Executive Summary Most custom automation builders lose margin during the quoting phase, not on the shop floor. When Sales treats the deliveryPeriod as a marketing promise rather than a hard cost variable, it triggers a systemic financial failure cascade. You cannot protect your projectedMargin until you price schedule compression into your quotes. Most custom automation builders and job shops share a common, frustrating reality: the floor is incredibly busy, top-line revenue looks strong, but the actual projectedMargin at the end of the year is dangerously low. When a custom machine project loses money, the default reaction of management is to blame the execution. The assumption is that the engineering team took too long in CAD, or the assembly floor was inefficient. But in High Mix Low Volume (HMLV) manufacturing, margin is rarely lost on the shop floor. It is surrendered months earlier. When Sales is incentivized solely by the salesAmount and agrees to...