Where quoting errors turn into manufacturing costs.

Where errors start

Copy and paste. A description, part number or length carried over from the last quote. The part number says one thing and the description says another, and the customer ends up with two different lengths under the same description.

Fat fingers. A spreadsheet that builds the part number, description and cost from typed entries. Type the wrong number of connectors and the cost is wrong, even though everything else looks right.

Stale or missing costs. A supplier changes a price, or a cable is out of stock and a substitute goes into the build, and the new cost never makes it into the spreadsheet. Some costs get left out altogether: the breakout and furcation on a multi-fiber assembly, a second pulling eye, the labels. Each one sounds small. They add up.

Assumptions nobody states. A request doesn't give a quantity, so the quote assumes one. Labor is estimated per connector and multiplied by a rate nobody has checked in years.

The handoff. The quote says one thing. Order entry types it in again. Production builds from its own system, with different part numbers and a different cost. Every time someone retypes it is another chance to get it wrong.

What an error costs, depending on when you catch it

• At the quote: a few minutes, if someone notices.
• In the price: if the cost is wrong and nobody notices, one of two things happens. The cost was too high, and when you put your margin on it you may have priced yourself out of the market. Or the cost was too low, and the margin you were counting on shrinks. On a $10,000 order quoted at a 30% margin, $1,000 of cost nobody saw cuts the profit by a third, from $3,000 to $2,000. A big enough miss turns a profitable-looking order into a loss.
• On the floor: the wrong length cut or the wrong connector terminated. The material, labor and machine time are gone.
• At the customer's dock: the most expensive place of all. A custom assembly at a custom length can't be resold. It's basically garbage. Add the remake, the rush shipping, the credit and a customer who now checks everything you send.

A quick check

Pull twenty recent orders for configured products and compare, for each one:

1. the part number on the quote, the order and the work order;
2. the description against the part number: do the length, connectors and fiber type match?
3. the quoted cost against what the job actually cost.

Count the mismatches. Then ask production and shipping how many remakes and returns there were over the same period. A mismatch is a question to look into, not proof of an error: your customer's part number and yours can legitimately differ.

Log each error you find:

After a few weeks, the log shows where your errors start and how much margin they take. Fix the most common cause first.

Pin down the details that cause trouble

Many fiber assembly errors start with a detail nobody pinned down when the quote went out. A complete quote should say:

• Length: the finished length, the unit, where it's measured from and the tolerance.
• Connectors: the type and polish at each end, and boots that suit the cable.
• Fiber mapping: duplex polarity, and for MPO, pinned or unpinned and the polarity method.
• Breakouts: leg lengths, staggering, furcation and pulling eyes.
• Cable: the fiber and cable specification, and the jacket rating the installation needs.
• Testing: which inspections and optical tests are required, and what reports the customer expects.
• Labor: setup, termination, polishing, testing, a yield allowance and packaging, not just a time per connector.

Stop errors where they start

• Build the part number, description and cost from the same choices, so changing the length changes all three. You get a consistent description every time.
• Check the configuration against your rules when it's quoted, so a combination you know you can't build is caught before it reaches the floor. Rules only catch what they know about, though, and they don't test anything. Carry the specifications and test requirements into production, and test the finished assembly against them.
• Keep each cost in one place and update it once. When a component is substituted, the cost should change with it, and someone should confirm the substitute meets the same specification, not just that it costs the same.
• Make missing costs visible. If something doesn't have a cost yet, the quote should say it's an estimate instead of quietly using zero.
• Carry the quote into the order without retyping it.
• Get the customer's approval before production. Once they approve the final configuration, record every change after that, and go back to them when a change affects what they approved. An internal change that stays within the approved specification, like an equivalent part from another supplier, doesn't need their sign-off.
• Compare estimated cost with actual cost. Track both over time and you'll see a trend you can act on.

None of this needs a big project to start. Pick the product family that causes the most remakes and begin there.

I've seen every one of these mistakes up close. If you'd like to look at where they happen in your process, book a walkthrough.

MORE GUIDES

• How much quoting knowledge lives in people's heads?
• Seven questions to ask before replacing a quoting process.
• When a product is buildable but not quotable.