Ducker Carlisle, a market research and advisory firm in Troy, has introduced what it’s calling industry-first AI agents designed to help manufacturers assess the effects of today’s changing tariff policies and make competitive pricing decisions to adapt.
Developed by the firm’s SparkWise Data and AI Solutions team, both applications use AI to gather and analyze hard-to-find SKU-level information, enable rapid recalculations as policies shift, integrate with leading price determination solutions, and can be implemented in just a few weeks.
The SparkWise AI Tariff Impact Simulator is designed to enable manufacturers to evaluate their tariff exposure by predicting cost impacts by SKU, product group, and at a top-down level. Users load their Item Master with current prices, costs, and part categories and add any other data they have such as supplier master or current import broker records.
The solution’s AI engine then fills in any data gaps from external sources, determines current tariffs by product, material and country of origin, and calculates expected cost ramifications. The simulator also can model the effects of future tariff changes that aren’t yet official via a flexible and customizable user interface.
The SparkWise AI Competitor Part Price Predictor is designed to help manufacturers make pricing decisions by predicting competitors’ likely pricing response to tariff pressures.
The application assembles competitor part numbers and price lists from the client and/or Ducker Carlisle’s market research, then utilizes AI to find missing supplier, material and country-of-origin information and generate detailed SKU-level future price lists based on current tariff rates and predicted competitor reactions.
Users also can quickly calculate different pricing scenarios based on various tariff announcements and assumptions on competitive responses.
The outputs from both the Tariff Impact Simulator and the Competitor Part Price Predictor can be integrated with existing price software determination tools for complete analysis and decision making. Various pricing strategies can be rapidly analyzed to gauge the impact on profitability and market positioning.
Both solutions can be used by manufacturers in all industries, the company says. Early adopters range from a producer of fashion truck parts and accessories to makers of power tools, pet products, and more.
“Most manufacturers have no idea how to adjust their pricing to address today’s volatile tariff landscape,” says Gene Metheny, managing principal in charge of Ducker Carlisle’s Revenue Management Practice.
“Essential information about part prices and countries of origin is frequently buried deep in their bills of materials, especially if the manufacturer is not the importer of record. And even that information is just the tip of the iceberg in analyzing tariff impacts.
These two new solutions apply the power of AI to help manufacturers understand those impacts, continually update their information, and make the pricing adjustments they need to protect their margins and maximize business opportunities.”
Both solutions were developed by the Ducker Carlisle SparkWise team led by Fabien Cros, who formerly served as data and AI country lead for manufacturing at Google.
For more information about both applications, visit duckercarlisle.com.
