How to answer a request for quotation (RFQ) in a small manufacturing business

A small manufacturer should answer a request for quotation (RFQ) in two passes. The first, on the day it arrives, checks that the enquiry is complete and goes back to the buyer once for everything it left out. The second, when the answers are in, is the costing of material, operations, subcontract work and lead time, with the estimator making three decisions and checking the rest. The delay is seldom in the costing. The enquiry sits unread until the estimator has an afternoon, and only then does anyone notice the drawing has no material on it.

Who answers an RFQ in a small manufacturer?

A buyer emails a drawing and a quantity, often to several suppliers at once. From there the estimator in a small manufacturer, who may also be the owner or the works manager, reads it, costs it, asks the production planner for a date, types the quote and remembers to chase it.

How to answer an RFQ, step by step

1. Log it and acknowledge it. Every request gets a number, a date received and a reply saying when the buyer will hear.

2. Check it is complete. Look for the drawing number and revision, the material and its specification, the quantity and whether the buyer wants price breaks, and the finish or treatment. Note any tolerances that need special inspection and the certificates wanted with the delivery, such as material certificates or a certificate of conformity. Find the required date, and whether it is a one-off or a repeating part.

3. Ask once for what is missing. Every question in one email.

4. Decide whether you can and want to make it. Can it be made as drawn on your machines, and is it your kind of work?

5. Cost it. Price the material at today's price, not the last job's. Take the operations and the time on each from a similar part's routing where there is one. Subcontract finishing means a quotation request of your own to the plater or heat treater. Add tooling and inspection.

6. Get a lead time. From the planner, against the current load, including the subcontractor's turnaround.

7. Write the quote. State the drawing revision you priced, the quantities and prices, the lead time from receipt of order, how long the quote is valid, whether carriage and tooling are in the price, and what is excluded. A quote that names its revision settles most arguments at despatch before they begin.

8. Send it and follow it up on a date you set when you send it. Then record whether it was won or lost and, if the buyer will say, why.

If you hold ISO 9001, keep this as evidence. NQA's guide to ISO 9001:2015 says you determine and review your ability to meet the requirements before you commit to anything, and describes a quoting process as suitable evidence of that review. ISO published a new edition, ISO 9001:2026, on 16 September 2026: ask your certification body what changes for you.

What can you change tomorrow?

• A completeness checklist, the list in step 2, used on the day of arrival by whoever opens the email.

• A log. A spreadsheet is enough: received, questions sent, answered, quoted, followed up, won or lost.

• Past quotes you can find. Filed by customer and part number, so a similar part can be looked up.

• A template with the revision, validity and exclusions built in.

• Dated material prices. A price list with the date each figure was last confirmed.

Where quoting fits beside order entry, invoices and certificates is on our manufacturing page.

Which steps an AI worker can take on

The first pass and the gathering in the second are work an AI worker can take on. Given a written job, your records to work from and a named person to report to, here the estimator, it is AI staff. It can log each request as it arrives, acknowledge it in your wording, check it against your checklist and send the one message asking for what is missing, with a reminder if the buyer does not answer. For the second pass it can pull the current material price, find the routing and the last quote for the nearest similar part, draft the request to your subcontract finisher, and lay out the quote in your template with every line it could not fill from your own records marked. If you run an MRP system that estimates cost and lead time from a bill of materials and routing, the draft can start from its figures. It can draft the follow-up on the due date and keep the log current. The quote and proposal preparation role describes this in full, and when the order arrives, checking it against the quote belongs to order processing.

What waits for a person, and why

• Whether the part can be made as drawn. Reading a drawing for manufacturability is an engineer's judgement, and an AI worker does not price a job from a drawing.

• The price. Times for a new part, the margin and what this customer's work is worth to you are the estimator's.

• The lead time. A promised date commits the shop floor. The planner gives it.

• Sending. A quote is an offer the business can be held to. A person reads it and sends it.

• The phone call. The conversation with the buyer about an alternative material or a tolerance that could be relaxed often wins the job, and it is yours.

What to have ready

Have the quote template and your terms to hand, with material prices and where they come from, routings for your common parts, a year of past quotes, and the names of your subcontract finishers and what you usually send them. Count last quarter's requests received, quotes sent and the days between. That count is where how to scale a manufacturing business without hiring more staff starts.

For a small manufacturer every request would be logged, completed and laid out as a draft by an AI worker, and your estimator would still judge the drawing, set the price and send the quote. Talk to our agent before the next request for quotation waits for a free afternoon.