The verdict in three sentences
An AI quote generation tool reads incoming drawings and specifications, finds similar parts in your history and proposes a price that the sales engineer approves in minutes. For a European precision engineering SMB, the project costs EUR 20,000 to 50,000 excl. VAT and takes 3 to 4 months. Response time drops from 2 days to 4 hours and conversion rises by about 30%, because buyers often pick the first credible quote.
Why quoting is your bottleneck
An SMB receiving 150 requests for quotation a month and spending the equivalent of 2 calendar days on each loses deals through slow response. Quoting relies on 2 or 3 experienced people who manually recompute cycle times, material costs and subcontracted operations already estimated dozens of times.
| Quoting step | Manual method | With AI | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading the drawing and specification | 30 to 45 min | 2 min (automatic extraction) | 90% |
| Searching for similar parts | 30 min | Instant (similarity search) | 100% |
| Material and blank calculation | 20 min | Automatic from grade and dimensions | 95% |
| Routing and cycle times | 45 min | Proposed from history, to be validated | 70% |
| Subcontracting (heat treatment, coating) | 20 min | Built-in supplier price grid | 80% |
| Formatting and sending the quote | 15 min | PDF generated in the ERP | 90% |
| Actual working time | 2 h 40 to 3 h | 25 to 35 min | about 80% |
The 2-day calendar delay comes mostly from queueing. Cut working time by 5 and the queue disappears, so the quote goes out within half a day.
What an AI quoting tool costs in 2026
| Level | Features | Price excl. VAT | Monthly cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant | Data extraction from PDF drawings, similar part search | EUR 20,000 | EUR 300 | 3 months |
| Quoting | Assistant + material calculation, proposed routing, quote generation | EUR 32,000 | EUR 450 | 3 to 4 months |
| Integrated | Quoting + STEP file reading, ERP connection, learning from actual variances | EUR 45,000 to 50,000 | EUR 600 | 4 months |
| Off-the-shelf quoting software | Per-user subscription, configuration | EUR 5,000 to 15,000 | EUR 150 to 400 per user | 2 months |
Off-the-shelf quoting software works well on standard part families. Custom AI is justified when your know-how sits in your history: 5 to 15 years of quotes, work orders and actual times recorded in the ERP.
Conditions for success
- Usable history: at least 2,000 quotes or work orders with material, quantities and actual times.
- An involved expert: the senior estimator validates rules for 2 to 3 hours a week during the project.
- Human sign-off kept: the AI proposes, the sales engineer signs. No offer goes out unchecked.
- A learning loop: every gap between estimated and actual time improves later quotes.
- Confidentiality: customer drawings stay hosted in Europe, never reused to train public models.
Mini case study
Thomas, sales director of an 80-employee precision engineering SMB near Grenoble, receives 150 requests for quotation a month. With a 2-day turnaround, he wins 18% of quotes, with an average order of EUR 6,500.
- Monthly revenue from quotes: 150 x 18% x EUR 6,500 = EUR 175,500
- With conversion up 30% (from 18% to 23.4%): 150 x 23.4% x EUR 6,500 = EUR 228,150
- Additional revenue: EUR 52,650 a month, about EUR 10,500 of margin at 20%
- Quoting level cost: EUR 32,000 excl. VAT + EUR 450 a month
- Payback: about 3 months after go-live
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Meanwhile, the two estimators recovered nearly 300 hours a month, reassigned to industrialising new parts.
FAQ
Can the AI read our scanned drawings?
Yes for vector PDFs and most clean scans, with about 90% of dimensions and tolerances extracted correctly. 3D STEP files give the best results, close to 98%.
How accurate is the price?
After 3 months of learning, the average gap between proposed and approved price is around 5 to 8% on part families well represented in the history.
Do we need to change ERP?
No. We read the history and write the quote into your existing ERP (Sage X3, Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, proALPHA) via API or database, with 1 to 2 weeks of integration.
What about a completely new part?
The AI flags low confidence and proposes a partial estimate. The estimator completes it manually, and the part then enriches the history.
Is our pricing data protected?
Yes. Hosting is dedicated, encrypted and located in Europe, and contracts with model providers exclude any reuse of your data.
Let's scope your project. Send us a sample of 20 requests for quotation and your ERP name: we will price an AI quoting tool between EUR 20,000 and 50,000 excl. VAT, delivered in 3 to 4 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
