Forge AI Suggestions on Quotes

Forge AI can read a technical drawing and fill in a quote part for you: part number, name, quantity, material, raw stock shape and dimensions, and a proposed routing. It does this whether the drawing arrives through the AI chat panel, through your Forge AI email inbox, or through the Analyze button on a part's file. Everything it fills in is marked, stays editable, and is easy to accept in one click.

What Forge AI reads off a drawing

Forge AI reads the drawing the way an estimator would, and no further:

  • Part number and name are copied from the title block as printed. It never invents a descriptive name.
  • Quantity as printed on the drawing or stated in your message.
  • Material and shape only when the drawing states them. "SS304", "SST-304", "acier inox 304" and "Stainless Steel 304" all resolve to the same entry of your material catalog. If the drawing names a material that is not in your catalog, the field is left empty and Forge AI tells you which material it saw, so you can pick one or add it under Settings.
  • Raw stock dimensions only when the drawing explicitly calls out the raw stock size.
  • Description holds the notes, tolerances and finish callouts as written.

If something is unclear or missing, the field stays empty rather than guessed.

How AI-proposed values are marked

A value Forge AI wrote and nobody has changed yet shows a small sparkle icon next to the field. Operations and purchased items it proposed carry a Forge AI badge. The markers survive a reload, so a part created overnight from an email still shows what came from the drawing the next morning.

Three things clear a marker:

  1. Editing the value. Change the field and the marker disappears; nothing else changes.
  2. Accept all. When a quote still has AI-proposed values, its header shows a pill such as 3 AI suggestions · Accept all. Click it to turn every remaining suggestion on the quote into a plain value.
  3. Sending the quote or converting it to a job. A sent price is your number regardless of who typed it first, so all markers on the quote are cleared.

Markers never block anything. A quote with sparkles can be saved, sent and converted like any other.

Routing proposals

When Forge AI creates a part from a drawing, it also proposes a routing: which of your in-house processes the part needs and in what order, which steps go to an outside supplier, and which items must be purchased. It works from the drawing, from the part's fields, and from how your shop routed similar parts before.

What it does:

  • In-house operations always reference one of your Manufacturing Processes. If a process is linked to exactly one machine, that machine is selected and its rates are seeded.
  • Anything the drawing calls for that matches none of your processes (a finish, heat treatment, grinding, welding when you have no such process) becomes an outside operation, and Forge AI tells you so. Add the process under Settings if you do that work in-house, then run the proposal again.
  • Purchased items are proposed only when the drawing prints them (a BOM row, "HELICOIL M6x1 (2X)", "hardware supplied by customer").

What it does not do:

  • It never estimates cycle or setup times, outside operation costs, lead times or purchase prices. Those fields stay empty for you to fill.
  • It never changes a row you entered or edited. Running the proposal again replaces only its own untouched proposals and adds what is missing.

To run it on any existing part, open the part and click Propose routing with Forge AI at the bottom of the Operations section. Unsaved edits are saved first.

You can turn routing proposals off for your company under My Company → Quote defaults → Forge AI. Drawings are still read into part fields; only the routing step is skipped.

Where the drawing can come from

  • AI chat panel: attach the drawing and ask Forge AI to create the part on a quote. It confirms the action on a card before writing anything.
  • Forge AI email inbox: forward the drawing to your inbox address. Forge AI creates the draft quote and its parts in one go and replies in the chat panel with what it did and anything it could not resolve.
  • Analyze on a part's file: on the part page, click Analyze next to an uploaded PDF drawing to fill the part's fields from it. This path fills fields only; it does not propose a routing.
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