AI in manufacturing starts in the office, not on the line.
Talk of AI in manufacturing usually means robots and predictive maintenance. But in most manufacturers the most time is not lost by the machines — it is lost by people moving between email, the ERP and spreadsheets: quotes, orders, purchasing, reconciliation. That is where we start.
Book a call (30 min) →Production is automated. The paperwork around it is not.
The line is often well measured and optimised. The office around it rarely is. An enquiry arrives by email; someone retypes it into the ERP, checks capacity and material, builds a quote in a spreadsheet and sends it — then does the same for the order, the work order and the delivery note.
Each of those steps takes a few minutes. Multiplied by the number of enquiries and orders over a year, it adds up to whole working weeks of people who could be doing something else.
Quotes
Technical enquiries with drawings, specifications and quantities, priced by hand from material, labour and capacity.
Orders
Orders in the customer’s format — email, PDF, spreadsheet — translated into the ERP’s format and checked against terms and stock.
Purchasing
Chasing supplier confirmations and lead times, matching supplier invoices to purchase orders and goods receipts.
Reconciliation
ERP stock against physical stock, planned against produced, invoiced against delivered.
Measure first, then automate.
Diagnose takes two to three weeks. We talk to people in sales, purchasing, planning and finance, map the flow from enquiry to invoice, and inventory the systems the data passes through. Every lost hour is tied to a specific person and a step in their day.
The output is a workflow map, a systems map, and three to five automation opportunities with estimated ROI. Only then, in Design, do we decide what to build, what to buy, and in what order.
On the systems you already have.
Manufacturers usually have an ERP that works and that nobody wants to replace. Automation is built around it: reading from it, writing to it, and connecting it to email and spreadsheets, without replacing the system.
ERP integration is the part most often underestimated — not because of the technology, but because of undocumented business rules. So we map them during Diagnose, before anything is built.
Technical documentation stays with you.
Drawings, formulations and price lists are confidential. If they must not leave the company, the solution runs entirely on your own infrastructure. If they can, we use the AI tools you already pay for. The choice is made in Design, based on which data enters the process.
Frequently asked.
- How is AI used in manufacturing?
- At two levels. On the production line — for predictive maintenance, quality control and planning. And in the office around the line — for quotes, orders, purchasing and reconciling data with the ERP. We work at the second level, because that is where most manufacturers carry the largest share of repetitive manual work.
- Do we have to replace our ERP?
- No. Automation is built around the ERP you already have: reading from it, writing to it, and connecting it to email and spreadsheets. If Diagnose shows the ERP itself is the root of the problem, the findings will say so — but that is your decision, not a precondition.
- Which process should a manufacturer automate first?
- The one that repeats most often and has the most predictable outcome. For manufacturers that is often order processing, first-draft quotes for standard products, and matching supplier invoices to purchase orders. But that is a measurement finding, not a rule — Diagnose shows what is most expensive in your case.
- How long does it take, and what does it cost?
- Diagnose takes two to three weeks, Design one week, and building one or two clearly defined solutions two to four weeks. Every engagement has a fixed scope and a price agreed before work starts. A Pilot on one process takes six weeks, and if the written success criterion is missed, the design and delivery fee is refunded.
- What if technical documentation cannot leave the company?
- Then the solution runs entirely on your own infrastructure. The choice between cloud tools and a solution on your own servers is made in Design, based on which data enters the process and what GDPR and local data protection law say about it.
Start here
Start with one process.
On a thirty-minute call we walk through the flow from enquiry to invoice and the systems it passes through. From that we propose a scope — Diagnose or, if you already have the analysis, a Pilot on one process. If the call shows it will not pay off for you, we will say so.
Book a call (30 min) →or write to ai@meteorit.rs