A contract manufacturer was losing business because quotes took more than a week. Mapping the process showed most of that time was waiting; removing four handoffs cut turnaround from eight days to three and raised the win rate from 21% to 29%.
Key numbers
A contract manufacturer noticed a pattern in lost orders. When customers explained why they had gone elsewhere, the answer was often not price. It was speed: a competitor had responded first. The company's quotes were taking more than a week, and in a market where buyers often choose the first credible answer, that was costing business.
What the data showed
The team followed a set of real enquiries through the quoting process from start to finish, recording each step and the time between steps, in the same way a value stream map follows material on the factory floor.
Turnaround averaged eight days, but the actual work, reviewing drawings, estimating and costing, took only a few hours. The rest was waiting: enquiries sitting before being logged, engineering reviews delayed by missing information, costing waiting for current rates, and approvals waiting for the general manager. There were nine handoffs between people, each one adding a queue.
These were the eight wastes in office form: waiting, defects in the form of incomplete information, and overprocessing through unnecessary approvals.
What changed
- A standard RFQ checklist, so engineering received complete information the first time, and missing items were requested immediately.
- A costing template linked to current material and machine rates, removing the wait for updated numbers.
- Approval limits, so routine quotes below a set value no longer waited for the general manager.
- A visual board showing every open quote and its age, reviewed briefly each day, so nothing sat unnoticed.
Results
Quote turnaround fell from eight days to three. Handoffs dropped from nine to five. The quote win rate rose from 21% to 29%, a significant increase in new business from the same number of enquiries.
Why it worked
The improvements targeted waiting, not working. Nobody was asked to estimate faster. Instead, complete information, current data, sensible approval limits and visible work removed the queues between steps.
Lessons for your operation
- In office processes, most lead time is waiting. Map it to see it.
- Complete information at the start prevents rework later.
- Approval limits remove unnecessary queues for routine decisions.
- Make work visible: an aged list of open quotes prevents forgotten requests.
- Speed is a competitive advantage, especially in quoting.
