Manufacturing
AI automation agency for manufacturing
We build AI automation for manufacturing businesses, mainly small and mid-size job shops, contract manufacturers and product companies, where the office side cannot keep up with the shop floor. Quoting, order entry, purchasing and quality paperwork get connected to your ERP so estimators, buyers and planners spend less time retyping and chasing.
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Quick answer
How can AI automation help a small manufacturer?
AI automation helps small manufacturers by reading RFQ emails and drawings into draft quotes, parsing customer POs into sales orders in NetSuite, Epicor or SAP Business One, and following up with suppliers on open POs. It can also generate certificates of conformance at shipment and route NCRs and CAPAs to quality with owners and due dates.
- The bottleneck is usually front office handoffs between sales, purchasing, production and quality
- Customer POs are checked against the quote for price, revision and dates before entry
- Supplier replies are read for new promise dates, and the ERP and planner are updated
- Nightly Power BI dashboards show on-time delivery, backlog by work center, scrap and inventory
01
Where manufacturers lose office hours
This is not about robots on the line. Most small manufacturers already run good machines and a capable ERP. The bottleneck is the front office and the handoffs between sales, purchasing, production and quality.
These are the jobs that come up in almost every review:
- RFQs arriving as emails with drawings and spreadsheets that an estimator has to read before quoting
- Customer purchase orders keyed into the ERP by hand, then checked against the quote for price, revision and ship date
- Order acknowledgments and expedite requests sent one by one
- Supplier follow-up on open POs, late materials and changed promise dates
- Quality paperwork: certificates of conformance, material certs, first article inspection reports, NCRs and CAPAs
- Production and inventory reports rebuilt every week from ERP exports
02
What we automate for manufacturers
On the sales side, we automate RFQ intake and customer PO entry. An AI step reads the incoming email and attachments, pulls part numbers, revisions, quantities and requested dates, and creates a draft quote or sales order in the ERP for a person to confirm. Mismatches with the quote, such as a different revision or price, are flagged.
On the supply side, we automate purchase order follow-up, supplier promise date tracking and receiving updates. On the quality side, we generate certificates of conformance from order and lot data, route NCRs for disposition and keep CAPA due dates visible. Reporting ties it together with on-time delivery, backlog and inventory views.
WHAT WE BUILD
What we automate for manufacturing
Typical automations, each scoped and quoted at a fixed price after a free review.
RFQ intake and quote prep
RFQ emails with drawings and spreadsheets are read, part details are extracted, similar past jobs are pulled from the ERP, and a draft quote is prepared for the estimator.
Customer PO entry
Incoming customer POs are parsed, compared to the quote for price, revision and dates, and entered as draft sales orders with any mismatch flagged.
Order acknowledgments
When a sales order is confirmed in the ERP, an acknowledgment with promised ship dates is generated and emailed to the customer automatically.
Open PO and supplier follow-up
Open purchase orders nearing their due date trigger supplier emails, replies are read for new promise dates, and the ERP and planner are updated.
Certificates of conformance
At shipment, a C of C is generated from order, lot and material cert data and attached to the packing list and customer record.
NCR and CAPA routing
A nonconformance logged on the floor is routed to quality with photos and lot details, and CAPA actions get owners, due dates and reminders.
Operations dashboard
ERP data is refreshed nightly into Power BI to show on-time delivery, backlog by work center, scrap and inventory levels.
03
AI agents for manufacturing operations
AI agents are a good fit for the reading and comparing work that eats estimator and buyer time. An agent can compare a customer PO to the quote line by line, summarize the notes on a drawing, find similar past jobs in your ERP to speed up quoting, or read supplier confirmations and update expected dates on open POs.
Agents can also help with supplier research. One of our case studies is a sourcing consultancy that got 85% time savings and 91% cost savings on supplier scouting with an AI-assisted process, which is the same kind of work a buyer does when qualifying a second source for a part.
04
ERP and shop software we connect
We work with the ERP you run. NetSuite, Acumatica, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Epicor Kinetic have solid APIs. SAP Business One, Fishbowl, JobBOSS, E2 Shop System, ProShop, Katana and MRPeasy each have their own integration options, from APIs to scheduled imports and exports, which we check during the review.
Around the ERP we connect Outlook or Gmail inboxes, SharePoint or Google Drive for drawings and certs, CAD and PDM folders, QuickBooks where accounting sits outside the ERP, and supplier portals. Dashboards for on-time delivery, scrap, backlog and inventory turns are typically built in Power BI.
05
Constraints we respect: ITAR, CMMC and customer data
Some manufacturers handle export-controlled drawings or controlled unclassified information for defense customers. If ITAR or CMMC applies to you, we keep that data inside the environments you have approved, such as a government cloud tenant, and avoid sending it to AI services that are not cleared for it. In some cases the right answer is to automate around the controlled data rather than through it.
For commercial customers, drawings and pricing are still confidential. We use business-tier AI services that do not train on your data, store files in your own accounts, and document exactly where each piece of data goes. Your compliance lead should review the design. This is a description of our approach, not legal advice.
06
How a manufacturing automation project works
We begin with a free review. Your operations manager, estimator or buyer shows us the inboxes, spreadsheets and ERP screens involved in one or two painful workflows. We confirm what your ERP exposes and come back with a fixed-price scope and timeline.
We build in stages, starting with the workflow that has the clearest before and after, often customer PO entry or open PO follow-up. It runs alongside the manual process until your team trusts it, then we move on. Accounts, workflows and code are owned by you.
07
What manufacturing automation costs
Projects are quoted at a fixed price after the free review. A single workflow, such as PO entry or certificate of conformance generation, typically takes 1 to 3 weeks. A broader project covering quoting, purchasing follow-up and a Power BI dashboard typically takes 4 to 8 weeks.
Cost depends mostly on your ERP's integration options and how varied your incoming documents are. We will tell you if a module you already license would solve the problem.
TOOLS
Tools we connect
FAQ
AI automation for Manufacturing questions
How can small manufacturers use AI automation?
The most common uses are in the office, not on the line: reading RFQs and customer POs, following up with suppliers, generating quality documents and building reports from ERP data. These workflows typically save time for estimators, buyers and planners without changing your shop floor.
Can you automate purchase order entry into NetSuite or Epicor?
Yes. Customer POs can be read from email, compared to the quote and created as draft sales orders through the ERP's API, with a person confirming before release. We confirm your edition and permissions in the review.
Does AI automation work with Fishbowl or JobBOSS?
Often, though the method depends on the version. Some setups use APIs, others need scheduled imports and exports. We check your setup before quoting so the approach is realistic.
Is it safe to use AI with ITAR or CMMC data?
Only in environments approved for that data. We keep controlled data in the systems you have cleared and design workflows that avoid sending it to non-approved AI services. Your compliance lead makes the final call.
How long does a manufacturing automation project take?
A single workflow typically takes 1 to 3 weeks. Larger projects with several workflows and a dashboard typically take 4 to 8 weeks, delivered in stages.
What does AI automation for manufacturing cost?
We provide a fixed quote after a free review. The price depends on your ERP, the number of workflows and the variety of documents involved.
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GET A FREE PROPOSAL
Tell us what you want automated
Describe the process that eats your team's week. We reply within one business day with a first take on what can be automated, which tools fit and roughly what it would cost.
- Free 30-minute automation review
- Fixed quote before any work starts
- You own every workflow, account and line of code