Material take-offs and RFQ line lists into quote drafts, read line by line against your item file.

A take-off arrives as a spreadsheet pulled from the designer's model, a PDF table or a scan with handwritten revisions. Some lines spell everything out. Others lean on a piping class sheet or say only same as above. Your inside salesperson reads each line, works out what it means, finds your item, and asks about whatever the line left open.

For the test, AI reads copies of those take-offs and drafts each quote line: the line as written, then the size, schedule or wall, class, end type, grade and spec it read, and your item number with where the match came from. Anything it can't settle goes on a short list for your inside salesperson with the reason. No quote is sent and no substitute is accepted.

One class name, three different pipes. A take-off may list only a line class and let the class sheet do the rest. One published sample Class 150 carbon steel line class calls for ASTM A106 Grade B seamless plain-end pipe in XS/80 for NPS 1/2 through 2, A53 Grade B Type E electric-resistance-welded beveled pipe in STD/40 for NPS 2-1/2 through 10, and a 0.375-inch wall from NPS 12 through 24. NPS 2 and NPS 4 on that sheet are different products with different ends. The draft reads the class sheet you send and shows which row it used.

A buyer's schedule can overrule its own data sheet. In the City of Winnipeg's 2015 tender for a sewage plant expansion, the carbon steel data sheet sets Schedule 80 for screwed pipe at 50 mm and smaller, Schedule 40 for welded pipe from 65 to 250 mm, Schedule 30 from 300 to 400 mm and Schedule 20 from 450 to 600 mm. The tender's piping schedule then says its own thickness, class or schedule supersedes the data sheet, and it runs ballasted sludge pipe as Schedule 40 grooved where exposed and Schedule 80 butt-welded where encased in concrete. The same data sheet asks for long radius elbows unless shown otherwise, weld neck flanges where they meet butt-weld fittings, and flat-face Class 150 flanges against Class 125 iron. The draft names the document it took each answer from.

A fitting's class is not a flange's class. ASME B16.11 rates forged threaded fittings Class 2000, 3000 and 6000 and socket-weld fittings Class 3000, 6000 and 9000, so a Class 3000 socket-weld elbow and a Class 300 flange share no scale. Butt-weld fittings under ASME B16.9 run NPS 1/2 through 48, with low-pressure corrosion-resistant ones sent to MSS SP-43. In stainless, ASTM A403 separates Class S, with no weld, from welded W, WX and WU by how the welds were examined. Pipe has its own limits: ASTM A53 covers NPS 1/8 through 26 in Types F, E and S, and A106 is seamless only and runs NPS 1/8 through 48. A line asking for A53 at NPS 30 or for A106 in ERW goes on the flag list instead of the quote.

A flanged joint is more lines than it looks. The same sample class pairs its flanges with ASTM A193 B7 studs, A194 2H heavy hex nuts and B16.21 flat ring gaskets, and published B16.5 bolt charts put eight 5/8-inch bolts on an NPS 4 Class 150 flange, eight 3/4-inch on Class 300, and twelve 7/8-inch on NPS 8 Class 300, so changing the class changes the stud and sometimes the count. Valve lines add body grade, trim and operator: that sheet lists a Class 150 A216 WCB butt-weld gate valve with a gear operator from NPS 14 up. Some take-offs count the bolting and some leave it for your desk. The draft counts what the take-off counted and marks what it left out, rather than adding sets of its own.

Duplicates and specials are where a quote goes wrong. A revised take-off can repeat lines from the last issue or list one item on two drawings, so the draft marks each likely duplicate and leaves the quantity alone. Specials come back with the reason: sour service lines citing NACE MR0175, notch toughness forgings, coated or lined pipe, a size written in millimeters with no NPS beside it, anything your item file can't match. Your reviewer, usually the senior inside salesperson, checks every read of size, schedule, class, end and grade, every match to an item, and every flag.

When your reviewer says yes against the success criteria, the same job runs on incoming take-offs and RFQ line lists for about 30 days.

An inside salesperson checks every draft line, settles every flag and decides any alternate before a customer sees a number. Only a person sends a quote, and nothing is written into your ERP or quoting system until your team approves it.

The next job, if you want one, is decided and priced on its own.