RFQ inbound capture
Carlos Reyes — Lead Process Engineer at Aurelia Beverages, tipped off by his ex-colleague at Park Process Engineering — submits the "Get a quote" form on cascadeindustrial.com. Interface365 captures the RFQ with full source attribution to the engineer referral. The form gathers process type, throughput, sanitary spec, target commissioning date, and referral source so the AE can show up to the discovery call prepared.
Source ("Engineer / consultant referral") is configured under Settings → Sources, so attribution is automatic — and the referring consultancy is tagged on the lead immediately so reciprocity tracking starts on Day 1. RFQs route by territory: Western US f&b inquiries land on David Yoon (Senior AE).Qualification call & lead enrichment
David calls Carlos within two hours, runs a 30-minute discovery, and enriches the lead record with custom fields. The lead status flows New → Contacted → Qualified.
Lead conversion — one click, three entities
With the lead qualified and Linda starting application sizing, David clicks Convert. Interface365 creates a Contact + Account + Source organization + Deal all linked, all linked. Lead score climbs from 60 → 88 post-call.
Buying committee — stakeholders, custom fields, tags
Capital-equipment sales always have a buying committee — VP Ops who sponsors the project, technical buyer who specs the equipment, CFO who signs the cheque, plant manager who lives with it. David adds Maya, Priya, and Tom to the deal with explicit roles.
Expected PO release: Mar 12, 2026 (~60 days)
Plant visit, notes & files — the full deal context
Over the next two weeks, David and Linda log every interaction. The half-day plant visit, utility photos, P&ID drawings from Carlos, hand-sketched tie-in concept, Park Process's original RFP, and internal margin commentary all live on the deal record — nothing in side-channel emails or random Drive folders.
Referrer for reciprocity tracking — 4th tip this year from their team, total deal volume influenced ~$4.7M.Tasks & follow-ups — never let a thread drop
Tasks attach to the deal with priority, due dates, and assignees. Polymorphic — they can also attach to contacts, accounts, or projects. Capital-equipment cycles are long; tasks are how the deal stays alive between touches.
Pipeline progression & stagnant alerts
As the deal advances, David drags it through stages on the 8-stage Capital Equipment Sales pipeline. If application engineering goes quiet for 14+ days post-Discovery (or 7+ days post-Technical Proposal), Interface365 flags it as stagnant and surfaces it on the dashboard. In capital equipment, a forgotten technical proposal isn't lost time — it's a competitor closing.
Equipment catalogue — SKUs, lead-times, sanitary specs
Cascade's catalogue — 240 SKUs across 8 product families (mixers / kettles / heat-exchanger skids / CIP skids / control panels / instrumentation / stainless piping / installation labour). Each item carries base price, lead-time weeks, sanitary spec compliance flags (3-A / EHEDG / FDA), and CAD drawing URL. Lifecycle states (Active / Draft / Discontinued) keep last quarter's casting prices off a new proposal.
Technical proposal — BOM, payment milestones, lead-times, ROI
Linda assembles the 14-line BOM picking + configuring catalogue items. Pricing is snapshotted at the moment of proposal-send — vendor casting price changes won't retroactively touch Aurelia's number. The proposal ships with cover page + scope-of-supply + payment milestones (20/30/30/20) + assumptions + exclusions + lead-time table + ROI summary.
| # | Scope of supply | Qty | Unit price | Lead | Extended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1500-gal jacketed mixer (low-shear) CSM-1500-JKT · top-mount drive · 3-A + EHEDG · CIP-ready · stainless 316L wetted | 1 | $362,000 | 14 wk | $362,000 |
| 2 | 600-gal sanitary kettle (jacketed) CSM-600-KETTLE · dimpled jacket · agitator · 3-A + EHEDG | 3 | $84,500 | 11 wk | $253,500 |
| 3 | Heat-exchanger skid — 300 kW CSM-HX-300 · plate-and-frame · CIP-ready · stainless frame | 1 | $118,000 | 10 wk | $118,000 |
| 4 | Control panel + PLC (Allen-Bradley CompactLogix) PLC-AB-CL · 16-pt I/O · UL 508A · HMI 12" · with Tom's manual CIP override switches | 1 | $58,400 | 8 wk | $58,400 |
| 5 | Instrumentation package Temp / pressure / level / flow sensors · sanitary fittings · with calibration certs | lot | $42,200 | 8 wk | $42,200 |
| 6 | Stainless piping & fittings (304L sanitary) PIPE-304L-SAN · ~210 lin-ft · 2"–4" diameter · welded + clamped joints · documented welds | 210 lf | $185 | 4 wk | $38,850 |
| 7 | — Phase 2: Bottling-line tie-in (Krones) Sanitary pipe runs · valve manifolds · transfer pump skid · controls integration | lot | $248,000 | 22 wk | $248,000 |
| 8 | — Phase 2: Flavour-injection skid Mass-flow controlled injection · 4-recipe library · sanitary CIP path | 1 | $94,500 | 14 wk | $94,500 |
| 9 | — Phase 2: Secondary CIP loop 2-tank automated CIP · 5-step recipe support · pre-rinse / caustic / rinse / acid / final-rinse | 1 | $112,400 | 12 wk | $112,400 |
| 10 | Engineering, project management, documentation Linda Pham (App Engineer, lead) · 320 hrs · 3-A & EHEDG compliance docs · O&M manuals · weld logs | 320 hr | $165 | incl. | $52,800 |
| 11 | Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) — Cascade Portland 3-day on-site at Cascade · IQ/OQ/PQ pre-cut · Aurelia witnesses · sign-off triggers shipment | lump | $28,000 | 1 wk | $28,000 |
| 12 | Site Acceptance Test (SAT) + commissioning 2 controls engineers + 1 mech engineer · 5-day on-site · operator training · production-release sign-off | 120 hr | $210 | 2 wk | $25,200 |
| 13 | Freight, rigging, spares package Truck shipment Portland → San Diego · rigging crew · 1-yr critical-spares kit | lump | $36,400 | incl. | $36,400 |
| 14 | Pre-fabrication site survey + RFQ admin No fee — included as part of proposal terms | 1 | $0 | — | $0 |
Phased delivery — the lead-time conversation that saves the deal
The proposal landed at $1.52M / 36 weeks consolidated. Most equipment vendors lose this deal here — Series-B-pace ramps don't tolerate 36-week single-shipment lead-times. Cascade runs a structured phased-delivery conversation — three options walked through line-by-line — and lands a $1.40M PO with Phase 1 commissioning by week 14. This is the manufacturing conversation.
maya.chen@aureliabev.com, carlos.reyes@aureliabev.com · cc Priya Shah SentOption A — Consolidated: $1.52M / 36 weeks fab + ~5 weeks ship + SAT + commissioning · Aurelia plant production-ready ~week 41
Option B — Phased: Phase 1 $0.92M / 14 weeks fab (mixer / kettles / HX / controls — FAT pass + release for shipment) → ship + install + SAT + commissioning ≈ +5 wks · Aurelia plant production-ready week 19 · Phase 2 $0.48M / 22 weeks from Phase 1 PO (bottling tie-in / flavour / CIP — phase-2 production-ready ~week 27) · Total $1.40M · saves $120K via decoupled sourcing (Phase 2 mid-volume not premium-rush)
Option C — Phase 1 only: $0.92M / 14 weeks fab → production-ready week 19 · revisit Phase 2 in 2027
Options B + C save Aurelia ~22 weeks of runway vs A. Discussion runs 50 minutes longer than scheduled. Greg drops in for the close.
PO Released — Closed Won 🏆
PO PDF + down payment received together triggers the deal to move to Closed Won. Probability flips to 100%. Sales commission unlocks. Forecast updates. Production starts — but the sales pipeline's job is done. The active capital project moves to the project pipeline (Step 13). Phase 2 stays open as a linked deal in PO Pending — it auto-fires when Phase 1 hits SAT.
Webhooks fire — Slack, Epicor ERP, production scheduler
The instant the deal flips to Won, Interface365 fires deal.won webhooks to every subscribed endpoint. Slack celebrates. Epicor Kinetic ERP creates the sales order + work-order skeleton. The internal MS Project tooling adds Aurelia's fab slots to the production schedule (10 wk fab + 3 wk assembly + 1 wk QC = 14 wk lead).
// POST https://api.cascade-erp.local/sales-orders // X-I365-Signature: sha256=... { "event": "deal.won", "timestamp": "2026-03-12T13:45:21Z", "data": { "deal_id": "d_aurel26p1", "name": "Aurelia Beverages — Phase 1 Mixing Line", "po_value": 920000, "total_contract_value": 1400000, "down_payment_captured": 184000, "payment_terms": "20/30/30/20 (PO/Fab/FAT/SAT)", "ae_commission": 84000, "app_engineer_bump": 21000, "sales_order_number": "SO-26-0341", "currency": "USD", "lead_time_weeks": 14, "source_organization": "Park Process Engineering", "account": "Aurelia Beverages", "primary_contact": "Maya Chen", "ae_user_id": "u_dyoon", "app_engineer_id": "u_lpham", "fab_start_date": "2026-03-23", "fat_target": "2026-06-17", "sat_target": "2026-07-08", "production_release_target": "2026-07-28", "phase_2_linked_deal": "d_aurel26p2", "closed_at": "2026-03-12T13:45:21Z" } }
AE: David Yoon. App engineer: Linda Pham. Down payment $184K captured. Phase 2 PO pending ($480K). Production release Phase 1 → fab start week of Mar 23. FAT scheduled Jun 17. SAT target Jul 8.
Phased delivery saved $120K vs the $1.52M consolidated; total contract $1.40M. Commission unlocks at SAT — $84K to David, $21K to Linda. Greg's coffee on Friday.
X-I365-Signature: sha256=... header so receivers can verify authenticity. Failed deliveries auto-retry with exponential backoff. The Settings → Webhooks → Delivery logs page shows every fire with status code, response, and retry count.In production + the post-commissioning expansion conversation
Capital-equipment deals don't end at "Won" — that's where they really begin. The active project lives in its own 7-stage pipeline (Fab → FAT → Ship → Install → SAT → Commissioning → Live). Auto-tasks fire on each milestone with auto-invoicing for the corresponding payment milestone (30/30/20). And 8 weeks post-commissioning, the inevitable conversation: "Tom is loving the line. Can we add a 4th kettle and integrate ERP-side SKU tracking?" Post-commissioning expansion change orders are where the deepest manufacturing margin lives.
Sep 17, eight weeks post-commissioning. Maya emails David: "David — Tom is loving the line. We're already capacity-bound at 220K cases/mo and the SKU expansion is firming faster than we modelled. Can we (a) add a 4th 600-gal kettle and (b) integrate the line into our ERP for SKU-level batch tracking? We need a quote — and ideally a fab slot before year-end." David escalates to Linda same day; Linda writes CO-2026-0341-01: add 1× 600-gal kettle +$84,500, sanitary piping + tie-in +$18,200, ERP integration package (Epicor SKU-tracking middleware + Aurelia-side commissioning) +$214,000, commissioning labour +$23,300. Total: +$340,000.
David presents the CO four days later with a clean line-item breakdown + revised payment schedule (50/50 Phase-CO/Commissioning). Maya + Priya sign on Sep 30. $170,000 (50% of CO) captured immediately as supplemental down payment. Total relationship: $1,400,000 → $1,740,000. Phase 2 PO release stays on its original Sep 14 trigger; the CO fabricates in parallel (4th kettle on the same casting cycle as Phase 2 components — schedule synergy of ~3 weeks). Tagged ● Billable change order.
Without the change-order workflow + project record: this would have been a verbal "we can probably help" that David agrees to, Aurelia counts on, the price gets argued months later. Instead: scope priced in 4 days, signed in writing in 2 weeks, supplemental down payment captured, fab slot reserved transparently. Post-commissioning expansion change orders are typically the highest-margin work in capital-equipment relationships — properly captured, they often add 20-30% to top-line revenue at higher-than-base margins because the relationship + technical integration is already paid for.
Dashboard view — Friday morning, week 30
It's Friday morning, week 30 of the Aurelia project (Oct 23, 2026). Cascade has 6 active capital projects, $7.2M in active project value, and 11 deals in the sales pipeline ($14.4M open, raw). Aurelia's Phase 1 (Live since Jul 28), Phase 2 (PO released Sep 14), and the $340K expansion CO (signed Sep 30) all land on the same dashboard as everyone else's work.
What Cascade set up before any of this worked
Rewind six weeks before the Aurelia RFQ landed. Every screen you just walked through — the source dropdown on the RFQ form, the buying-committee roles, the 8-stage capital sales pipeline, the 7-phase project pipeline, the equipment catalogue, the change-order template — was configured once by Cascade's office manager (Tina Reyes) in Settings. Then it reused itself through every RFQ that followed.
Entity relationship map
How every entity in this walkthrough connects
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