Production questions,
answered clearly
Quotes, with context
Benchmark the complete offer against real production data — not unit price in isolation.
Ready before quoting
Catch missing product detail before it becomes a padded price, bad sample or delay.
AI where it helps
Use automation for checks, flags and next actions. Keep commercial decisions with your team.
How quote benchmarking works
A cheaper unit price is not automatically a better quote. makea helps you compare what is actually being offered, what is missing and where a cost needs a closer look.
makea checks a supplier quote against real production cost data and the information in your product brief. The aim is to show whether the price and structure look reasonable for the product, quantity and specification you are asking for — before you commit to sampling or production.
The check starts with the inputs that drive production cost: product type, materials and trims, construction detail, order quantity, sampling requirements and the supplier’s quoted line items. It can only benchmark what has been specified, so missing or vague inputs are surfaced rather than treated as reliable data.
No. The lowest number can hide missing development, quality or fulfilment costs. makea is designed to help you compare the complete offer alongside MOQ, lead time, readiness, quality controls and supplier fit — not turn production into a race to the lowest unit price.
Common review points include unclear inclusions, missing cost lines, assumptions that do not match the tech pack, and prices that need an explanation against the production inputs. A flag is a prompt to investigate; it is not an accusation that a supplier is wrong.
No. It supports the decision; your team stays in control. makea gives you a consistent comparison, records the quote and its context, and makes the next question clearer. You decide which supplier, trade-offs and commercial terms are right for the brand.
Yes. Subscription plans let you bring your own suppliers into the workflow with no commission on their production. That means existing and newly sourced suppliers can be managed through the same quoting, sampling, production and QC process.
What the tech pack readiness check does
The readiness step catches ambiguity before a factory has to price around it — when fixes are faster, cheaper and less likely to cause a bad sample.
It is a structured review of whether a manufacturer has enough clear information to quote and develop the product. makea flags missing or unclear details before the quote request moves forward, reducing avoidable back-and-forth later.
A workable pack normally includes a flat sketch, graded measurements, fabric and trim details, colourways, labels, packaging notes and construction call-outs. The exact depth depends on the product, but the factory should not have to guess what it is making.
No. It is a practical production gate, not a formal certification. It shows what is ready, what is missing and what should be clarified so you can decide whether to fix the pack, ask for development support or proceed with a clearly stated assumption.
You do not need to hide the gaps. The readiness step identifies them so they can be resolved before suppliers quote. Incomplete packs often lead factories to price defensively, make different assumptions or produce samples that need avoidable rounds of correction.
You can start organising the product and development work in makea, but a workable specification is needed before a supplier can give a dependable production quote. The system helps make that handover explicit rather than sending an idea into an open-ended concierge process.
Clear specifications reduce unknowns. When materials, measurements, construction and packaging are explicit, suppliers can price the same brief and makea can compare the resulting quotes on a more consistent basis. Better inputs make the benchmark more useful.
Pay as you produce vs subscription
Start without software overhead, then move to a flat run-based plan when regular production makes percentage fees the expensive option.
On Free, there is no monthly subscription and no card is required. You pay when you use a production service: 12% of PO value on production, reducing to 10% on repeat orders; 20% of sampling invoices, with a minimum; and fulfilment from 10% of fulfilment charges. If you produce nothing in a month, you pay nothing.
Free includes access to the agile supply-chain network, unlimited quotes, the end-to-end workflow from tech pack through restock, the management and document toolkits, Beeboo AI support, makea concierge, essential integrations and unlimited team members.
Subscription replaces percentage commission on production with a flat allowance based on production runs. It also adds your own suppliers on-platform, the Production Manager AI Copilot trained on your data, priority migration and concierge support, bespoke integrations, priority automation access, a data ring fence and payment automation at cost.
The current rule of thumb is around £10,000 in annual production spend. Below that, service fees can cost less than a subscription. Above it, regular production often benefits from a flat run-based price because the software cost no longer rises as a percentage of every order.
A run is the production job managed through the platform against your plan allowance. Subscription bands are sized around annual run volume — currently up to 12, 45, 100 or 220 runs — so the plan can follow the way your team actually schedules production.
Production does not stop. Additional runs are billed at the plan’s overage rate: currently £95 on Launch, £89 on Grow and £79 on Pro or Scale. If a higher plan would cost less than repeated overages, makea flags the better fit.
No. makea includes unlimited team members. Plan size is based on production activity, not how many people need visibility, approvals or access to the workflow.
Not on a subscription. Your own suppliers carry no production commission. A supplier sourced through the makea network can carry a first-order introduction fee that tapers to zero as the relationship becomes yours.
Yes. Subscription has a one-off, cost-recovery setup fee based on plan size and the migration work required. It covers an included number of suppliers and integrations, with clear additions for extra suppliers, integrations and seasons of production history. The live pricing calculator shows the current total before you commit.
Use whichever number you know more confidently. Both selectors map to the same subscription band. Runs are usually the tighter planning input; revenue is useful when production volume is still approximate. You can change plans as the business grows.
What changes once production starts
makea keeps the operational record in one place so the next action does not live in someone’s inbox, spreadsheet or WhatsApp thread.
The same workflow carries the product through sampling, approvals, production planning, QC checkpoints, delivery and repeat orders. Quotes, milestones, actions and updates stay attached to the production record rather than being rebuilt for each stage.
It replaces much of the fragmented coordination layer: supplier access, product data, quote comparison, milestones, QC evidence and reorder history. Your team still makes product and commercial decisions, but it does not need to manually stitch the process together across a directory, agent, PLM, ERP and spreadsheets.
Yes. The production history, supplier relationship and approved product information remain in the workflow, so you can reorder what sells without rebuilding the process from scratch. On Free, repeat production also carries the lower 10% production fee.
Concierge support helps when a decision or exception needs a person, but the normal process is designed to stay visible and self-serve inside the operating system. Subscription customers receive priority concierge support; Custom adds a dedicated account partner.