If you've ever lost sleep wondering whether you missed a critical detail in a quote—or felt the adrenaline of winning a job only to realize you underpriced it—this MakingChips episode is for you. Recorded live at FABTECH 2025, Nick sits down with Jason Ray, founder of Paperless Parts, to unveil a breakthrough tool that promises to transform how shops handle complex RFQs, drawings, and bills of materials.
Over the past decade, Paperless Parts has become synonymous with solving bottlenecks in estimating and quoting. Their mission has been clear: empower people—not replace them—with software designed to make quoting faster, smarter, and less risky. In this conversation, Jason shares how their latest release takes that vision even further by surfacing critical requirements buried inside complex drawings and bills of materials.
This episode is full of relatable stories and practical lessons. Jason explains how the new "Requirements Review" functionality captures tribal knowledge, accelerates mentoring, and helps shops avoid underpricing jobs while improving their RFQ triage process.
Nick and Jason also dig into the big picture: the hype cycle of AI in manufacturing, the importance of trust and customer retention, and the future of Paperless Parts—including "historical intelligence" and next-level shop insights.
Whether you're a shop owner, estimator, or manufacturing leader, you'll leave this episode with actionable takeaways for quoting more accurately, prioritizing the right work, and scaling your business intelligently.
Segments
- (0:53) "I Love Big BOMs": How Paperless Parts tackles large bills of materials=
- (2:27) Bottlenecks in quoting and estimating—and why Paperless Parts was built
- (6:05) AI hype vs. reality in manufacturing software
- (7:39) Quote faster, smarter, and more consistently with Paperless Parts
- (9:20) "AI makes recommendations, humans make decisions"
- (12:38) Introducing "Requirements Review" to surface critical details in drawings
- (14:41) Capturing tribal knowledge and accelerating mentoring before retirements
- (17:13) Why missing something on a print leads to underpricing and margin compression
- (18:45) Using AI to read complex drawing packages and trigger shop-specific rules
- (20:22) Solving simpler problems first: best practices for adopting AI in manufacturing
- (22:14) Why you should join us at MTForecast 2025
- (23:42) Quoting faster without over-engineering or missing key details
- (25:02) RFQs are getting larger—how to triage and prioritize the right work
- (26:47) Building an "ideal part profile" and learning to say no to non-fit work
- (29:54) Safety, flow state, and the hidden costs of taking on bad-fit jobs
- (30:53) Cash flow realities of contract manufacturing and avoiding high-risk mistakes
- (32:32) Aligning Paperless Parts' incentives with customer success and retention
- (34:38) Value-based sales process and proving ROI before the sale
- (38:00) Emotional ROI for shop leaders and software founders alike
- (40:08) Why customer success is tied to clear ROI targets and ongoing support
- (42:27) Selling change management, not just a tool—how Paperless implements software
- (45:32) Looking ahead: Paperless Parts' upcoming user conference and "historical intelligence"
- (49:32)
Resources mentioned on this episode
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