Friday afternoon, bid opening on Tuesday: An electrical contractor sends a luminaire list with 38 types from a DIALux design, plus a bill of quantities that names a competitor's brand as the specified brand. Quote creation at lighting manufacturers rarely fails at the calculation but at the matching: which of your own luminaires, in which variant, meets each line item? AI can now prepare exactly this matching, so inside sales reviews instead of searching.

Key takeaways

• Requests to lighting manufacturers usually arrive as a luminaire list (Excel from DIALux or Relux), as a BoQ (PDF or GAEB) or as an informal email with a plan excerpt.

• The real effort lies in the variant logic: luminous flux, color temperature, color rendering, optics, controls (e.g. DALI), emergency lighting, mounting type and housing color are often packed into one type code.

• With brands specified from other manufacturers, a clean equivalent offer with a traceable attribute comparison decides.

• AI software like Mercura reads the list or BoQ, matches each line item to one of your own articles including the variant, and flags uncertain line items. It does not replace the lighting design itself.

• Mercura works with several lighting manufacturers; the final review stays with inside sales.

Which requests reach the inside sales team of a lighting manufacturer?

The inside sales team of a lighting manufacturer typically handles three kinds of requests: luminaire lists from lighting design, bills of quantities from tenders and short project requests by email. On top of that come orders and call-offs from ongoing projects. Each kind has its own format and its own pitfalls.

Luminaire lists from lighting designers. Lighting designers often work with DIALux or Relux. DIAL describes that in DIALux, luminaire and room lists can be exported as an Excel file as well as CSV, XML or JSON, as a feature of DIALux Pro (DIAL: Pro Feature Export). These lists then arrive at the manufacturer as a request, often reworked.

Bills of quantities. For projects with a tender, the BoQ comes as a GAEB file or PDF, for a luminaire tender usually as part of the electrical trade package. The luminaire line items have long long texts with minimum technical values and often a specified brand with the addition "or equal".

Project requests by email. Electrical contractors or electrical distributors inquire about a project: "Office building, 3 floors, 625 grid ceiling, please quote your panel solution with DALI." With it, a floor plan PDF or a photo of the plan.

Why is quote creation at lighting manufacturers so time-consuming?

Quote creation at lighting manufacturers is time-consuming because a luminaire family often has a great many variants and the request rarely names your own article number. Inside sales has to derive the matching variant from attributes such as luminous flux, color temperature, optics and controls and add accessories, line item by line item.

Typical time sinks:

• Decoding type codes. An article number often encodes length, luminous flux package, color temperature, color rendering, optics, driver and housing color. If the request only says "LED light strip 4000 K, approx. 6,000 lm, DALI", someone has to assemble the matching code.

• Forgetting accessories. Mounting frames, suspension sets, end caps, connectors for light strips, emergency lighting modules or sensors rarely appear in the list but belong in the quote.

• Checking limit values. Requirements such as glare limitation (UGR), color rendering (Ra) or ingress protection (IP) must be met. For screen and office workstations, DGUV Information 215-410, for example, specifies a UGR value of no more than 19 and color rendering of at least Ra 80 (DGUV Information 215-410, section 8.4.2).

• Translating other brands. If a competitor is named in the BoQ, you have to find your own equivalent luminaire, including dimensions and ceiling cutout for recessed luminaires.

Example: What a typical luminaire list looks like

The following list is an anonymized, simplified example of what manufacturers often receive from lighting designers or installers.

What inside sales has to make of it: map L1 to the matching panel variant with a DALI driver and grid ceiling installation; for L2, split off the emergency lighting variant for 6 of the 64 units; for L3, break the light strip length down into mounting tracks, driver carriers, end caps and suspensions; for L4, check an equivalent offer to the other brand. From 4 lines of the list, a multiple of that number of quote line items results.

Which attributes decide the right variant?

For luminaires, the right variant is decided mainly by photometric values, form factor and electrics: luminous flux, color temperature, color rendering, light distribution, dimensions, ingress protection and controls. If one of these values is missing from the request, the line item is not clear and should be flagged as a query instead of estimated.

How do you handle specified brands and equivalent offers?

With a specified brand from a competitor, you offer your equivalent luminaire and document the equivalence with an attribute comparison. What matters are the values required in the long text, not the name of the specified brand. The more clearly you name the deviations, the easier it is for the bidder and the planner to review.

In practice, that means: for every line item with another brand, a comparison of required and offered (luminous flux, power, color temperature, Ra, UGR, dimensions, IP, controls). For recessed luminaires, the ceiling cutout is often the hardest criterion, because a deviation means follow-up costs in drywall work. Whether an equivalent offer in the BoQ counts as an equivalent main bid or as an alternative bid is governed by the tender documents.

Important: photometric equivalence does not result from luminous flux alone. If the light distribution differs, a new calculation in DIALux or Relux may be necessary. That remains the task of the lighting design or your application engineering.

How does AI support quote creation at lighting manufacturers?

AI supports quote creation at lighting manufacturers by reading luminaire lists, BoQs and emails, matching each line item to your own catalog including the variant and checking compliance with the required values. Inside sales gets a draft quote with flagged uncertainties and decides what goes out.

Mercura, an AI software for quote and order automation in technical sales, specifically handles the following:

1. Reading in any format: Excel luminaire list, GAEB, PDF, scan, photo or email text.

2. Matching to your own catalog: Each line item is matched to an article, also based on the long texts and technical data sheets. Incomplete product data is not an obstacle, because Mercura also reads data sheets and catalog texts.

3. Specification check: Whether the suggested variant meets the required values is checked per line item. Line items without a clear solution are flagged, not guessed.

4. Ranking by margin: If several variants fit, the compliant options are sorted by margin. Pricing itself stays in the ERP.

5. Handover: The approved draft is written to the ERP or exported as GAEB/PDF. Open quotes go to follow-up.

The average match hit rate is 92%, depending on customer and catalog. Mercura works with several lighting manufacturers. How manufacturers handle BoQ line items is shown by the REHAU success story: product suggestions for up to 98% of BoQ line items and up to 60% time savings on quotes. REHAU is a building technology manufacturer, not a lighting manufacturer; the principle of line item matching is the same, though.

Where does AI reach its limits with luminaire requests?

AI reaches its limits with luminaire requests where photometric design or a custom build is called for. It matches line items to existing products, but it does not calculate a lighting design and does not engineer a custom luminaire. It should recognize these cases and pass them on to the right people.

To be honest, an AI solution fits less well if:

• Your business consists mostly of custom luminaires. If almost every request requires engineering, a configurator or your application engineering is the better lever.

• You handle very few, very large projects. Then automating the matching pays off less than close support from the lighting design.

• Your sales mainly run through lighting designer specification. Then the value arises earlier in the process, in the design in DIALux or Relux, not only at quote creation.

For manufacturers with many standard variants, recurring luminaire lists and a high share of equivalent offers, however, the lever is large. How Mercura evaluates entire tenders and bills of quantities is shown on the Quotes and tenders page.

What about orders and call-offs from ongoing projects?

Orders from ongoing luminaire projects can be automated just like quotes: the AI reads the order, matches each line to your own catalog and writes the order to the ERP after review. Lines that are not clear are flagged instead of guessed.

Especially with staggered call-offs per construction phase, unclear orders are common: the installer orders "panel as per quote, 4000 K", although the quote contained two panel variants with 4000 K. Mercura matches customer descriptions and old article numbers, adds surcharge lines such as freight and packaging and books the order into the ERP, for example SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365. More in the article Automate order entry and on the Order processing page.

Bring a real luminaire list or a real bill of quantities: in 30 minutes we show you how Mercura handles it in your process. Book a meeting

Conclusion

Quote creation at lighting manufacturers is mainly matching work: translating attributes from luminaire lists and BoQs into the right variant of your own catalog, adding accessories, comparing other brands cleanly. This is exactly where AI takes the searching off inside sales. Lighting design and custom luminaires stay with specialists. If you have many standard variants and equivalent offers, you gain time for more answered requests. The Solutions for manufacturers page gives an overview of all building blocks.

Further reading

• Quotes and tenders: turn every request into a quote

• AI for Heating Manufacturers: Answer Requests Faster

• Quote Creation for Building Materials Manufacturers: Roofing and Facade

• Customer story: REHAU (building technology manufacturer)

• Mercura vs. ePlato: Platform or In-House Processing?

Frequently asked questions

Can AI process a DIALux or Relux luminaire list directly? Yes, if the list is available as Excel, CSV, PDF or scan, Mercura can read it in and match each line to your own catalog. The lighting calculation itself stays in DIALux or Relux.

What does a lighting designer do, and why does it matter for manufacturers? A lighting designer determines which luminaires with which values are used in which room, often with DIALux or Relux. Their luminaire list is often the basis of the request for manufacturers and is sometimes already marked with a specified brand.

How do you offer an equivalent luminaire to a specified brand? You compare the values required in the long text with the values of your own luminaire and name deviations clearly. Whether it counts as a main bid or an alternative bid is determined by the tender documents.

What happens if details are missing in the request, such as the color temperature? The line item is flagged as uncertain and not guessed. Inside sales then decides whether to ask or to offer a standard variant with a note.

Does this also work with GAEB files from tenders? Yes, Mercura reads GAEB files and can export the priced quote again as GAEB or PDF. The basics are explained in the article GAEB format.

How quickly can this be tested with your own data? A technical test on your own data is usually possible within two working days. First workflows usually run in less than four weeks.