Revolutionizing the Quote-to-Order Workflow: Amtech Software Unveils AI-Driven Email Intake for Corrugated Manufacturers

In the high-stakes world of corrugated packaging, the speed at which a manufacturer can turn an inquiry into a professional quote is often the deciding factor in winning a contract. For decades, the process has been hampered by a persistent bottleneck: the manual transcription of inbound email requests. Today, Amtech Software, a leader in digital solutions for the packaging industry, has announced a transformative step forward with the launch of an embedded AI agent for email intake within its Amtech Quick Quote (AQQ) platform.

This advancement represents a significant milestone in Amtech’s strategic roadmap, leveraging the company’s acquisition of Clarico Systems to create a fully integrated, automated quote-to-order ecosystem. By harnessing the power of agentic AI, Amtech is looking to strip away the administrative friction that has long defined the front office of corrugated manufacturing plants.

The Core Challenge: The Manual Transcription Trap

For most corrugated manufacturers, the quoting process begins in the inbox. A customer sends an email containing specific requirements—dimensions, board grades, box styles, and quantities—often buried within unstructured text or attached PDF documents.

Historically, an estimator or customer service representative must open these emails, manually extract the data points, and re-key them into an ERP or quoting system. This process is not only time-consuming but inherently prone to human error. In a competitive market where lead times are tightening, the time spent on data entry is time lost on high-value tasks like strategic pricing, customer relationship management, and production planning.

Amtech’s new email intake agent acts as a digital assistant that sits at the very beginning of this workflow. By reading incoming requests and their associated attachments, the AI automatically drafts spec lines within AQQ. This means the estimator’s first interaction with the inquiry is not data entry, but rather the validation and finalization of a pre-populated quote.

Chronology of Innovation: From Acquisition to Integration

The development of the AI-powered email intake agent did not happen in a vacuum; it is the culmination of a deliberate, multi-year strategy focused on digitizing the packaging value chain.

The Clarico Systems Acquisition (May 2026)

The foundation for the current innovation was laid in May 2026, when Amtech Software acquired Clarico Systems. At the time, industry analysts noted that the move was intended to bridge the gap between front-office sales agility and back-office production efficiency. By integrating Clarico’s expertise into the Amtech ecosystem, the company began building a "quote-to-order" pipeline that promised to eliminate the "re-keying" of data.

The Integration Phase

Following the acquisition, Amtech focused on deep-linking AQQ with its core EnCore ERP system. This integration ensures that master data flows seamlessly between the two platforms. When a quote is generated in AQQ, it pulls current data from EnCore; when that quote is won, the system writes the specifications and pricing back into the ERP automatically.

The Launch of the AI Agent

With the infrastructure for data flow established, the next logical step was addressing the "intake" phase. By integrating an AI agent into this pipeline, Amtech has completed the loop. The launch, occurring in the fourth quarter of 2026, marks the transition from manual, siloed processes to an automated, intelligent workflow.

Supporting Data and Technical Functionality

The efficacy of the new tool lies in its transparency and human-in-the-loop design. Amtech has prioritized "explainable AI," ensuring that users maintain absolute control over the process.

Confidence Scoring

Every value extracted by the AI—whether it is a flute type, a box dimension, or a specific quantity—is accompanied by a "confidence level." If the AI identifies a value with high certainty, it populates the field for the user. If the information is ambiguous or missing entirely, the system highlights the gap, prompting the human estimator to intervene.

Human-Centric Oversight

This design philosophy acknowledges that AI in manufacturing is not a replacement for human judgment but a force multiplier. By offloading the rote, repetitive work of reading emails, the system empowers customer service professionals to focus on the nuances of the deal. They are no longer data clerks; they become strategic decision-makers.

Immediate Capability

The email intake agent is currently optimized for RSC (Regular Slotted Container) and HSC (Half Slotted Container) quoting. These are the most common configurations in the corrugated industry, meaning the tool provides immediate, measurable ROI for the vast majority of plants currently using the Amtech ecosystem.

Official Perspectives: The AI Council and Industry Vision

The development of this technology was heavily influenced by the "Amtech AI Council," a group of forward-thinking plant leaders who have been collaborating with the software developer to define the most impactful applications of artificial intelligence in the corrugated space.

Danna Nelson, SVP of Products at Amtech Software, expressed pride in the collaborative nature of this launch. "Agentic AI presents incredible opportunities, and our Product and Engineering teams are proud to deliver embedded capabilities to the corrugated industry," Nelson stated.

She emphasized that the solution was designed with IT departments in mind, noting that as an "Amtech-delivered" solution, it avoids the common pitfalls of disjointed third-party AI integrations. "The forward-thinking plant leaders that comprise our AI Council have clearly stated their focus on measurably improving revenue, costs, and productivity," Nelson added. "Our Email Intake Agent provides customers with immediate revenue and productivity value while managing supportability for their IT departments."

Implications for the Corrugated Packaging Industry

The introduction of an AI-driven email intake agent signals a broader shift in how corrugated manufacturers must operate to remain competitive in the coming decade.

1. The Death of the "Re-Keying" Era

The most immediate implication is the obsolescence of manual data entry for standard inquiries. As this technology scales, manufacturers who continue to rely on manual transcription will find themselves at a significant cost disadvantage. The ability to quote in minutes rather than hours allows for a faster "speed-to-market" for the customer, which often results in higher win rates.

2. Standardizing the Front Office

For years, the "front office" has been a black box of disparate spreadsheets and emails. By forcing these interactions through a unified, AI-enabled interface like AQQ, companies can finally capture high-quality data about customer inquiries. This data can then be analyzed to identify trends in demand, regional pricing pressures, and the efficiency of the sales team.

3. IT Infrastructure and Scalability

By keeping the AI agent embedded within the existing software ecosystem, Amtech is solving a major pain point for CIOs: the complexity of managing AI vendors. By standardizing this within the EnCore/AQQ ecosystem, plants can deploy advanced AI tools without the need for bespoke integration projects or the massive overhead of hiring data scientists.

Future Horizons: What Comes Next?

While the email intake agent is a powerful tool for today, Amtech has signaled that this is merely the beginning of their "agentic AI" roadmap.

Industry leaders will have a front-row seat to the future of this technology at the upcoming Amtech User Conference, scheduled for October 11–14 in Nashville, Tennessee. During the event, the company plans to preview additional use cases for its agentic AI technology. While details remain under wraps, observers anticipate that these future tools may involve more complex quoting, predictive capacity planning, and even automated customer communication loops.

As the corrugated industry continues to grapple with labor shortages and the increasing demand for rapid turnaround times, the integration of intelligent agents is no longer a luxury—it is a necessity. Amtech’s move to embed these capabilities directly into the workflow of their users suggests that the industry is entering an era of "intelligent manufacturing," where the software does not just record what happened, but actively drives the process forward.

For the corrugated manufacturer, the message is clear: the future of the front office is automated, integrated, and intelligent. And with the launch of the email intake agent, that future has officially arrived.