QStrat software streamlines manufacturers’ sourcing, costing and sales processes through electronic procurement software (electronic request for “x” or eRFx solutions). Global manufacturers and distributors in the automotive, life sciences, pharmaceutical, and consumer-packaged goods industries in hundreds of facilities across 22 countries rely on QStrat to simplify their sourcing. QStrat clients manage over 500,000 RFxs (requests for “x”) per year, have shortened their RFx cycles, improved their win ratios and reduced their annual spend by millions of dollars.
Challenge
Preparing accurate quotations is difficult, detailed work. Most organizations have many different heavily customized spreadsheets to prepare and analyze costs and quotes. However, as effective as spreadsheets can be, they suffer from some critical drawbacks. Hierarchical bills-of-material are nearly impossible to fit in the rows-and-columns format of a spreadsheet.
Cost allocation models built into individual spreadsheets cannot get easily modified, and what-if scenarios are complicated at best. In addition, cost assumptions change over time, and often get buried within old versions lurking around your file system. QStrat solves these and other issues with its solution.
Solution
Intelliware built a sophisticated desktop costing/quotation tool for QStrat. The QLM Costing system allows users to input detailed cost, bill-of-material, and process data to accurately and comprehensively compute product manufacturing costs, which, in turn, guide pricing decisions for quotations.
The QLM Costing system features customized spreadsheets that allow users to do complex, sophisticated cost analysis on manufactured parts. Assumptions are stored with the costing files and can be easily updated. The system’s results are predictable, consistent, and reliable. QLM Costing allows users to quote with confidence.
QLM Costing supports a wide range of methodologies and cost drivers, from simple labour burden cost allocations to complex, activity-based cost (ABC) models. QLM Costing’s consistent, disciplined, and reproducible approach to cost estimating and quote preparation helps users understand costs in greater detail and improves the accuracy of their quotations.
Results
Manufacturers across multiple industries recognize QStrat’s QLM Costing as the best-of-breed tool in its segment. In 2017, Intelliware sold the QStrat business. See our story for other key events.