How Instant Quoting Works
From CAD file to a controlled manufacturing quote,in seconds when eligible.
Your design files remain secure, confidential, and isolated from other accounts throughout the quoting workflow.
Instant quoting is more than attaching a price to an uploaded file. A dependable quote must connect three kinds of information:
The physical features extracted from the part geometry.
A feasible route for manufacturing the part.
The published rates and rules that price the job.
The result: an automatic quote when the evidence is complete, or a clear non-automatic outcome when engineering review is still required.
Upload a supported CAD file from the SupplyBoard homepage or quoting workspace. An interactive 3D preview lets you inspect the part while quoting continues.
Select the material, quantity, and service for the job, then add any manufacturing details that affect production:
Pick the lead-time option that matches your schedule and add shipping or pickup details so the quote includes delivery.
Instant quoting starts with the solid model. SupplyBoard extracts the manufacturing facts a price depends on,directly from the part geometry, not from a picture of the file.
For supported STEP and STP files, the analysis service evaluates boundary-representation geometry: topology, units, volume, surface area, stock envelopes, and the features that change how a part is made. That can include holes, pockets, slots, bosses, undercuts, thin walls, sharp internal corners, and rotational or sheet-like characteristics.
Those measurements become manufacturing evidence. Confidence is recorded, uncertain features are flagged, and incomplete geometry is never silently treated as fact. If the analysis cannot prove what the design requires, automatic pricing stops and the request moves to review.
The 3D preview is for inspection. It does not set the manufacturing route or the price. Mesh-only files such as STL or OBJ can still be uploaded and viewed, but they do not contain the same manufacturing topology and are not automatically priced as if they did.
You should not have to decide whether a part needs turning, milling, laser cutting, or a combination of operations before requesting a quote. SupplyBoard plans that from the geometry.
The route planner uses geometric evidence to evaluate how the part can move from stock to finished geometry. A route may be one operation or a supported sequence, such as turning followed by milling. It considers operation order, stock compatibility, feature access, setups, and the capabilities required to complete the job. In the technical model, this is manufacturing_route.
Automatic pricing requires a complete, feasible route. Every operation and transition must be supported, the work must remain inside the calibrated quoting envelope, and the commercial model must contain every rate and rule needed to price it. SupplyBoard prices that route as one production plan,not by combining the cheapest isolated rates from unrelated cards.
If a combination is too complex or not yet calibrated, the request moves to review. That is a safety boundary, not an attempt to force every design through automation.
SupplyBoard calculates the complete job,not only machine time. You receive a customer price, lead time, and expiry. Partner rates, margins, and internal cost details stay private.
The quote can include material, setup, production operations, selected options, and shipping or pickup. If a required rate or capability is missing, SupplyBoard does not guess an amount.
When the geometry, route, and commercial rules are complete, you get an automatic quote. If any required fact cannot be proven, the request moves to review. SupplyBoard never invents a rate, hides an unsupported condition, or returns a fabricated zero-dollar quote.
The quote is a snapshot of the facts used at calculation. Changing material, quantity, or another price-affecting choice recalculates. A later rate change does not silently rewrite the quote you already received.
Security is enforced through architecture, not only interface messaging.
These controls allow the quoting workflow to exchange only the information each component needs. The browser receives purchasing information; the commerce platform owns commercial truth; and the CAD service owns technical truth.
CAD instant quoting converts a supported 3D design and its purchasing requirements into a manufacturing price without waiting for a traditional manual RFQ cycle. SupplyBoard first analyzes the geometry, builds a manufacturing route, and then applies published production and pricing rules. Automatic pricing is returned only when every required condition passes.
No. SupplyBoard uses one Automatic Manufacturing Route. The system evaluates the operation or supported sequence of operations required by the geometry and current production rules.
A part moves to review when SupplyBoard cannot prove every condition required for a reliable automatic price. Common reasons include complex geometry, unknown units, uncertain features, unsupported options, route coverage gaps, missing commercial rules, or limits in the currently calibrated automatic-quoting envelope.
Price-affecting changes invalidate the previous commercial-selection snapshot and trigger recalculation. SupplyBoard verifies the latest selections before a quote is accepted.
Not silently. A quote retains the versioned commercial snapshot used to calculate it. New pricing configurations create new published versions; they do not rewrite the technical and commercial record behind an existing quote.
The calculation may include material, programming, setup, production operations, tooling, handling, inspection, selected options, risk allowances, minimum charges, packaging, and shipping according to the published configuration for that job. The customer-facing quote identifies the final applicable price, lead time, and expiry.
No. Instant quoting determines whether a design fits a controlled automatic-pricing envelope. Final production planning may still include detailed manufacturability review, toolpath development, fixturing decisions, inspection planning, and shop-specific validation.
Files and analyses are tenant-isolated, uploads use controlled temporary access, internal services use short-lived authorization, and customer responses exclude private partner and pricing data. Technical reuse is permitted only inside the same tenant and only when verified content fingerprints match.
Drop your CAD file to get a quote. If engineering review is needed, the workflow will tell you clearly, without guessing.
