A letter from the mill
The board supplier announces an increase on several grades from next month. Your costs change immediately. Your prices do not, because working out what the increase means for each product and customer takes the commercial team weeks. Some customers are on agreed price lists, some on contracts with review clauses, some on quotes that are years old.
By the time new prices go out, you have absorbed the increase on months of deliveries, and some products are missed entirely.
Repricing is a manual recalculation
Each product's board cost depends on its blank size, the board grade and your allowances, so the same increase affects each product differently. Your MIS may hold the estimates but not in a form that allows a bulk recalculation. Customer prices are in price lists, contract schedules and last quotes, and there is no single view of which products each change affects.
- Board cost per product is recalculated one by one.
- It is unclear which products use the affected grades.
- Customer prices are held in different places.
- Contract review clauses and notice periods are in documents.
- Customer letters are written individually.
Commercial teams also know that a price rise has to be explained. A customer who asks why their shipper went up by a certain amount deserves an answer that comes from the specification, not a flat percentage applied to everything.
What slow repricing costs
Every month between a cost increase and a price change erodes margin on every affected job. Inconsistent increases between customers cause problems when customers compare notes or query the basis. Products that are missed stay underpriced indefinitely. And the commercial team loses weeks to spreadsheets when they could be talking to customers.
Repricing we build
- Each product's board usage is taken from its specification: grade, blank area and allowances, from your MIS or specification records.
- Board price changes are entered once per grade, with an effective date.
- The new board cost for every affected product is calculated, alongside its other costs, and compared with its current selling price to show the margin before and after.
- Customer prices, from price lists, contracts and recent quotes, are collected in one view, with notice periods and review terms recorded as fields.
- You set the rule for the increase, for example passing on the board cost exactly or protecting a target margin, and preview the result per product and per customer before anything is sent.
- Approved new prices update your MIS or price lists from the effective date, and a letter per customer with a schedule of new prices is drafted for the account manager to check and send.
| Step | Now | With repricing |
|---|---|---|
| Which products are affected? | Search by hand | Every product using the grade |
| New cost per product | Recalculated one by one | Calculated from the spec |
| Customer price view | Several places | One view with terms |
| Deciding the increase | Spreadsheet session | Preview of your rule |
| Letters and price lists | Written individually | Drafted for review |
Price changes that keep pace with costs
When a board increase is announced, you can see its effect on every product and customer within a day or two. Increases are consistent and justified by each product's specification, which helps in customer conversations. Nothing is missed. And the same tool works in reverse when board prices fall, which customers increasingly ask about.
Is repricing a months long exercise?
- Board increases take months to reach your prices.
- You are not sure which products use each board grade.
- Customer prices are in several places.
- Some products were missed in the last price increase.
- Customers have queried inconsistent increases.