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by David Slot on Nov 13, 2026
On 29 October, 150 guests from the manufacturing industry joined us in Drachten for the Elfsquad Summit 2026. They heard one message: we don't just hand you configurator software anymore. We build the configurator for you, from the drawings, price lists and specifications you already have. Elfsquad builds product configurators for manufacturers of customer-specific products, such as machine and equipment builders.
Why building it yourself asks too much
Manufacturers win by doing what their competitors won't: building products that are slightly different on every order. For more than a decade, we built software for exactly that.
But capturing your own products in a configurator is a craft in its own, and it comes on top of the day job. Not every company has the people or the time for it.
What changes
You hand over what you already have: spec documents, CAD files, sales spreadsheets, price lists. No preparation needed. From that, we build a first working configuration model in days, not months. Our own AI, trained on a decade of configurator expertise, does the heavy modeling work. A human checks the work, always.
Where your business needs something specific, such as a complex price calculation or a connection to your ERP, we build it for you. The result is a configurator with your own products, your own terminology and your own pricing logic, in your own interface. You stay in control of what matters: your products, your pricing logic and your configuration logic. We handle the system.
Why AI, and why not only AI
In our own R&D, we built a system that uses AI to generate a complete application from a customer's materials. It works. But we deliberately don't deliver it that way. Business-critical software has to work the same way every time, and AI on its own doesn't. So we use AI on top of a core that has proven itself at more than 200 manufacturers. As Jan Brolsma, our Founder & Visionary, put it at the Summit:
"Build it yourself, and you own the problem. With Elfsquad, you own the outcome."
What this looks like in practice
- A first model in days. No months-long implementation project. We start from your materials and finish the model together with your team.
- Changes in plain language. A new product or a price change? You describe it, and it gets done in your model and your quote templates. Every version is kept, so you can roll back in seconds.
- One point of contact. Every customer gets a fixed Customer Solution Manager who knows your company, your model and its history. Fixed prices for outcomes, no hourly rates.
Launched at the Summit: Alve and Digital Quote
Albert Sikkema, our CTO, showed two things that are directly available.
What is Alve?
Alve is the AI assistant inside Elfsquad. Alve is Frisian for elf, the "elf" in Elfsquad. You tell it what you need in your own words, and it does the technical work: building, improving and fixing configuration models, connecting quote templates and creating quotations. Alve proposes, you approve, and only then does it go live. "What used to take months now takes days, or even hours," says Albert.
What is Digital Quote?
Digital Quote is how you send, track and sign quotes online. It changes what happens after the quote goes out. Your buyer gets a secure link, in their own language and your branding. They can pick optional extras or choose between alternatives and see the total update right away, then sign digitally. You can see when each quote is opened, accepted or declined.
Watch the aftermovie for a look at the day.
Proven in production
We're not doing this in a lab. With Ufkes Greentec, an international manufacturer of 150 employees based in Drachten, we're rolling out the full approach: the configuration environment, a custom user interface and a direct ERP connection that submits bills of materials automatically.
A better process beats a stronger player
Guest speaker Jona van Loenen, the economist known in the Netherlands as "De Undercover Econoom", placed the shift in a wider context. He pointed to chess player Garry Kasparov, who lost to a computer in 1997 and later found that an average player with a computer and a good process beats a strong player with a computer and a poor process. The same goes for companies: the difference is in how people and machines work together. Yet according to Van Loenen, only 16 percent of Dutch industry uses AI today.
What this means for existing customers
You keep working where you work today. No migration, no switchover moment. We keep developing the software, and what we learn with one customer makes it better for all of them.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get a first configurator model?
Days, not months. You hand over the drawings, price lists and specifications you already have, and we build a first working model from them. Then we finish it together with your team.
Do existing Elfsquad customers need to migrate?
No. You keep working in your existing environment. New capabilities, such as Alve, land there without a migration or switchover moment.
Does AI build the configurator on its own?
No. Our own AI, trained on a decade of configurator expertise, does the heavy modeling work. A human checks the work, always.
Let's talk about your configurator
Tell us how you quote today and where you want to go. We'll ask the hard questions, based on what we've seen at other manufacturers, and show you what your configurator could look like.
Scale profitably, without losing what makes you unique.