PPE and workplace safety

Automated quoting for PPE distributors

The list arrives on your distributor's WhatsApp with certification, size and class tangled in the same text. Tablia reads it item by item, finds each piece of equipment in your catalogue and returns the quote for the salesperson to check.

The safety officer sends the same list to three suppliers and buys from whoever answers first. How many are left waiting because the salesperson is still typing the previous one?

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  1. Good morning! I need to restock the PPE for this week's work front.

  2. Good morning! Send the list right here — text, a photo of the paper or a file.

  3. 40 white helmet class B cert. 31469 60 leather glove cert. 27548 size L 25 safety boot composite toe 41 25 safety boot composite toe 42 80 wide-vision goggles clear 30 earplug cert. 5745 12 full body harness cert. 35520 15 FFP2 respirator box

  4. Got it. That is 8 items — I am checking them against the distributor's stock now.

  5. Quote #E8P1 is ready. 7 of the 8 items available; I marked the full body harness with that certification as missing.

    📄 quote-E8P1.pdf

  6. Would another harness do? That certification came from last year's purchase.

  7. It would — we have an equivalent. Here is version 2 of #E8P1; the previous one is now superseded.

    📄 quote-E8P1-v2.pdf

Illustrative conversation. Distributor, items and certification numbers are examples.

A work-front list, exactly as it arrives

Notice that half the lines carry the certification and the other half do not — and that the two boots differ only by a number sitting loose at the end of the text.

Store WhatsApp

Good morning! I need to restock the PPE for the work front, here is the list:

40 white helmet class B cert. 31469

60 leather glove cert. 27548 size L

25 safety boot composite toe 41

25 safety boot composite toe 42

80 wide-vision goggles clear

30 earplug cert. 5745

12 full body harness cert. 35520

15 FFP2 respirator box

07:12

What Tablia read

  • 40 pcwhite helmet class B cert. 31469FRONT BRIM HELMET CLASS B WHITE CERT. 31469
  • 60 pairleather glove cert. 27548 size LLEATHER GLOVE 7CM CUFF SIZE L CERT. 27548
  • 25 pairsafety boot composite toe 41PULL-ON SAFETY BOOT COMPOSITE TOE SIZE 41
  • 25 pairsafety boot composite toe 42PULL-ON SAFETY BOOT COMPOSITE TOE SIZE 42
  • 80 pcwide-vision goggles clearWIDE-VISION GOGGLES CLEAR CERT. 34082
  • 30 pcearplug cert. 5745SILICONE EARPLUG CERT. 5745
  • 12 pcfull body harness cert. 35520Not found in your catalogue
  • 15 boxFFP2 respirator boxFFP2 RESPIRATOR NO VALVE BOX OF 20

7 of 8 items found. Whatever is missing goes to the salesperson with the customer's original wording — nothing disappears from the quote quietly.

Illustrative example. The list, the catalogue names and the certification numbers are fictional.

One number identifies the whole piece of equipment

In PPE the axis that decides the match already comes written on the line — and it is why this segment gets it wrong less often than the others.

60quantity
leather gloveproduct
cert. 27548certification
size Lsize

“Leather glove” may be half a dozen products in your catalogue; certification 27548 is one. When the number is on the line, it settles the search by itself. When it is not, what is left is the type, the size and the class — and that is where the salesperson comes in.

The certification is the model's, not the category's

Two helmets identical in the photo carry different certification numbers, because the number identifies one manufacturer's model. That is the number an inspector checks on site.

The list carries the previous purchase's number

The safety officer copies last year's order. If you do not carry that manufacturer, the number does not exist in your catalogue — and the problem is not the equipment.

Size is an item, not a note

A size 41 boot and a size 42 boot are two lines in your stock. When the number sits loose at the end of the text, exact-text search merges the two into one.

How Tablia reads the list

  1. 01

    It separates item from quantity

    The list is read line by line, and the number that is a quantity is kept apart from the numbers that identify the equipment.

  2. 02

    It keeps the certification attached to the equipment

    The 27548 stays part of the glove's name. It does not become a quantity, and it is what separates one manufacturer's model from another's.

  3. 03

    It infers the unit nobody wrote down

    Gloves go by the pair, helmets by the piece, respirators usually by the box. The unit comes from the item and from the context of the other lines, and appears on screen alongside it.

  4. 04

    It searches by meaning

    “leather glove cert. 27548 size L” finds the LEATHER GLOVE 7CM CUFF SIZE L CERT. 27548 in your catalogue. Alternative names for the same product are searched too.

  5. 05

    It flags what it could not find

    A harness with another manufacturer's certification goes to the salesperson with the customer's original wording, instead of vanishing from the list.

The list can arrive as

PDFJPGPNGXLSXXLSDOCXCSVtexthandwritten

Handwriting is the only one that does not go in — returning a wrong certification number that looks right is worse than refusing the file.

Your catalogue works as it is

What you upload

The stock file the distributor already uses, in CSV, XLS or XLSX. Tablia recognises the code, description and price columns with the help of artificial intelligence, and you check the mapping before it takes effect. A certification number in the middle of the description, a size at the end and an abbreviated manufacturer name do not block the search.

What it does with what it could not find

The equipment appears to the salesperson with the customer's original wording, flagged as not found. It does not pick another certification in its place and does not delete the line. The decision is your team's: add the item, offer an equivalent, adjust the quantity or say the distributor does not carry that manufacturer.

The quote only goes out after the salesperson checks it

Nothing is sent to the customer automatically. The salesperson reviews item by item, adjusts quantities, swaps products, checks that the certification is still valid, sets the price and decides when to send.

Tablia is a copilot: it takes on the typing and the searching, and hands the decision back to whoever knows the customer and the job.

Tablia takes on

  • Reading the list, in whatever format it arrives
  • Inferring the unit nobody wrote down
  • Looking up each item in your catalogue
  • Flagging what it could not find

You decide

  • The quantity of each item
  • Swapping the product
  • Whether each certification is still valid
  • The price
  • When to send

Questions from people who sell PPE

Does Tablia use the certification number to find the equipment?

Yes. The certification stays attached to the item name, just like the size and the class, and goes into the search along with the rest of the description. It is the cleanest axis there is on a PPE list: while “leather glove” may be half a dozen products in your catalogue, certification 27548 is one.

Does Tablia check whether the certification is still valid?

No. It does not query any certifying body's register and it does not verify validity. What it does is read the number the customer wrote and use it to find the equipment in your catalogue. Checking validity stays with your team, at review — better you know that now than in the demo.

And when the certification on the list belongs to a manufacturer I do not carry?

The item reaches the salesperson flagged as not found, with the customer's original wording beside it. This is frequent in PPE: the safety officer copies the previous purchase, and the number came from the old supplier. Tablia does not pick an equivalent on its own — your salesperson offers the equivalent, because they know what the distributor carries.

Does it separate sizes?

Yes, when the size is on the line. Boot 41 and boot 42 come out as two items, each with its own quantity, because size is specification and a diverging specification discards the candidate. When the customer sends a single quantity with the sizes listed separately, the salesperson splits it at review.

Do I have to tidy up my catalogue before starting?

No. You upload the stock file the distributor already uses, in CSV, XLS or XLSX, and Tablia recognises the code, description and price columns with the help of artificial intelligence — you check the mapping before it takes effect. A certification number in the middle of the description and an abbreviated manufacturer name do not block the search.

Can it handle both a restock list and a new-site list the same way?

It can, because the format changes nothing. Each item is extracted with its quantity, whether it is a ten-line list to restock the work front or a two-hundred-line one to open a site. What Tablia returns in either case is the same: the list matched against your catalogue, with the missing items flagged.

In what format can the customer send the list?

PDF, a photo in JPG or PNG, a spreadsheet in XLSX or XLS, a document in DOCX, CSV or typed text. The only one that does not go in is a handwritten list: Tablia does not accept handwriting, so it never returns a wrong certification number that looks right.

Does the quote go to the customer on its own?

Never. Nothing is sent without the salesperson. They review item by item, adjust quantities, swap products, set the price and decide when to send. Tablia takes on the typing and the searching; the decision stays with whoever knows the customer and the job.

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Bring a real PPE list

In the demo we use a list your distributor received this week, against your own catalogue. It is the fastest way to find out whether Tablia can handle what you sell.

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