Of all the pain points in manufacturing platforms, pricing is one of the most upfront. Potential customers want to know, rightly, what a project will cost. Detailed inquiries also help service bureaus understand what users want. But neither party really wants to wait around while technicians manually go through every inquiry by hand to figure out costs for each job by tallying prices for materials, machine and operator time, finishing processes and time, and shipping.
Artificial intelligence is helping to change the landscape. "The two key applications of AI in manufacturing are pricing and manufacturability feedback,” 3D Hubs co-founder and CMO Filemon Schoffer says."