Procurement workflow automation
Supplier RFQs and purchase orders without the inbox
Buyers were sending requests for quotation one email at a time, chasing suppliers by phone, and retyping prices into the ERP. We automated the full loop from RFQ to approved purchase order, with AI reading supplier replies in any format.
- Client
- Industrial equipment maker
- Region
- United Kingdom
- Scale
- 120 to 200 employees
- Timeline
- 5 weeks
Representative engagement. Client details are anonymised and figures reflect typical outcomes from comparable deployments.
What the client got
0%
Less buyer admin per RFQ
Sending, parsing, chasing and comparing are handled by the workflow.
0 days
Faster quote cycle
Deadlines and automatic reminders shortened supplier response time.
0
Retyped quotes
Structured data flows from supplier reply to ERP without manual entry.
The bottlenecks
Bottleneck 1
Every RFQ was a manual email thread
A single component could mean five supplier emails, five follow-ups and a spreadsheet to compare answers. Buyers spent most of the week on admin rather than negotiation.
Bottleneck 2
Supplier replies arrived as PDFs, scans and prose
Prices, lead times and MOQs came back in whatever format the supplier preferred, so someone had to read and retype every one.
Bottleneck 3
Purchase orders waited on approvals
Approval requests sat in inboxes. Production sometimes learned a part was late because the PO was never raised.
What we built
Step 1
RFQ generation from demand
A low-stock or planned-order signal from the ERP creates an RFQ pack and sends it to the approved supplier list with a reply deadline, automatically.
Step 2
AI reply extraction
Supplier emails and attachments are parsed by an LLM into structured quotes: unit price, MOQ, lead time, validity. Ambiguous replies are flagged for the buyer with the original attached.
Step 3
Comparison and approval
Quotes land in a comparison view ranked by landed cost and lead time. Approvers get a one-click request in Slack or email; the PO is raised in the ERP on approval.
Step 4
Chasing handled by the workflow
Suppliers who miss the deadline get automatic reminders. Buyers see who has and has not responded without opening a single thread.
The automation workflow
RFQ to purchase order flow
Demand signal to raised PO
Questions clients ask about this engagement
What if a supplier reply cannot be parsed?
The workflow routes it to the buyer with the original attachment and a note on what was unclear. Nothing is guessed.
Which ERPs can this connect to?
Any system with an API or scheduled export. We have built against SAP Business One, NetSuite, Odoo and custom SQL databases.
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Have a similar bottleneck?
Tell us how the work happens today. We will show you the workflow we would build and prototype it on your own process.