A faster, smarter RFQ process: Nordes EMS transforms quoting with Luminovo

Nordes EMS, a fast-growing EMS provider based in Poland, has spent the last years expanding its production footprint, investing in state-of-the-art machinery, and serving an increasingly international customer base. With that growth came a sharp rise in RFQs. What once worked with Excel and manual sourcing suddenly turned into a daily challenge.

“Before Luminovo, a single quote could take a full day […]. Some days we had twenty tabs open just to price a single BOM. A full day could disappear into one quote.” — Sabrina Sliusarska, Purchasing and Pricing Specialist at Nordes EMS

Nordes EMS prides itself on responsiveness and high-quality work, but even for a dynamic company, the quoting workflow eventually strained under the rising demand.

“We invest in new machines and services all the time to provide the best quality to our customers, but at some point, our quoting workflow simply couldn’t keep up with the speed of growth.” — Sabrina Sliusarska, Purchasing and Pricing Specialist at Nordes EMS

The breaking point: When growth meets manual work 

The process before Luminovo was typical for many EMS companies: a clever Excel sheet, heavy use of supplier websites, and a lot of tacit knowledge in people’s heads.

BOMs often arrived in inconsistent formats. Some customers listed every designator separately, turning a manageable file into hundreds of lines. Cleaning such BOMs could take up to an hour before pricing even began.

“We spent roughly five minutes per line item. Cleaning the file, searching suppliers, comparing currencies and then double-checking everything because even a small mistake could cost us real money or even a customer.” — Sabrina Sliusarska, Purchasing and Pricing Specialist at Nordes

Supplier research required up to twenty browser tabs per BOM. 

“We had to remember which supplier was best for which manufacturer. There was no way to know who had the best deal without checking manually every single time.” — Sabrina Sliusarska, Purchasing and Pricing Specialist at Nordes EMS

Nordes EMS typically achieved a 4-5 day turnaround and aimed for seven days maximum, but with quoting volume growing by around 30% every year (and once even doubling), the process became a clear bottleneck.

Choosing a tool that scales with the company, not complexity

When evaluating different solutions, the difference between vendors became clear very quickly when sending their BOMs to test the different tools.

“With some providers, it was obvious their technology was stuck in the past,” says Sabrina. “They struggled with our BOMs and their interfaces looked like they would slow us down.”

Luminovo felt fundamentally different:

• A modern and intuitive interface. 

• Fast interpretation of complex BOMs powered by AI.

• Built-in part alternative suggestions. 

• Automated supplier transparency and pricing.

“For us in the team, the fact that Luminovo already had the supplier integrations and workflows prepared was a big plus,” Sabrina says. “Our CEO immediately saw the potential. What convinced us was that Luminovo understood how EMS quoting actually works and everyone, even people without an electronics background, can work with it.”

30% less active quoting time, more room for complex work

One year after go-live, the impact was clearly measurable. The active time spent on quoting dropped by about 30%, and many standard projects that previously took a full day now fit into half a day. This freed up capacity for complex or strategic work without increasing team size.

“We still care about every detail,” says Sabrina. “But Luminovo removes the repetitive work so we can focus on what actually matters, and make better decisions.”

The quality of decisions improved as well. With total landed cost and price breaks visible at a glance, Nordes EMS can now spot cost-optimal options that previously flew under the radar. Sometimes this means buying slightly higher quantities, other times shifting volume to a different distributor.

“In some cases, that transparency is exactly what helps us win a project. Before, we simply couldn’t search that deeply.”
— Sabrina Sliusarska, Purchasing & Pricing Specialist at Nordes EMS

For urgent RFQs, the improvement is even more visible: Nordes EMS can now react within hours instead of waiting in line behind larger jobs, strengthening both customer satisfaction and competitiveness.

Customer and supplier relationships: Strengthened trust on both sides

The improved internal efficiency quickly translated into external value. Existing customers appreciate faster responses and more consistent logic. New customers experience Nordes EMS as a partner that moves quickly, without compromising care or precision.

“Our sales received the feedback that our customers appreciate that we react faster and more precisely now.” — Sabrina Sliusarska, Purchasing and Pricing Specialist at Nordes EMS

Suppliers benefit, too. With higher transparency and better data, Nordes EMS can steer demand toward distributors who respond quickly and support automated workflows.

“Over time, we naturally gravitate toward suppliers who react quickly and support our processes,” Sabrina explains. “It’s beneficial for both sides.” 

A partnership that grows with Nordes EMS

One aspect stands out beyond the KPIs: the collaboration with Luminovo as an innovation partner.

“It feels like a win-win,” Sabrina says. “We share a lot of feedback and see that it’s taken seriously. We can really feel that the tool is being developed together with customers like us.”

And the journey isn’t over. Nordes EMS is currently introducing a new ERP system and plans to integrate it more deeply with Luminovo.

“We see the future in Luminovo’s tool” Sabrina concludes. “The roadmap is exciting, the new features keep coming, and each step makes our work more efficient. We’re looking forward to what’s next.”