Before you use AI to quote a customer’s job, you need to know what it can handle, what you still need to check and what happens to the information you upload. CloudNC COO Jason Bowes answers practical questions about our new Quote Agent solution.
- What can Quote Agent actually help my shop quote?
It’s designed for precision machined components, including milling, turning and complex five-axis work. You give it a customer’s request for quote, or RFQ, and it assesses manufacturing risks and prepares an estimate for you to review.
That includes a proposed manufacturing plan, routing times, material and post-processing cost estimates, and inspection requirements. You decide whether to quote and what to charge.
- Do I need both a drawing and a 3D model? What if something is missing?
You can upload 2D drawings, 3D models or both, or forward the customer’s email to your Quote Agent inbox. The agent processes the files and extracts quantity breaks.
If information is incomplete, contradictory or unclear, it asks questions so you can resolve it.
If it can’t complete the estimate with what you’ve supplied, you need to sort out those missing details before proceeding.
- How does it know what my shop can do?
In Myshop, you add your equipment, capabilities, costs, stocked materials and preferences. The agent uses those details to tailor the estimate to your shop.
It’s worth putting that information in properly. You want an estimate based on the machines and costs you’ll actually be working with.
- Where do the prices and machining times come from?
Material and post-processing estimates start with average prices available online. You can replace them with your own suppliers’ prices, which is what I’d suggest when you have those figures.
Routing times come from the agent’s assessment of the steps needed to make the part, using CloudNC’s manufacturing algorithms. They’re estimates to review, so check that the proposed route and times make sense for your equipment.
- Does it generate toolpaths, and do I need CAM Assist to use it?
Quote Agent prepares estimates and manufacturing plans; CAM Assist helps create machining strategies and toolpaths. A Quote Agent estimate isn’t a CNC program ready to run on a machine.
You don’t need CAM Assist or any other CAM software to use Quote Agent. It’s a standalone web application.
- What can I get out of it besides a quote?
You can generate a design for manufacture report as a PDF, with images of the drawing or model and markers showing relevant issues. You can also produce ballooned drawings with numbered inspection callouts.
For first article inspection, it produces an AS9102-compliant report, exportable as a PDF or Excel file. Preparing that documentation doesn’t replace carrying out the inspection and checking the results.
- What happens to the information I upload?
Quote Agent uses your drawings, models and RFQ information to assess the job and prepare the outputs you request. Customer information is stored in an encrypted AWS cloud environment.
The agent combines CloudNC’s proprietary physics models with large language models accessed through Amazon Bedrock. Those models help it analyse how the part could be manufactured and prepare the estimate.
- How are my files protected?
Files are encrypted both in transit and at rest on AWS infrastructure. That covers protection while they’re being transferred and while they’re stored.
If your customer has specific security or hosting requirements, check those with us before uploading their information.
- Does Quote Agent learn from my shop’s information?
Yes. It learns your preferences and uses your interactions to tailor its assessments and quoting to your shop. Those learnings are specific to you and aren’t shared with other users.
That helps it take account of how you work as you use it.
- Is my information used to train AI models shared with other customers?
Quote Agent uses information about your shop and your interactions with the service to tailor its assessments and quotes to your equipment, costs and preferences. This personalisation is separate from any use of customer information to improve the underlying AI models.
- Can I upload export-controlled work or jobs that require GovCloud?
We don’t currently recommend uploading export-controlled data. Quote Agent also doesn’t currently support work that requires FedRAMP authorisation or AWS GovCloud hosting. However, we will add this functionality in the future, so stay tuned for the latest developments.
Check the requirements attached to the job before uploading it. Encryption alone doesn’t establish that the service meets a particular customer’s requirements.
- Does the agent set my selling price or send quotes automatically?
You make those decisions. The agent prepares the assessment and estimate; you review and adjust them, decide whether to quote, set prices for each part and quantity break, and approve the quote.
You then send the PDF to your customer. You stay in control of the commercial commitment.
- What if the estimate is wrong?
It can be, which is why the review matters. Your estimator needs to check the manufacturing plan, assumptions and costs before sending the quote.
Before accepting an order, you still need to resolve outstanding risks and confirm the price and requirements through your normal order acknowledgement process.
We’ve learnt in our own factory how costly a bad estimate can be. Getting a number back quickly is only useful if you’ve checked that the job works for your shop.
- What’s the difference between the free manual workflow and the AI agent?
In manual mode, you assess the part and enter the manufacturing plan, costs and inspection requirements yourself. You can then set the price and generate the customer quote. That workflow is free.
With the AI agent, the assessment and estimate are prepared for you to review. You still set the final price. The difference is how much preparation you do yourself.
- How does paid usage work?
AI usage comes out of a purchased part allowance. On the current Starter plan, quoting costs $2.50 per component within the allowance, with volume pricing available on other plans.
Different tasks use different amounts: quoting uses one part of your allowance per component, DFM uses two, and quality ballooning and first article inspection use four. Manual mode doesn’t use the allowance.
Check the pricing page for current plan sizes, user access and overage rates, so you choose a plan that fits how your team will use it.
- How should I test it before relying on it?
Try it on a job you know well. Compare the manufacturing route, costs and inspection requirements with your own estimate, then measure the time it takes to get to a quote you’re happy to send.
You can try the AI agent for free. I’d use that opportunity to challenge its assumptions and see where it saves your team time. The result will depend on the job and how you quote today.
