--- title: "An RFQ that takes days loses the job to whoever answers first" url: https://partimation.com/solutions/quote-turnaround/ description: "Every day an RFQ sits unanswered is a day closer to landing on a faster shop's desk. Upload the model and get a ranked manufacturing route back; send the drawing alone and get its tolerances and GD&T read out while you chase the model, rather than losing the day waiting on it." --- # An RFQ that takes days loses the job to whoever answers first Every day an RFQ sits unanswered is a day closer to landing on a faster shop's desk. Upload the model and get a ranked manufacturing route back; send the drawing alone and get its tolerances and GD&T read out while you chase the model, rather than losing the day waiting on it. ## Where the days actually go - **Nobody touches it for a day** — The RFQ lands and waits behind whatever the one estimator who can quote it is already doing. - **The takeoff starts from a blank sheet** — Every job gets rebuilt from scratch — model or drawing — before anyone can say what it should cost. - **The process gets picked, not compared** — One shop habit machines it, mills it, or cuts it. Nobody checks whether a different route lands cheaper or quicker. - **The buyer already has three other numbers** — By the time the quote goes out, the RFQ has been sitting in two other shops' inboxes just as long. ## A slow quote is a lost quote, not just a late one The buyer who sent the RFQ to five shops isn't waiting for the best number — they're taking whichever one lands first that they can defend. Every day spent rebuilding a takeoff by hand is a day closer to losing a job the shop could have won outright. ## Same file, a route in minutes, not a rebuilt takeoff 1. **Drop the file you already have** — An STL or STEP model, or a DXF/PDF drawing — same first look, no separate tool for each. [PartDFM](https://partimation.com/part-analysis/) 2. **Or start from the drawing alone** — A scanned PDF with no 3D model attached gets read on its own: dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T, each with a confidence score and the source it came from, and any tolerance tighter than the process holds flagged. The route itself waits on the model's geometry — the print gets you the requirements to quote against, and the specific questions to ask, while you chase one. [DocDFM](https://partimation.com/documents/) 3. **Get the route, ranked** — From the model's geometry, Partimation builds the actual manufacturing route — tooling, forming, machining, finishing, handling — and ranks the candidates cheapest, quickest, and fewest-steps, each step naming the rule behind it. [RouteDFM](https://partimation.com/routing/) 4. **Send a price while it's still relevant** — See what that route costs before rebuilding it a second time in a different tool. [CostDFM](https://partimation.com/costing/) ## One upload, a ranked route — already shipped, not on a roadmap Both pieces are live in the product today: drop a model or a drawing and get one first look, then — off the model's geometry — the actual manufacturing route, ranked cheapest, quickest, and fewest-steps, with each step naming the rule that put it there. A drawing on its own stops at the requirements, and stops there deliberately: dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T, confidence-scored against the sheet they were read from, with tight tolerances flagged. That is a same-day answer to the buyer, not a route. - One upload, any file — [PartDFM](https://partimation.com/part-analysis/) - Full manufacturing route builder, ranked — [RouteDFM](https://partimation.com/routing/) ## Walkthroughs for this - [RFQ Tuesday, quote Thursday: one upload to a machined price](https://partimation.com/for/job-shops/quote-turnaround/) — A 6061 manifold, twenty-five off, price wanted Thursday morning. One STEP upload gets the features and the threaded ports read, the removal simulation run, the route ranked and the ledger priced at both quantities — without rebuilding the takeoff by hand or re-uploading the part between screens. - [A number for Thursday's review, while suppliers still take a week](https://partimation.com/for/procurement/quote-turnaround/) — Two approved suppliers, five working days each, and a program cost review on Thursday morning. Upload the multi-body STEP the day engineering releases it and hold a costed BOM roll-up — cheapest feasible route per part, tooling counted once, critical-path lead time — before a single quote comes back. ## Frequently asked questions #### How fast can a quote go out after an RFQ comes in? As fast as the file goes in — upload the model and the ranked route comes back in minutes, not after a takeoff gets rebuilt from scratch. A drawing on its own comes back sooner still, with its dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T read out and confidence-scored, though the route itself waits on the model's geometry. #### Does the RFQ need a 3D model to get a route? A route needs the model's geometry — candidate routes are built off the shape, ranked, and priced from there, so a scanned PDF on its own does not produce one. What the drawing alone does give you is the requirements: dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T pulled straight off the sheet, each with a confidence score and the source it was read from, and any tolerance tighter than the process holds flagged. That is enough to answer the buyer the same day and to ask for the model with a specific question attached. #### What does a ranked manufacturing route actually mean? Partimation builds several candidate manufacturing routes for the same part and orders them cheapest, quickest, and fewest-steps, with each step naming the rule behind it. #### Which shops does a faster quote actually help? Job shops juggling a stack of RFQs and fabricators pricing weldments both lose bids to whoever answers first — a faster route out the door helps either one. #### What happens to the RFQ while the route is being built? Nothing waits on a single estimator's calendar — the upload and the route run without needing someone to clear time for a manual takeoff first. ## See what this looks like on your own parts Send a model or a drawing and book a walkthrough — or start free and run one through yourself. ## Book a demo Tell us about your shop and we'll set up a walkthrough on a real part.