to the customer. The customer replies with changes. The process restarts.
Every estimator works from their own version of the quoting spreadsheet. Pricing logic lives in individuals' heads, not in the system. Complex configurations — material grade, press tonnage, tolerance band, volume break — require expertise to price correctly.
The CEO wants to know where the pipeline stands. The answer requires someone to compile data from multiple estimators, chase email threads, and estimate close probabilities from memory. By the time the picture is assembled, it is already out of date.
The manufacturer who responds fastest has a measurable commercial advantage. While your team is building a spreadsheet, a competitor with a faster process is already in the customer's inbox. Manual quoting makes speed structurally impossible to achieve consistently.
CPQDash replaces the email chains, the spreadsheet versions, and the invisible pipeline —
with a single configured system your estimators, operations team, and CEO see in real time.
Recognise this? Every precision manufacturer has a version of this file. Multiple versions, actually — one per estimator, none of them the same.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QUOTING SPREADSHEET | v7 — JH EDITS | DO NOT USE OLD VERSION | v6 locked | CHECK MAT PRICES | |||||
| 2 | Last updated: | 14/01/26 MC | ⚠ SP still using v5!! | overhead rate??? | ||||||
| 3 | Overhead rate: | 1.34 | was 1.28 — check with finance | |||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Customer | Component | Material | Thickness | Volume/yr | Mat £/kg | Calc Price | Quoted | Status | Notes |
| 6 | Automotive Tier 1 | Bracket A32 | 304SS | 1.5mm | 50,000 | ASK ENG | =C6*E6*F6*$B$3 | NOT SENT | WAITING ENG 3 DAYS | chased twice |
| 7 | EV OEM | Lamination stack | Elec steel | 0.35mm | ??? | 1.87 | #REF! | DRAFT | formula broken | MC to fix |
| 8 | Medical Co | Housing Mk2 | 316L | 0.8mm | 12,000 | 3.42 | £34,800 | SENT 18/01 | awaiting response | customer wants v2 price too |
| 9 | Defence Co | Titanium clip | Ti-6Al-4V | 2.0mm | 5,000 | NOT IN LIST | #VALUE! | BLOCKED | no material price — email sent to supplier | urgent — customer called |
| 10 | Aerospace (old) | Rib section | Al 2024 | — | — | — | £18,200 | LOST | too slow — competitor won | 6 day turnaround killed it |
| 11 | ||||||||||
| 12 | MATERIAL PRICES | last updated Dec — check current | ||||||||
| 13 | 304 Stainless | £2.14/kg | spot was £2.31 this week?? | Press rates | not updated since 2024 | |||||
| 14 | 316L | £3.42/kg | 60T press | £0.0034/stroke | =IF(D14="","",(C14*E14*F14*$B$3)+G13-H12) | |||||
| 15 | Elec steel | £1.87/kg | 160T press | CONFIRM WITH OPS | ||||||
The same Defence contractor quote from the previous screen — entered through CPQDash. No broken formulas. No waiting on a supplier email. No version confusion.
Once submitted, every quote joins the live pipeline. No chasing. No compiling. No version confusion.
| Ref | Customer | Component | Value | Status | Days Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPQ-2026-0042 | Defence Contractor | Ti-6Al-4V progressive clip | £261,900 | Approval | 0 |
| CPQ-2026-0041 | Automotive Tier 1 | Stamped bracket — 1.5mm 304SS | £84,200 | Approval | 1 |
| CPQ-2026-0040 | EV Lamination OEM | Electrical steel lamination stack | £127,500 | Sent | 3 |
| CPQ-2026-0039 | Medical Device Co. | 316L micro-stamped housing | £34,800 | Won | 2 |
| Area | Current State | With CPQDash | RAG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quote Turnaround | 3–7 days. Email and spreadsheet cycle, dependent on availability. | Under 60 minutes. Guided configuration produces a complete, priced quote. | G |
| Pricing Consistency | Estimator-dependent. Rules in heads, not the system. | Logic locked in the configurator. Same rules applied every time. | G |
| CEO Pipeline View | Compiled manually. Always 48–72 hours behind. | Real time. One screen. No chasing, no compiling. | G |
| Knowledge Retention | Pricing logic leaves when estimators leave. | Captured in the system permanently. Stays when people move on. | G |
| New Estimator Ramp | Months of shadowing. High error risk throughout. | Guided by the system from day one. Guardrails prevent underpricing. | A |
| Custom Deployment | Enterprise CPQ: 6–18 months, major investment. | CPQDash is custom designed and configured for your business. | G |
| ERP Integration | Not applicable to current process. | Not required to go live. Available as a phased next step. | A |
A Direct Comparison Between Your Current Quoting Process And A Custom Designed CPQDash Deployment.