AI automation for manufacturers, built around your ERP
Faster quotes, a live view of the shop floor, and no more retyping documents into the ERP. Built around the systems you already run.
Where manufacturers lose time and money
In most small and mid-sized plants the problem is not a lack of machines or people. It is information that lives on paper, in spreadsheets, in an ERP nobody fully trusts, and in the heads of a few experienced staff. The same few bottlenecks come up again and again:
- Quotes take days. RFQs arrive as emails with drawings attached, and an estimator works through each one by hand. Slow quotes lose jobs.
- Production is tracked on paper. Job sheets get printed, filled in and filed. Nobody can see where an order stands without walking the floor or calling someone.
- Material leaks. There is no easy way to compare the material planned for a job with what was actually used, so waste stays invisible.
- "Where's my order?" calls. Customers ring or email for status, and someone has to go and find out.
- Documents get retyped. Purchase orders, delivery notes, certificates of conformance and supplier invoices are keyed into the ERP by hand.
- Numbers arrive late. The weekly report is assembled from several systems on a Friday and is already out of date when it is read.
- Knowledge walks out the door. How to set up a tricky job, or what fixed that fault last time, sits with people close to retirement.
Which Flange service fits which bottleneck
| Bottleneck | What we build |
|---|---|
| Slow quoting from RFQ emails and drawings | Document processing to read the RFQ and pull out quantities, materials and specs, plus workflow automation to prepare a draft quote for the estimator to check |
| Paper job sheets, no live view of production | A custom working base: daily job sheets on a phone or tablet, a live production board, planned vs actual material |
| POs, delivery notes and certificates retyped into the ERP | Document processing with a human check on uncertain fields, posting into your ERP |
| ERP, spreadsheets and quality system that don't talk | Integration so data moves between them on its own |
| Late, manual reporting | A live dashboard of the few numbers that matter: output, on-time delivery, scrap, money owed |
| Ordering too much or too little | Demand and inventory forecasting from your own order history |
| Order status calls and emails | A support assistant that answers from live order data and hands over to a person when needed |
| Know-how held by a few people | A knowledge assistant trained on your SOPs, setup notes and maintenance logs, answering with the source |
A prototype you can click through
Prototype · not a client deployment
Our manufacturing prototype is modelled on a doors-and-panels business with three factories. It gives every worker their daily job sheet, tracks production as it happens on a live board, keeps a material ledger of planned against actual use, and shows money owed and sales visits against target. Every screen is live. Open it from our work page.
It is a starting point, not a product to install. For a real project we adapt it to how your factory runs: your job types, your stations, your units, your ERP.
We don't replace your ERP
Most manufacturers we talk to have an ERP they have spent years setting up, and the last thing they need is a migration. We build around it. The systems we add read from and write to what you already use, and fill the gaps the ERP was never good at, such as the shop floor, documents, and the numbers you need on a Monday morning.
On data and security, we work inside your controls. If your customers flow down security requirements, tell us on the first call and we design for them from the start.
How a manufacturing project runs
- Find the gap. We follow one job from RFQ to delivery and mark where it waits.
- Agree the measure. Quote turnaround, material variance, hours of data entry, on-time delivery: one number we both sign up to.
- Build around your stack. Most systems go live in 30 to 60 days, including integration, testing and training on the floor.
- Measure and tune. Live reporting against the agreed number. You own the code and the data.
Not sure where to start? Our guide to AI workflow automation examples shows the patterns, and how much AI automation costs covers what drives the budget.
FAQ
Common questions
Can AI help a small manufacturer without replacing our ERP?
Yes. Flange builds around your existing ERP: systems read from and write to it, and cover the gaps it handles poorly, such as shop-floor tracking, document entry and live reporting.
What should a manufacturer automate first?
Usually something in the front office where the data already exists and the payback is quick: quoting from RFQ emails, order status questions, or entering purchase orders and supplier invoices.
Is the manufacturing prototype on your work page a client system?
No. It is a working prototype, modelled on a doors-and-panels business with three factories, built to show what a shop-floor working base can look like. For a real project we adapt it to how your factory runs.
How long does a manufacturing AI project take?
Most Flange systems go live in 30 to 60 days, including integration with your existing tools, testing and onboarding your team.