The real question is why such an obvious capability would be so powerful. What is obvious today was not so obvious 10 years ago when the idea, development and launch of this concept was set created.

When we started Quickparts.com with this idea, I was told many times that it would never work. They would tell me that an engineer will not send his data to a website, it was impossible to quote a part for manufacturing without a human expert being involved, and by the way, the Internet is just a fad.

However, it turned out the naysayers were wrong and the success of online, instant quoting has changed the industry forever. There are many reasons this change occurred, but the main reason is that it made it easier for product developers to do their job while getting better parts and lower pricing.

Empowerment. Online instant quoting of custom parts is very empowering. This same empowerment is experienced everyday in non-manufacturing worlds. We go online to buy books, shoes, information. With online instant quoting of custom parts, the designer can have the same experience in getting pricing, delivery, information as he does when he needs a book from Amazon.

Aggregation. More than empowerment drives the paradigm shift. By leveraging the power of the Internet, we are able to make the manufacturing world smaller. We can aggregate the world’s capabilities into a simple interface for anyone to access. By doing this, the customer is able to buy his parts from the best source at the best price.

Competition. Online instant quoting helps to remove the human “sales” interaction from calculation. Instead of your quote being based on your company or your budget, the system can quote based on your part and what it cost to be manufactured. The sterility of this approach helps to normalize or balance the world of commerce for manufacturing. It drives competition within the industry, which will always help the customer be the winner.

Efficiency. Online instant quoting also is the great optimizer of the procurement process. By empowering the customer with the ability to get their own quotes, the customer is able to eliminate the wasted time associated with buying custom parts.

They no longer have to send off their RFQ and wait for a response, which can have a significant negative impact on the product development cycle. Also, after the long wait, the quote is typically incorrect because the human sales person misunderstands the needs of the customer, the customer misstates their needs, or the needs changed while the quote was being created.

It’s difficult for a product to stop and wait for the manufacturer to assess and quote. The design continues to evolve which can have an impact. The savings of wasted time in quoting is a significant value to the customer and the fact the quote is real-time means it is in-sync with the current design. If the design changes then get another quote in a second, not wait for days.

Savings. Lastly, online instant quoting is a paradigm shifting approach because it drives the costs of manufacturing. These costs are reduced for the manufacturer by reducing the costs of sales, and costs are reduced for the customer by accessing the best price.

For the manufacturer, they can have their sales team focus on serving the technical needs of the customer instead of administering information. Also, it provides the manufacturer insight on the real projects that are available in the market instead of their sales folks continuously calling their customers hoping there is a new project about the roll out.

Online instant quoting was a significant landmark in the world of manufacturing. It has only been 10 years and it has already shifted the rapid prototyping industry to allow it to grow.

These technologies and approaches will continue to expand and grow over the next decade. With the efficiencies and advantages provided, the world of manufacturing can become small enough to be leveraged by the masses and further support the dream of mass customization.