Sellium for ManufacturingSellium for Manufacturing:made-to-order quotes on WhatsApp
The buyer sends the drawing on WhatsApp and asks for price and lead time on 2,000 parts. If the answer takes two days because it has to go through engineering, the order goes to the supplier who replied first. Sellium gathers the full specification, applies your pricing and lead-time rules and builds the quote, or hands it to engineering with all the context.
How do you automate quotes for made-to-order parts on WhatsApp?
Quotes for custom parts and batches are automated with an AI sales agent on WhatsApp connected to your ERP, your CRM and, if you use one, your CPQ. The agent takes the request however it arrives (text, voice note, photo or an attached drawing), asks for whatever is missing to quote it (material, thickness, dimensions, tolerances, finish, quantity and date), applies your pricing rules by material, process and quantity break, checks the lead time against shop floor capacity and sends the quote in the chat. Anything outside the rules, such as a new geometry, a tolerance beyond process capability or a special material, goes to engineering with the specification already gathered.
In made-to-order manufacturing, price alone rarely decides the sale: what decides it is who replies first with a credible price and lead time. The bottleneck is that every quote request lands on the same person in the engineering office, who is also supporting the plant. Sellium, the sales agent of the Vantegrate Suite, separates what comes from applying rules from what needs costing, and sends only the latter back to engineering.
The full picture of the sector, with all five agents applied to discrete, process, metalworking, chemical and food manufacturing, is on the Manufacturing page. How an agent quotes from your price lists, in any industry, is covered in automated quotes on WhatsApp.
Where made-to-order quoting gets stuck
We mapped them in dozens of conversations with owners, sales managers and plant managers at manufacturers that build to order.
Everything goes through engineering
Every price request lands in the engineering office, which is also supporting the plant. A simple quote takes days, and in the meantime the buyer has asked two other suppliers for a price.
The request arrives incomplete
A drawing with no quantity, a dimension with no tolerance, or "same as last time." Filling in the gaps takes a string of emails that could have been settled in the first message.
Nobody knows what lead time to promise
In make-to-order, nobody knows what lead time to quote until they talk to production. Promise too short and it ends in a complaint; promise too long and you lose the order.
Quotes nobody follows up on
A large share of quotes never turns into an order, and many are lost on timing: they get sent, sit in the buyer's inbox and nobody asks again.
How Sellium quotes made-to-order work
The agent's capabilities, mapped to each bottleneck: all of them run on your pricing rules, your production plan and your CRM, not on canned answers.
Complete request
Gathers the specification in the first message
It asks for material, thickness, dimensions, tolerances, finish, quantity, date and delivery location, in the order that makes sense for each part family, and it does not quote on half the data.
Attached drawing
Receives the drawing and files it with the opportunity
The buyer sends the drawing as a PDF, image or photo, the way they would with their usual supplier. Sellium attaches it to the opportunity in Salesforce along with the conversation, so nobody has to dig for it on someone's phone.
Rule-based pricing
Quotes with your pricing rules
It applies the price list for each account tier (OEM, Tier 1, distributor or direct customer), the quantity breaks and the surcharges for material, process or finish. If you use a CPQ such as Salesforce Revenue Cloud, SAP CPQ, Tacton or Configit, it quotes through it.
Credible lead time
Gives the lead time against shop floor load
For make-to-stock it confirms inventory and delivery. For make-to-order it checks the master production schedule and returns a realistic manufacturing lead time instead of a number from memory.
Escalation
Hands off to engineering with everything gathered
Engineer-to-order jobs, tolerances beyond process capability or special materials go to the engineering office with the specification, the drawing and the customer's history, and the buyer knows when to expect an answer.
Follow-up
Follows the quote through to the purchase order
It picks the quote back up before it expires, handles quantity changes and, when the customer accepts, captures the purchase order number and enters the sales order in the ERP.
The 2,000 sheet metal parts requested on a Thursday at 7:20 PM
The most common request at a metal fabricator that builds to order: a familiar part, a new quantity and an attached drawing, after the engineering office has closed.
Thursday 7:20 PM
The drawing arrives
The buyer at a refrigeration equipment maker sends the drawing of a sheet metal bracket on WhatsApp and asks for price and lead time on 2,000 units. The engineering office closed at 6.
7:21 PM
Account identified, missing data requested
Sellium recognizes the account from the phone number in the CRM, pulls its tier and asks for what the drawing does not say: thickness, finish (powder coating or zinc plating) and whether delivery is in one batch or two.
7:24 PM
Price from your rules
With 1.6 mm sheet, cutting, bending and powder coating, it applies that customer's price list, the break for 2,000 units and the finish surcharge you defined.
7:25 PM
Lead time against the plant
It checks the load on the press brake line in the master schedule and returns the manufacturing lead time, with the quote's validity clearly shown.
7:26 PM
Quote sent and logged
It sends the quote in the chat and as a PDF, and logs it in Salesforce as an opportunity, with the drawing attached and a summary of the conversation.
Monday 9:10 AM
The purchase order arrives
The buyer confirms. Sellium captures the purchase order number, enters the sales order in the ERP and notifies the account's sales rep.
A quote that used to wait until engineering opened its inbox on Friday went out in six minutes, with a shop floor lead time and after hours. When the request involves a new part or a tolerance beyond process capability, the same flow ends in the engineering office with everything gathered, and the buyer gets a response time instead of silence.
Why quote speed decides industrial sales
Public B2B sales benchmarks: buyers compare suppliers, and the first one to reply well starts ahead.
7x
More likely to qualify a lead when contacting it within the first hour than one hour later
70%
Of sales reps' time goes to non-selling tasks, by their own account
Public benchmarks, not Sellium results. The Harvard Business Review figure measures web leads contacted by phone or email and is used as a reference for response speed. The Gartner survey (632 B2B buyers) also shows that buyers prefer to talk to a person when deciding whether a solution fits: that is why the agent hands off anything that needs engineering. Each implementation is measured against a baseline agreed with the customer (quote response time, quote-to-order ratio, after-hours quotes).
Secure AI agents that work with your data
Sellium handles drawings, tiered price lists and each customer's terms: information no manufacturer wants circulating on personal phones. That is why it runs 100% on Salesforce and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, with those platforms' SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications and the permissions you define. We don't claim anyone else's certifications: Vantegrate enables, the customer operates and certifies.
Frequently asked questions about Sellium for Manufacturing
Can an AI agent quote custom parts?
Can an AI agent quote custom parts?
Yes, the ones that come from applying rules: material, process, dimensions within range, quantity breaks and finish. Anything that needs engineering costing, such as a new geometry, a tolerance beyond process capability or a material you don't usually work with, it does not quote: it gathers the full request and hands it to the engineering office with the drawing and the customer's history.
Can it receive drawings on WhatsApp?
Can it receive drawings on WhatsApp?
Yes. The buyer sends the drawing as a PDF, image or photo, the way they would with their usual supplier, and Sellium attaches it to the opportunity in Salesforce along with the conversation. Whatever the drawing does not say (thickness, finish, quantity or date) it asks before quoting.
How does it calculate the lead time for something not yet built?
How does it calculate the lead time for something not yet built?
From the master production schedule. For make-to-order it checks the load on the relevant line and returns a realistic lead time; for make-to-stock it confirms inventory and delivery. If your ERP does not expose shop floor load, a lead-time rule per product family is agreed during implementation, and the agent applies it the same way your team would.
Does it integrate with my CPQ and my ERP?
Does it integrate with my CPQ and my ERP?
Yes. Sellium integrates with Salesforce Revenue Cloud, SAP CPQ, Oracle CPQ, Tacton and Configit for configuration rules, and with manufacturing ERPs such as SAP S/4HANA, Oracle E-Business Suite, NetSuite, Dynamics 365, Epicor or Infor for inventory, pricing, credit and the sales order. If your system is not on that list, how to connect it is worked out during discovery, before we quote.
What happens to the quote after it is sent?
What happens to the quote after it is sent?
It follows it. Because the quote is logged in the CRM, Sellium knows what was quoted, to whom and when it expires: it handles changes, resends the updated version and, if the customer accepts, captures the purchase order. After 24 hours without a message from the customer, follow-up goes out as a template approved by Meta. The details are in WhatsApp quote follow-up.
How much does Sellium cost for a manufacturer?
How much does Sellium cost for a manufacturer?
Sellium is priced in two parts: an initial implementation quoted for each company (mapping your pricing and lead-time rules, training on your catalog and integrating with your ERP and CPQ) and a monthly subscription with AI credits that scale up as needed, with no lock-in. You pay for WhatsApp messages directly to Meta, with your own account and no markup from us. For a number that fits your case, request a quote.
Don't make the next quote wait for engineering
Tell us what you make, how quote requests reach you and which rules you use for price and lead time. We will show you how Sellium would handle them and which part would still go through the engineering office.
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