Box, carton and label quotes, costed the way your estimator costs them.

A buyer emails a request: a style and inside size, a board grade, two colors on two panels, 5,000 and 10,000 pieces, delivered. Or a carton spec with a dieline, or a label size with a roll spec. Your estimator works out the blank or the layout, picks a routing, checks the die library, costs board, ink, plates and freight, and writes the quote. Most of those steps are lookups in your own files.

During the proof of concept, AI reads copies of requests you already quoted and drafts your costing sheet line by line, with every rate traced to the sheet it came from. Reorders take their tooling and routing from your records. New structures get a question list instead of a guess, and no buyer sees any of it.

The style sets the blank. A regular slotted container, FEFCO 0201, is the plain case: its blank runs two lengths and two widths plus the manufacturer's joint one way, and the depth plus one width for the flaps the other, with score allowances that depend on the flute. A half slotted container, a full overlap or a die-cut mailer changes that math, and a die-cut style needs a die. Sizes are stated as inside dimensions, length by width by depth, so a buyer who sends outside measurements gets a question before a price. The draft shows the blank or layout it worked out, so your estimator can check it at a glance.

A board grade is a strength claim. A request may name the board by flute and edge crush test, such as 32 ECT on C flute, by burst strength in pounds, or by liner and medium weights. Those are not interchangeable, and a box printed with a box maker's certificate has to meet what that certificate states under NMFC Item 222 or UFC Rule 41. So when a buyer asks for "the same box, but cheaper", the draft writes out the grade change for your estimator and never swaps a grade by itself. Board is costed per thousand square feet from the price list that applied on the day of each quote.

Routing and tooling move the price. A plain box may run on a flexo folder-gluer; the same size as a die-cut style goes through a rotary or flatbed die cutter, with a cutting die and printing plates. Estimators check the die library first, because a die already on file at the right style and size spares the customer a tooling charge, and dies the customer owns carry their own terms. Displays add parts, litho-laminated panels, hand assembly and a sample cut on your sample table. The draft puts each tooling item on its own line, marks any die it found on file, and carries a new die's price only from a die maker's quote you sent.

Cartons and labels have their own sheets. A folding carton is costed from the press sheet: grade and caliper, such as 18 pt SBS, the number up, inks and coating, foil or embossing, window patching, and the glue style, straight line or crash lock. A pressure-sensitive label is costed across and around the web, with face stock, adhesive and liner, plus a roll spec: core size, outside diameter, labels per roll and one of the eight standard unwind positions. A wrong core or unwind can be turned away at the customer's applicator, so the draft asks whenever a request leaves them out.

Your reviewer. The owner names the person who knows your estimating best, often the lead estimator or the plant's costing manager. They compare each draft with the quote that went out: blank or layout, board grade and cost basis, routing, tooling lines, quantity breaks, freight, and each question put to the buyer. Include a die-cut style, a display and a reorder with a change, if you quote them.

Once your reviewer says yes, new quote requests get a draft costing sheet and a question list for roughly 30 days.

Your estimator checks each line, fills anything left blank and sets the price. No quote reaches a buyer until a person sends it, and the live month is scored with the same table.