Predictika · heat exchangers: exchanger type, skid package, service plan, heat duty in kW, options and contract years

A quoting assistant's heat exchanger quote, checked before it goes to the customer

A quoting assistant puts together a heat exchanger quote for an industrial customer and says it is ready to send. Before it goes out, the assistant sends it to Predictika's validator, which checks the exchanger type, skid package, service plan, heat duty, options, contract years, quantity and discount together, recomputes the contract value, and reports every problem it finds in one pass.

Scope: Heat exchanger quotes in the style of Alfa Laval: four exchanger types, three skid packages and three service plans, the number of units, the heat duty in kW, two options and a service contract of 1 to 7 years. Prices are illustrative estimates in US dollars, not Alfa Laval price lists. See everything this validator covers

This validator checks any quote of this kind, not just the scenarios shown below.

  • Heat exchangers and skid packages — gasketed plate, brazed plate, fully welded and shell and tube heat exchangers, with basic, industrial and heavy duty alloy skid packages. The basic skid package cannot support the fully welded exchanger.
  • Heat duty — the heat duty in kW per unit must be within the rating of the exchanger and the capacity of the skid package, and above 10,000 kW it needs a thermal engineering review.
  • Options and service plans — the titanium plate set and remote performance monitoring are only available on some exchanger types. The basic, plus and premier service plans each have their own discount and minimum number of units.
  • Term and order size — a contract of 1 to 7 years, with a finance review above 5 years. An order is limited to 20 units, and above 8 units it needs a project review.
  • Discounts and order value — service plan, volume and extra discounts add up: a rep can give up to 12 percent in total, a sales director must approve above that, and 20 percent is the limit. An order above USD 3,000,000 needs a deal desk review.
  • The stated net total — a check that the net total the assistant states matches the contract value the validator computes.

Not checked: other Alfa Laval products such as separators, pumps or marine systems, real list prices, thermal and hydraulic design calculations, regional pressure vessel codes, or tax and multi-currency pricing. This page is an independent demonstration built by Predictika; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alfa Laval.

The quoting assistantPuts the heat exchanger quote together from the customer's request and says it is ready to send.
Predictika validatorChecks every rule at once and returns the verdict, each finding, and the computed figures.

7 scenarios in 3 groups · each group runs from the agent’s first attempt to the outcome · click one to switch

What the agent proposes

The quoting assistant says

Illustrative agent statement. The validator receives the structured request below.

Proposing agent: quoting assistant (scripted)

Before sending, the agent must call Recorded run

Predictika validator


      

        
        
        
      

      
Waiting for the call.

      
    

  

  
  

    
Where a rules-based CPQ gets this wrong
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Our assessment of what a typical rules-based CPQ (product rules, price rules and validation rules) does with the same cases. It is a judgment about effort and reliability, not a claim that nothing can be built.

    
What the validator caughtA rules-based CPQPredictika
A minimum that depends on the service planOnly with workarounds
Each plan has its own minimum number of units, so every plan needs its own rule, and a change of quantity or plan has to be re-tested against all of them.		The plan and the quantity are in one request and every minimum is checked together on every call.
Limits that depend on each otherOnly with care
Heat duty is limited by the exchanger and again by the skid package, and options depend on the exchanger, so these look like separate fields to a rule list.		Exchanger, skid package, heat duty and options are checked against each other on every call.
A review that depends on the totalOnly with care
Service plan, volume and extra discounts add up, and the approval band depends on the sum, so a rule that checks one discount at a time misses it.		The total discount is computed and the approval rules are applied to it.
The net total the assistant statesOnly with workarounds
The stated total has to be recomputed from the catalog, plan discounts and years of service, which a validation rule can hold only by repeating the whole price logic.		The validator computes the contract value and compares it with the stated total.
Every problem returned in one answerOnly with workarounds
Form checks usually stop at the first failing field, so a rep fixes one error and meets the next.		All findings come back together, whatever order the choices arrived in.

  

  

    
What this validator catches: findings from its test cases
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Every rule is checked on every call, in any order the choices arrive; one problem never hides another. Blocking findings stop the quote; approval findings need a person to sign off; everything else is computed.

    
1A contract of 6 years is longer than 5 years; finance must approve the price lock.
2A heat duty of 12000 is above 10000; a thermal engineering review is required.
39 heat exchangers are above 8; a project review is required.
4Total discount of 16 percent is above the 12 percent a rep can give; sales director must approve.
5A contract of 7 years is longer than 5 years; finance must approve the price lock.
618 heat exchangers are above 8; a project review is required.
7Total discount of 15 percent is above the 12 percent a rep can give; sales director must approve.
8Order value of USD 3105900.0 is above USD 3000000 and needs a deal desk review.
925 heat exchangers are outside the 1 to 20 allowed.
10The titanium plate set is not available on the Brazed plate heat exchanger.
11The remote performance monitoring is not available on the Brazed plate heat exchanger.
12The Basic skid package cannot support the fully welded heat exchanger.
13A heat duty of 900 is outside the 10 to 700 range of the Brazed plate heat exchanger.
14A heat duty of 4000 is above the 3000 limit of the Basic skid package.
156 heat exchangers are below the 10 heat exchangers minimum of the Premier service plan.
16A contract of 8 years is outside the 1 to 7 years allowed.
1712 heat exchangers are above 8; a project review is required.
18Total discount of 17 percent is above the 12 percent a rep can give; sales director must approve.
19The quoted net total of USD 167400.0 does not match the USD 186000.0 the validator computed.
203 heat exchangers are below the 4 heat exchangers minimum of the Plus service plan.

  

  

    
Scenarios and results
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The recorded result of the validator for each scenario on this page: the request the AI agent sent, the verdict, and every finding, in the order they appear above.

    
1. Contract term: An 8 year service term on a two-unit order

    
The agent's request. Quote for Lakeshore Dairy Cooperative: 2 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the basic service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 8 years. Net total USD 296,000. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Contract term over the maximum. A contract of 8 years is outside the 1 to 7 years allowed.
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2. Contract term: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Quote for Lakeshore Dairy Cooperative: 2 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the basic service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 6 years. Net total USD 252,000. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Needs approval.

    
    
      
  • Finance approval for a long term. A contract of 6 years is longer than 5 years; finance must approve the price lock.
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3. Contract term: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Quote for Lakeshore Dairy Cooperative: 2 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the basic service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 3 years. Net total USD 186,000. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
4. Service plan minimum, premier: A premier service plan for 6 units

    
The agent's request. Quote for Northgate Brewing Company: 6 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the premier service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 3 years. Net total USD 491,040. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Below the plan minimum. 6 heat exchangers are below the 10 heat exchangers minimum of the Premier service plan.
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5. Service plan minimum, premier: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Quote for Northgate Brewing Company: 6 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the plus service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 3 years. Net total USD 513,360. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
6. Service plan minimum, plus: A plus service plan for 3 units

    
The agent's request. Quote for Redfern Paper Mill: 3 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the plus service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 3 years. Net total USD 265,050. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Below the plan minimum. 3 heat exchangers are below the 4 heat exchangers minimum of the Plus service plan.
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7. Service plan minimum, plus: The agent resubmits after fixing the errors

    
The agent's request. Quote for Redfern Paper Mill: 4 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the plus service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 3 years. Net total USD 353,400. It is ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

  

  

    
Narration transcript
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The text of the narrated walkthrough, step by step.

    
    
      
  1. Welcome to a demo of Predictika's Validator. A quoting assistant puts together a heat exchanger quote for an industrial customer and says it is ready to send. Before it goes out, the assistant sends it to Predictika's validator, which checks the exchanger type, skid package, service plan, heat duty, options, contract years, quantity and discount together, recomputes the contract value, and reports every problem it finds in one pass.
    2. 
      
  2. I will start with the first request by the agent.
    3. 
      
  3. The agent says. Quote for Lakeshore Dairy Cooperative: 2 gasketed plate heat exchangers with industrial skid packages on the basic service plan, a heat duty of 2,500 kW, for 8 years. Net total USD 296,000. The rest of the request is on screen.
    4. 
      
  4. Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
    5. 
      
  5. Blocked, with one finding, all in one answer. A contract of 8 years is outside the 1 to 7 years allowed.
    6. 
      
  6. The validator returned one blocking finding in one answer. A check that reads one field at a time would pass most of this; it shows only when the choices in the quote are checked against each other.
    7. 
      
  7. What this shows: for limits that depend on each other, a rules-based CPQ is error-prone for this.
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  8. Now the agent resubmits.
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  9. The corrected request. It changes the contract years to 6.
    10. 
      
  10. It calls the validator again.
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  11. Not blocked, but held for a person.
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  12. The one blocking finding is cleared; one approval remains for a person: finance approval for a long term.
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  13. The agent resubmits once more.
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  14. The revised request. It changes the contract years to 3.
    15. 
      
  15. It calls the validator once more.
    16. 
      
  16. This time the validator clears it.
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  17. The earlier finding is cleared.
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  18. One problem caught in one call, fixed in two passes, and a clean quote. That is the value of Predictika's validator: catching mistakes before they reach the customer. Now you can try the other scenarios yourself.
    19.