Predictika · Welding system quotes: power source, feeder, gun, lead time and discount

An AI sales agent's welding system quote, checked before it goes out

An AI sales agent prepares a welding system quote for a fictional fabrication shop, with the total price it expects. Before the quote goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika’s validator, which checks it against power source, input power, duty cycle, feeder, gun, lead time and discount rules, compares the total the agent states with the one it computes, and returns a verdict with every reason. All prices are illustrative estimates in US dollars.

Scope: Industrial arc welding systems: power sources with wire feeders, guns and carts, for fabrication shops and manufacturers. See everything this validator covers

This validator checks and prices welding system quotes built from power sources, wire feeders, MIG guns and carts. It handles any quote built from those parts, not just the scenarios shown below.

  • Power sources — Stick, TIG, MIG and pulse MIG power sources from compact 120 V and 230 V units to 350 A three-phase systems, checked for process, input power, output and duty cycle.
  • Feeders and guns — Wire feeders and MIG guns, checked for family, wire size and current rating.
  • Pricing and approvals — Per-system price with optional cart, volume and extra discounts, discount authority, lead time against the customer need date, and a check that the total price the agent states matches the validator figure.

It does not cover other welding equipment makers, real prices, specifications or contracts, or any real customer.

The AI sales agentBuilds the quote from the conversation and says it is ready.
Predictika validatorChecks the quote against the product and contract rules and returns every finding it has.

8 scenarios in 4 groups · each group runs from the agent’s first attempt to the outcome · click one to switch

What the agent proposes

The AI sales agent says

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

Proposing agent: AI sales agent (scripted)

Before sending, the agent must call Recorded run

Predictika validator


      

        
        
        
      

      
Waiting for the call.

      
    

  

  
    

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

    
What the validator catchesTypical rules-based CPQPredictika
Power source, process and input power togetherOnly with care
Process support, input voltage and maximum output depend on the power source, and each combination is its own product rule.		All limits are evaluated together on every call and each failure is returned with its reason.
Duty cycle at the weld currentOnly with workarounds
The rated duty cycle falls with the square of the current, so a quote at a different current needs a calculation, not a lookup.		The duty check is computed from the choices on every quote.
Feeder, gun and wire matchingOnly with care
Feeder families, gun ratings and wire sizes depend on one another and on the power source.		Compatibility is a catalog attribute checked in the same pass.
Lead time against the need dateOnly with care
Comparing a catalog lead time with a customer date means one more rule per product line.		Lead time is a catalog attribute checked against the need date.
Approval stepsOnly with care
100 percent duty needs an engineering review and discounts above rep authority need a person, and the release must stay blocked until they sign off.		Approval items are returned with the verdict and the release step is refused until the approval is recorded.
Pricing, discount and a total that reconcilesOnly with workarounds
A per-system price, a volume discount from 10 units and an extra discount with its own ceilings are easy to get out of step with the quote total.		The same computed figures feed the line items and the total.
The total the agent statesOnly with workarounds
Comparing a stated figure with a computed one means a separate rule per quote layout, and price rules rarely run on stated figures.		The stated total is a field in the request and is checked against the computed total.
Every problem returned in one answerOnly with workarounds
Rules tend to fire as the quote is saved, so a rep often fixes one error and meets the next.		All findings come back together, whatever order the choices arrived in.

  

  

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

    
RuleEffectWhat it checks
1blockThe power source must support the welding process (stick, TIG, MIG, flux-core or pulse MIG)
2blockThe power source must run on the input power (120 V, 230 V single-phase or 460 V three-phase)
3blockThe weld current cannot exceed the maximum output of the power source
4blockOn 120 V input the output is limited to 140 A
5blockThe duty cycle at the weld current cannot exceed the power source rating, scaled by the square of the current
6approvalA 100 percent duty application (continuous or robotic) needs an application engineering review
7blockWire processes need a MIG gun, and the gun rating cannot be below the weld current
8blockThe wire feeder must be in the same family as the power source
9blockThe wire size cannot exceed the capacity of the feeder
10blockThe lead time cannot be longer than the customer can wait
11block, approvalThe discount ceiling depends on the order size (10 percent, or 15 percent from 10 units); above the 5 percent a rep can give it needs approval
12computedPrice is the power source, feeder, gun and optional cart per system, a volume discount from 10 units and the requested extra discount
13blockThe total price the agent states must match the validator figure within USD 1

  

  

    
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. Input power: Deltaweld 350 on 230 V

    
The agent's request. A Deltaweld 350 MIG welding system with the Miller 8VS wire feeder and a Bernard BTB 300 A gun, for 250 A at 60 percent duty on single-phase 230 V input power, needed in 2 weeks. Total price USD 7,320.00. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Input power not supported by the power source. The Deltaweld 350 cannot run on P230_1 input power.
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2. Input power: Three-phase 460 V

    
The agent's request. A Deltaweld 350 MIG welding system with the Miller 8VS wire feeder and a Bernard BTB 300 A gun, for 250 A at 60 percent duty on three-phase 460 V input power, needed in 2 weeks. Total price USD 7,320.00. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
3. Feeder match: 8VS feeder on XMT 350

    
The agent's request. An XMT 350 FieldPro MIG welding system with the Miller 8VS wire feeder and a Bernard BTB 300 A gun, for 250 A at 60 percent duty on three-phase 460 V input power, needed in 4 weeks. Total price USD 9,220.00. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Wire feeder does not match the power source. The Miller 8VS wire feeder (Std family) does not work with the XMT 350 FieldPro (ArcReach family).
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4. Feeder match: ArcReach feeder

    
The agent's request. An XMT 350 FieldPro MIG welding system with the SuitCase ArcReach 12 wire feeder and a Bernard BTB 300 A gun, for 250 A at 60 percent duty on three-phase 460 V input power, needed in 4 weeks. Total price USD 10,420.00. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Allowed.

    
5. Lead time and discount: 2 weeks, 20 percent

    
The agent's request. A Continuum 350 MIG welding system with the Continuum 500 feeder and a Bernard Q400 gun, for 300 A at 60 percent duty on three-phase 460 V input power, with a 20 percent discount, needed in 2 weeks. Total price USD 12,168.00. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Lead time is longer than the customer can wait. Lead time 6 weeks misses the 2 week need date.
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  • Extra discount beyond the ceiling. 20 percent discount exceeds the 10 percent maximum for 1 units.
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6. Lead time and discount: 8 weeks, 7 percent

    
The agent's request. A Continuum 350 MIG welding system with the Continuum 500 feeder and a Bernard Q400 gun, for 300 A at 60 percent duty on three-phase 460 V input power, with a 7 percent discount, needed in 8 weeks. Total price USD 14,145.30. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Needs approval.

    
    
      
  • Discount above rep authority needs approval. 7 percent discount is above the 5 percent rep authority; approvable up to 10 percent.
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7. The total the agent states: Stated total too low

    
The agent's request. Two Millermatic 211 MIG welding systems with the Miller M-150 gun, for 140 A at 30 percent duty on single-phase 230 V input power, needed in 2 weeks. Total price USD 3,298.00. Ready to send.

    
Verdict: Blocked.

    
    
      
  • Stated total differs from the validator figure. Stated total price does not match: the agent stated USD 3298.0; the validator computes USD 3880.0.
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8. The total the agent states: Stated total corrected

    
The agent's request. Two Millermatic 211 MIG welding systems with the Miller M-150 gun, for 140 A at 30 percent duty on single-phase 230 V input power, needed in 2 weeks. Total price USD 3,880.00. 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. An AI sales agent prepares a welding system quote for a fictional fabrication shop, with the total price it expects. Before the quote goes out, the agent sends it to Predictika’s validator, which checks it against power source, input power, duty cycle, feeder, gun, lead time and discount rules, compares the total the agent states with the one it computes, and returns a verdict with every reason. All prices are illustrative estimates in US dollars.
    2. 
      
  2. I will start with the first request by the agent.
    3. 
      
  3. The agent says. A Deltaweld 350 MIG welding system with the Miller 8VS wire feeder and a Bernard BTB 300 A gun, for 250 A at 60 percent duty on single-phase 230 V input power. Total price USD 7,320.00. The rest of the request is on screen.
    4. 
      
  4. Before it goes out, the agent calls the validator.
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  5. Blocked, with one finding, all in one answer. The Deltaweld 350 cannot run on P230_1 input power.
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  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.
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  7. What this shows: for power source, process and input power together, 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 Input Power to P460 3.
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  10. It calls the validator again.
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  11. This time the validator clears it.
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  12. The validator also returns the line-item quote, on screen.
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  13. The earlier finding is cleared, and the validator's total, USD 7,320.00, matches the quote.
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  14. One problem caught in one call, fixed in one pass, and a clean $7,320 quote. That is the value of Predictika's validator: catching mistakes before they reach the customer.
    15.