Make a quote draft from a customer RFQ pack. A person sets the price.

Problem

A customer request for quotation comes to the shop as an RFQ pack. The RFQ pack is not one form. The customer sends an email. The customer sends a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The customer sends a drawing. A person then makes a quote from those files.

The person types the same data into a quote form again. These fields are the part number, the revision, each quantity, the material, and the finish. The source is the email, the PDF, or the drawing. The quote form stays empty until a person types the fields.

The person also looks for a similar past job. The search uses memory. The person who made the last quote is sometimes away. The file name is often the customer name, not the part number. The quote goes out late. The quote goes out with the wrong revision.

A wrong revision is a quote for a different part. This procedure makes a quote draft from a complete RFQ pack. The procedure shows similar past jobs from your data. A person sets the price. A person approves the quote. A person sends the quote.

This procedure does not replace your quote procedure. This procedure is a pattern. A shop did not time this pattern. A shop did not test this pattern.

This procedure and the two other pages

This procedure is for the sales quote. The customer sends an RFQ pack to you. You make a quote draft for that customer. A quote is the document that a person sends. A person sets the price on the quote draft. A person also sets the lead time.

Lead time is the time from the order to the delivery. A person sets the lead time. The procedure does not set the lead time. The price field stays empty until a person writes the price.

Another page helps the buyer. On that page, you compare supplier quotes that you received. That page reads the price from quotes that suppliers send to you. That page also reads the lead time from those quotes. That page does not make your sales quote. Your sales quote is the document on this page.

Another page starts after the customer sends an order. On that page, you make a sales order from a customer purchase order. This RFQ procedure stops before that order exists. Do not use this procedure to enter the order. Keep the three pages separate. This site has no purchasing loop.

Fields in a complete RFQ pack

The quote draft repeats only data that the RFQ pack already has. Before n8n sends the RFQ pack, a person checks the fields. The person uses the RFQ pack. The person does not use a guess. A guess is a fact that the customer did not send.

A complete RFQ pack has these fields:

• The part number.
• The revision of the part, and the revision of the drawing.
• The quantity breaks, each on its own line.
• The material, and the specification that names the material.
• The tolerances.
• The finish.
• The due date, or the delivery date that the customer asks for.
• The quality requirements that the RFQ pack states.

A quantity break is a quantity that the customer asks you to price. Each quantity break becomes one quote line. A quote line is one part and one quantity on the quote draft. A quality requirement is a check that the customer names. Copy a quality requirement only when the RFQ pack states it. Do not add a check that the customer did not ask for.

If the RFQ pack has no revision, do not make the quote draft. Ask the customer for the revision. If the RFQ pack has no quantity, do not make the quote draft. Ask the customer for the quantity. A model that writes a revision makes a quote that the customer did not request. A model that writes a quantity makes a quote that the customer did not request.

Other gaps do not use that stop. If the finish is not in the RFQ pack, mark the finish as not in the pack. If the due date is not in the RFQ pack, mark the due date as not in the pack. The person sees the gap. The quote draft leaves the gap empty.

This example is fiction. This example is not a record from a shop. The customer in the example has no name.

The part is part BK-204. The revision is revision C. The quantities are 50, 200, and 500. No cell in the table is a price.

Field	Weak	Strong
Revision	The email says latest drawing.	The RFQ pack shows part BK-204, revision C.
Quantity	The email says a batch.	The RFQ pack shows quantities 50, 200, and 500.
Material	A person writes aluminum from memory.	The PDF shows aluminum 6061-T6.
Finish	The note says the usual finish.	The drawing note says clear anodize.
Price	A person copies the last price.	The price field stays empty until Gate 2.

Read the strong column. Do not use the weak column in a quote. The strong price field stays empty until Gate 2.

How the procedure works

The procedure has four steps. Each step ends with a person. n8n moves the text. Claude writes the quote draft. The word draft is in the heading and in the first line. You write the approved text on that draft.

A gate is a stop. A person agrees at the stop before the next step starts. The gates are Gate 1, Gate 2, and Gate 3. The tools do not pass a gate.

Step 1: Read the fields

Claude reads the email, the PDF, and the drawing text in the RFQ pack. Claude lists each field that it finds. If a field is not in the RFQ pack, Claude marks that field as not in the pack. Claude does not fill that field.

At Gate 1, make sure that each field is the same as the RFQ pack. If the RFQ pack has no revision, stop. Ask the customer for the revision. If the RFQ pack has no quantity, stop. Ask the customer for the quantity. Do not make the quote draft until Gate 1 is done.

Step 2: Show similar past jobs

This step is the useful part of the procedure. Claude searches your data. Your data is the record of jobs that your shop did. The search does not use data from other companies. The search does not use a catalog price. The search does not use a published win rate.

Claude shows the part family, the material, the process, and the quantity band. A quantity band is the range around the quantities in the RFQ pack. Claude does not choose the job. A person agrees which similar past jobs the quote draft names. Do not copy an old price into the new quote draft.

In the fiction example, your data has a bracket job at revision B and quantity 40. That row has no price. The new price field stays empty.

Step 3: Make the quote draft

Claude writes the quote lines from the fields that the person checked at Gate 1. A quote line is one part and one quantity. Each quote line shows the part, the revision, and the quantity. The price field on each quote line is empty. The lead time field shows the words "lead time not set". Claude copies the terms from your standard quote form.

Claude does not write new terms. Claude does not write a discount. At Gate 2, the person writes the price on each quote line. At Gate 2, the person writes the lead time on each quote line. The words "lead time not set" stay until the person writes the lead time. In the fiction example, those price fields stay empty.

Step 4: Check the quote draft

Claude reads the quote draft and the RFQ pack together. Claude lists each difference. Claude does not hide a difference. The difference stays on the page for the person.

At Gate 3, make sure that the quote draft is the same as the RFQ pack. At Gate 3, approve the quote. Send the quote only after you approve it. n8n does not mail the quote to the customer. Nothing on this page sends the quote for you.

Similar past jobs in your data

Use your data for the search in step 2. Label the file as your data. Do not add a price list from a vendor. Do not add an average from a trade group. Do not add a number from outside your shop.

Record these fields. A later RFQ pack uses the fields to find the job:

• Your job number, or your quote number.
• The customer name, if a person lets the quote draft show the name.
• The part number, and the revision that you made.
• The material, the process, and the finish.
• The quantity that you made, and the quantity breaks that you quoted.
• The lead time that you shipped after the job.
• A note that you won the job, or a note that you lost the job.
• The storage place of the quote file, and the storage place of the drawing.

You write the win note or the loss note. Do not record a promise as the lead time. A win rate is the share of quotes that become orders. This page does not give a win rate. Do not make a win rate from the notes. The note is not a win rate.

If a row in your data has no revision, do not use that row as a similar past job. A row with no revision points at an unknown drawing. A past price on a good row is your record of that job. Show that price only to the person who sets the new price. Do not copy that price into the new quote draft. The person writes the new price at Gate 2.

What to measure

Count on your log before you start. Count again after people use the pattern. A baseline is the number that you record before you start. This page does not give a baseline. This page does not give a target. This page does not give a win rate.

Record the time from a complete RFQ pack to a quote that a person sends. Start the clock when Gate 1 is done. Stop the clock when the person sends the quote. Read your own clock. Do not copy a time from a vendor page. This page has no time to copy.

Count each quote that the customer returns because a field is not the same as the RFQ pack. Write a note when you win the job. Write a note when you lose the job. If the counts do not change, the pattern does not help. Do not publish a saving that you did not measure.