Manufacturing
AI automation for manufacturers
Whatever you make, the office around the factory runs on the same handful of processes: purchase requests, planning packs, order changes, supplier follow-up and export paperwork. That is where the hours leak, and where I build.
- Purchase requestsApproved on paper, keyed in by hand, then chased by email.
- Planning packsRebuilt before every meeting from exports that are already old.41% of planning time goes on preparing data (CEL consultancy survey, June 2023; sample size not published)
- Order changesReach planning, purchasing and the floor at different times.
- 2 daysthe median time from purchase request to PO across benchmarked companies.APQC open standards benchmark (median, goods), retrieved October 2026
Your sector
Same processes, your vocabulary
Furniture and wood
Casegoods, upholstery and OEM export factories.
See the furniture page →Garments, textiles and footwear
Buyer orders, trims, samples and changes that keep moving.
See the garments page →Electronics and assembly
Components, BOM changes and supplier confirmations.
See the electronics page →Next on the list: Metal, plastics and fabrication (machinery parts included), Food and seafood processing, Packaging and printing. Each gets its own page once I have done the research behind it.
The processes
Where the hours leak, whatever you make
Purchase requests to POs
Approved on screen, the PO created from the approved request, and the supplier confirmation matched back to it, with no re-keying in between.
Planning packs
Pulled from the systems you already run and put together before each meeting, so it starts on today's numbers.
Order changes
Checked against the plan and the stock, with everyone it affects told the same day and a person approving.
Supplier follow-up
Every open PO chased until it is confirmed; dates that slip reach planning before they bite.
Export paperwork
Invoices, packing lists and shipping details pre-filled from what you already hold, checked by your team, ready for your forwarder.
The pattern
A purchase request, today and automated
Today
- The request is written and signed on paperThen it waits for the next signature.
- Purchasing keys it into the systemThe same details, typed again.
- Someone chases the supplier by emailThe confirmation lands in one inbox.
- The purchase report arrives next monthToo late to change what was bought.
With the automation
- The request is raised on screenWith the item, the quantity and the reason.
- The right person approves with one clickThe PO is created from the approved request.
- The supplier confirmation is matched backMissing dates are chased automatically.
- Purchases are visible as they happenPlanning and finance see the same numbers.
An example process, not a client story. APQC's open standards benchmark puts the median time from request to PO at 2 days (retrieved October 2026).
Do the math
What would one process give back?
Signing, chasing and re-keying each request into a PO. 250 requests at 12 minutes are example figures; time a few of yours.
Type your own figure. Only hours are shown until you do.
Adjust my assumptions
48 hours is the legal maximum week; about 2,312 hours worked a year after leave and public holidays. On-costs: 21.5% insurance + 2% union fee, on salary up to 50.6m VND a month.
Cycle time
Stock (optional)
Quotes won (freight follow-up)
38 hours back a month
9 people-weeks a year (0,19 of a full-time person)
Request to done:
Add a monthly salary to see this in money.
250 x 9 minutes saved / 60 = 38 hours a month.
This is an illustration with your numbers. A sit-in measures the real ones.
Link copied. It carries your numbers, never your salary.
Opened from a shared link. Salaries are never shared, so add your own to see money.
How this works, and where the defaults come from
- Hours a month = volume x (minutes today minus minutes after) / 60. People-weeks = hours a year / the standard week.
- Money is a band: the ceiling counts every freed hour at the loaded cost of the person; expected counts half of it, because not every freed minute becomes useful work; cautious takes a further 20% off.
- Stock: the yearly carrying saving is counted; the one-time cash released is shown on its own and never added in.
- Payback is shown as a budget: the most a one-off fix could cost and still pay back within 12 or 24 months. No prices.
- Every volume and minute figure is an example. Replace it with yours.
Sources, last checked 12 October 2026:
- Forrester Total Economic Impact method: 50% productivity recapture, 10 to 20% risk adjustment (this study was commissioned by Microsoft)
- APQC open standards benchmark: cycle time from requisition to PO, goods, median 2.0 days
- Carrying cost rule of thumb, 15 to 25% of stock value a year, citing ASCM guidance (MRPeasy, a software vendor, January 2025)
- Freightos (a freight marketplace) survey of the top 20 forwarders, 2018: manual quoting averaged 57 hours from enquiry to quote
- Vietnam employer social, health and unemployment insurance (21.5%) and union fee (2%), statutory rates
- Rodl and Partner, Vietnam statutory base salary and insurance cap from 1 July 2026
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employer costs for employee compensation, June 2026
- GOV.UK, rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025
Your systems
Works with what you already run
The ERP stays. So do the spreadsheets people trust, the on-site server and the inbox. I connect what you already run instead of replacing it, and build on the data you already hold.
A new ERP is rarely step one. Clean data for bills of materials, routings and capacity usually is. When it is time to choose a system, I give you an independent view of buying versus building for that one process, before you sign anything. I do not sell or resell software.
Never automated
- Approving a purchase
- Pricing to buyers
- Choosing a supplier
- Compliance sign-off
How it starts
One process first, then the pattern repeats
- A short workshopYour department leads, AI in plain terms, everyone's repetitive work in one place, and one process chosen.
- A sit-inI sit with that department, time the steps and map what the process costs today.
- A fixed priceA recommendation, off the shelf or build, and a fixed price for the first build, or a recommendation not to build.
Then the pattern repeats. The first process proves the value and shows how the business really runs; the next ones reuse what was built, so the work spreads across departments instead of starting from zero each time.
Proof, honestly
What I have built so far
My published builds are in recruitment and travel, not manufacturing: a matching system that scores every application with its reasoning shown, and an intake system that turns messy enquiry email into clean records. The pattern is the one a factory office needs: messy inbound in, clean records out, a person checking.
Fair questions
Asked before, answered honestly
Which manufacturers is this for?
Factories where the office runs on email, an ERP and spreadsheets. Furniture and wood, garments and footwear, and electronics and assembly come first; any make-to-order business with the same paperwork fits.
Where would you start in a factory office?
Wherever the most hours go between systems, usually purchase requests, the planning pack or order changes. The calculator on this page gives a first feel; a sit-in measures it properly.
What stays with our people?
Approving a purchase, pricing to buyers, choosing a supplier and compliance sign-off. The system flags, explains and drafts; a person decides.
How do we start?
With a short workshop to choose one process, then a few days sitting with that department to map it. You get a fixed price for the first build before anything starts, or a recommendation not to build.
Do you work outside Vietnam?
Yes. I am based in Ho Chi Minh City, so I can work on-site in Vietnam, and remotely with teams in the US and elsewhere.
Tell me which process eats the most hours. If AI will not help, I will say so.
Based in Ho Chi Minh City, so I can work on-site in Vietnam, and remotely with the US and everywhere else.