In the packaging industry, reducing operational expenses (OPEX) is crucial - but cutting costs only matters if you secure the work you're bidding for. To efficiently and effectively estimate in order...
In the packaging industry, reducing operational expenses (OPEX) is crucial - but cutting costs only matters if you secure the work you're bidding for.
To efficiently and effectively estimate in order to secure work; you need visibility into production routes while calculating the lowest cost per quote... all in real-time.
A McKinsey Digital survey of 1,000 B2B decision makers, found lack of speed in interactions with suppliers as the number one pain point, with twice as many mentions as price.
This presents a challenge for businesses within the folding carton, tag & label and flexible packaging industry; a hastily raised quote that generates unprofitable business is as problematic as a time-consuming manual quote that doesn’t win any work.
Here, we explore how companies can optimize their quotation process to save time, improve accuracy, and increase profitability.
Contents
- 1. Data Automation: Improve Accuracy and Reduce Manual Effort
- 2. Efficient Customization: Meet Customer Needs with Speed and Precision
- 3. Real-Time Tracking: Close the Deal
- 4. Strategic Analytics: Make Data-Driven Pricing Decisions
- 5. Seamless Integration: Eliminate Silos and Enhance Collaboration
- Conclusion
1. Data Automation: Improve Accuracy and Reduce Manual Effort
Garbage in, garbage out, or GIGO, refers to anything where the quality of input determines the quality of output.
For packaging companies, this is challenging, as data needs to be collected from a variety of sources, and that data only becomes valuable when that data is unified from across the plant floor.
Further, if this process is done manually, it’s prone to human error and quickly becomes out-of-date.
By automating the collection of relevant data, users can access detailed information on product pricing, inventory availability, and market trends.
This automation not only saves time but also minimizes human errors, ensuring precise quotes, competitive quotes that drive profitability.
2. Efficient Customization: Meet Customer Needs with Speed and Precision
Customers expect personalized quotes that align with their unique specifications. However, traditional quoting methods often involve cumbersome manual adjustments, leading to delays and inefficiencies.
By implementing an efficient quoting system, companies can quickly and easily adjust pricing, quantities, and delivery terms—without the need for complex recalculations. This agility allows companies to respond to customer inquiries faster, providing a competitive advantage and increasing the likelihood of securing new business.
3. Real-Time Tracking: Close the Deal
Sales teams often struggle to track the status of quotes, leading to missed follow-ups and lost deals. Without real-time insights, businesses risk letting high-value opportunities slip through the cracks.
Having a system that provides real-time notifications on quote statuses and customer responses allows sales teams to proactively follow up, adjust quotes as needed, and close deals faster.
By keeping teams informed at every stage of the quoting process, businesses can maximize their win rates and enhance customer relationships.
4. Strategic Analytics: Make Data-Driven Pricing Decisions
Without visibility into past performance, businesses can’t refine their pricing strategies or identify areas for improvement. Many companies struggle with inconsistent pricing models due to a lack of actionable insights.
Advanced analytics tools provide detailed reports on estimating performance, helping businesses identify trends, optimize pricing, and uncover growth opportunities. With these insights, companies can make informed decisions that drive profitability while maintaining competitive pricing.
5. Seamless Integration: Eliminate Silos and Enhance Collaboration
Disconnected systems slow down operations and create inefficiencies. If a company’s estimating software doesn’t integrate with other business tools, valuable time is lost in redundant data entry and manual processes.
An effective estimating system seamlessly integrates with existing platforms and tools, ensuring consistency and efficiency across the entire quote management process.
This eliminates silos, enhances collaboration between departments, and enables smoother operations from estimating to production.
Conclusion
To tackle these challenges, businesses need a solution that streamlines their estimating process, enhances efficiency, and maximizes profitability.
MES Applications offer businesses packaging technology solutions that can automate data collection, enable efficient customization, track real-time interactions, provide actionable analytics, and integrate seamlessly with existing business systems. By adopting an advanced estimating solution, packaging companies can not only simplify their processes but also strengthen their competitive edge, ensuring agility and precision in an industry that demands both.
In a business world where speed and accuracy define success, having the right estimating tools in place is the key to mastering the art of quoting.
