They were looking for a price. I ended up talking with them on the phone (they we nice enough to call me and not vice versa) after I e-mailed them that I don't make panels and that panels are not off-the-shelf items. After I educated them a bit more about panels, they decided to rethink their EIFS panel plans and bought a couple of my EIFS books. Now Mahatma and his buddies call me "Throbbet."
First, the basic concept of why panels would seem to be "the way to go" is that by being efficient and making panels indoors in a factory, and by being able to hang quickly year round, you can save time and money. It sometimes doesn't quite work that way, but for certain types of projects it's literally the only way to go. Thus using panels is something that should be considered as part of the fundamental design for an EIFS building, not as an afterthought. So if in your work you run into someone who's all enamored about panels, show him the information below.