There are some parts of manufacturing that customers rarely see.
The quotation process is one of them.
Yet long before a component is sourced, a PCB is assembled or a production programme begins, work is already happening behind the scenes — understanding requirements, reviewing technical information and bringing together everything needed to provide an accurate response.
Recently, Cherrytech Limited welcomed a team of six Global MBA students from the University of Portsmouth to take a closer look at this important part of our business.
A real business challenge
The project formed part of a graduate initiative centred around a genuine operational challenge: how could Cherrytech enhance and streamline its quotation process as enquiry volumes continue to grow?
For Cherrytech Sales Director Dean Castles, the reason for looking at the process was closely connected to the customer experience.
“With increasing enquiry volumes and a strong focus on rapid turnaround times, the objective was to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, accelerate quoting and deliver a better experience for our customers.” – Dean Castles, Sales Director, Cherrytech Limited
The challenge was not simply about making quotations faster.
Manufacturing enquiries can involve technical specifications, component availability, volumes, lead times, sourcing considerations and a range of other details before an accurate quotation can be prepared.
The real opportunity was to explore how Cherrytech could improve efficiency while maintaining the care and attention needed to properly understand each requirement.
Taking the project beyond the classroom
The University of Portsmouth team spent time inside the business rather than approaching the challenge purely as an academic exercise.
They visited Cherrytech’s facilities, spoke with members of the team, carried out research and looked more closely at how the quotation process works in practice.
That first-hand exposure was one of the elements that stood out most strongly from the project.
Reflecting on the experience, Niko (Nidhi) one of the students involved, shared:
“What made this project particularly valuable was the opportunity to move beyond theory and into a real business environment.” – Nidhi (Niko) Patel, Global MBA, University of Portsmouth
That distinction matters.
On paper, a business process can sometimes look relatively straightforward. Once you spend time with the people involved, however, you begin to see the decisions, information and practical considerations happening at each stage.
Understanding those realities helped the students approach their recommendations from both a strategic and practical perspective.
Fresh eyes can reveal different opportunities
There is real value in allowing people from outside an organisation to look closely at a familiar process.
They come without the same assumptions.
They ask different questions.
They notice where information moves, where time may be spent and where another approach might be worth considering.
The student team combined what they learned during their time at Cherrytech with wider research and collaborative analysis before developing their recommendations.
For Nidhi, one of the most important lessons was learning to balance ideas with what could realistically work within a business. As she reflected in her original post:
“This project taught me the importance of balancing ambitious ideas with recommendations that are realistic, valuable and tailored to the client.” – Nidhi (Niko) Patel
That is an important principle in continuous improvement too.
The strongest solution is not necessarily the biggest or most complicated one. It is the one that solves the right problem and works within the reality of the business.
Why quotation turnaround matters
Customers may never see everything happening behind the scenes of a quotation, but they certainly experience the outcome.
A customer could be trying to progress a prototype, secure components, plan production or meet a deadline further along their own supply chain.
A timely and accurate quotation helps customers make decisions sooner, plan their next steps and keep projects moving forward.
This is where Dean’s focus on enquiry volumes and turnaround times becomes particularly relevant.
As Cherrytech continues to respond to growing demand, internal processes need to be able to support that growth.
But faster quoting is only part of the equation.
The objective is to find the right balance between speed, accuracy and understanding the customer’s requirement.
Turning insight into something practical
After spending time with the business and completing their research, the students presented their final recommendations to Cherrytech.
For them, this was an opportunity to bring together months of research, analysis, collaboration and problem-solving around a genuine operational challenge.
For Cherrytech, it provided something equally useful: an independent perspective on a familiar process.
Nidhi described presenting the team’s recommendations and receiving feedback from Cherrytech as one of the most rewarding parts of the project.
That exchange of ideas is one of the reasons initiatives like this can be so valuable.
The students gain experience of how business decisions and operational challenges work outside the classroom.
And businesses gain the opportunity to hear a different perspective from people who are looking at the problem for the first time.
A different way of looking at continuous improvement
Continuous improvement does not always mean replacing an entire system or making a dramatic change.
Sometimes it begins with something much simpler:
Look at the process. Ask better questions. Listen to different perspectives. Then find what can genuinely be improved.
The University of Portsmouth project gave Cherrytech an opportunity to do exactly that.
As enquiry volumes grow and customer requirements continue to evolve, it is important that the processes behind the business evolve too.
And ultimately, the reason for improving those processes remains straightforward: making it easier for our teams to respond effectively and creating a better experience for the customers we support.
Photo credit: Nidhi (Niko) Patel.
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