For many Illinois manufacturers, quoting is one of the most time-consuming and inconsistent processes in daily operations. Teams often rely on Excel, Word, email threads, and manual calculations to respond to RFQs. While Excel is a powerful tool, it can also be unorganized. Disconnected spreadsheets can slow down your quoting workflow. But, IMEC helps companies optimize Excel every day.
As quoting volume increases and customers expect faster turnaround, these manual processes become bottlenecks that impact revenue, margins, and competitiveness.
IMEC supports manufacturers by improving their quoting processes in two ways:
- Optimizing and automating Excel-based workflows
- Building Access databases when companies need a scalable, database-driven system
Both approaches reduce manual work, improve accuracy, and help you respond to customers faster.
The Challenge: When Manual Excel Workflows Become Bottlenecks
Excel isn’t the problem, it’s how Excel is being used.
Many manufacturers under 50 employees manage quoting with:
- Multiple versions of the same spreadsheet
- Manual copy/paste steps
- Standalone files for materials, customers, or components
- No historical tracking of margins or win/loss rates
This leads to:
- Slower turnaround times
- Errors in pricing and calculations
- Difficulty finding past quotes or understanding quote performance
- No centralized or standardized process
Without organization or automation, a simple quote can consume 30–60 minutes of manual work.
Why Excel Is Still a Great Tool — When It’s Designed Well
Before adopting new software, many manufacturers can significantly improve quoting speed and consistency by simply optimizing how Excel is used.
IMEC helps companies enhance their existing Excel workflows by:
- Designing standardized, easy-to-use quoting templates
- Automating calculations with structured formulas and organized tables
- Using simple automation and formatting to reduce manual entry errors
- Adding dropdowns and validation to keep data consistent
- Creating clear dashboards or summaries to monitor quoting activity
These improvements keep the workflow familiar while reducing manual effort, inconsistencies, and time spent searching for information.
When to Move Beyond Excel: Access as a Scalable Step Forward
As quoting needs grow — more products, more components, more RFQs, more users — some teams eventually outgrow Excel.
That’s when IMEC helps manufacturers transition to a custom Microsoft Access database that:
- Centralizes all customers, products, components, and pricing
- Automatically generates PDF quotes
- Tracks win/loss metrics
- Connects with Excel and SharePoint
- Reduces repetitive manual entry
- Provides one-click conversion from quote → order
- Supports multi-user workflows without version control issues
Access isn’t about replacing Excel — it’s about creating a connected, automated quoting ecosystem that Excel alone can’t support at scale.
What an Optimized Quoting System Can Deliver
Whether using enhanced Excel or a full Access database, manufacturers can achieve:
- Faster Quoting
- Automate lookup tables, price updates, and component structures.
- Better Accuracy
- Reduce manual steps and ensure consistent pricing across the business.
- Professional PDF Outputs
- Generate customer-ready quotes instantly.
- Centralized Information
- One source of truth for customers, pricing, products, and historical quotes.
- Better Decision-Making
- Track trends in margins, quote volume, and win rates.
What Business Owners and Sales Teams Gain
A standardized, automated quoting system helps teams:
- Respond to RFQs faster
- Improve conversion rates
- Avoid pricing inconsistencies
- Understand which quotes generate the best ROI
- Reduce the administrative burden on key staff
When quoting becomes easier, clearer, and more accurate, it directly supports business growth.
Quick Wins Manufacturers Can Start Today
Even before implementing automation, you can strengthen your process by:
- Standardizing how labor and material costs are calculated
- Creating a single, unified quote template
- Cleaning and centralizing customer and product lists
- Tracking quote turnaround times
- Reviewing historical win/loss data
These steps lay the foundation for future automation — whether in Excel or Access.
How IMEC Helps Illinois Manufacturers Modernize Quoting
IMEC partners with manufacturers to build quoting systems that match their size, workflow, and technology comfort level. Depending on your needs, we can help you:
Option 1: Optimize Excel
- Automated templates
- Quote calculators
- Power Query data refresh
- KPI dashboards
Option 2: Build a Custom Access Database
- Data entry forms
- Automated PDFs
- Quote → order conversion
- Integrated reporting
Both options reduce quoting time, simplify workflow, and increase accuracy.
Ready to Make Quoting Faster and More Consistent?
Whether you want to strengthen your Excel quoting process or explore building a full Access database, IMEC can help.
Contact us today to schedule a demonstration and learn how we can help cut your quoting time by 30% or more.
