In September 2025, STIQ (Sous-traitance industrielle Québec) published an article on the artificial intelligence journey of 3D Coupe, a manufacturer in the Québec City area we work with. Here is what it says, and how it ties to what we built together.
What the article describes
The article presents a structured approach: 3D Coupe decided to put AI at the core of its operations, from estimating to offcut management to the customer experience, with a technology roadmap that evolves as the tools do. Two achievements are highlighted.
- A material-selection assistant. Built into the new 3dcoupe.com site with the web agency Asteure, it takes a project’s constraints (chemical resistance, service temperature, mechanical properties) and recommends a material within seconds.
- Automated quote estimating. An algorithm reads industrial drawing files, extracts dimensions, recognizes parts, infers material and thickness, then calculates cutting times, passes, tool travel, cutter changes and machine setups. It fills in missing data through conditional logic and handles hundreds of parts in seconds.
The benefits named are the ones a customer sees: shorter lead times, accurate estimates, optimized costs and continuity between the quote and production.
How it ties to our mandate
The automated estimating the article describes is the work we tell in our 3D Coupe case study: a chain of agents that reads the reports the machine already produces and returns a quote report, measured from 58 to 15 minutes per part across about ten real projects. The material assistant on the website is the work of 3D Coupe and its web agency.
Why it matters
STIQ is the network of industrial subcontracting in Québec. When it showcases a shop that brings in AI without science-fiction talk, with tools that read what the shop already produces, that is exactly the signal we hope to see spread: in manufacturing SMEs, AI is no longer a promise, it is a quote that goes out faster and says the same thing from one week to the next.
The full article is on STIQ’s site (in French): L’intelligence artificielle transforme l’industrie du plastique : l’exemple de 3D Coupe ↗
The details of the mandate, with the measured figures and the next phases, are in the 3D Coupe case study →
What this article argues, we put into production for a client. The case walks through what was built, how, and what changed.
