Back-office automation for manufacturers

The shop floor may be automated; the office often is not. We automate the order, purchasing, quality and reporting paperwork that surrounds production, and connect it to your ERP.

At a glance

  • Customer orders and change orders
  • Supplier acknowledgements and invoices
  • Certificates and quality documents
  • Production and KPI reporting

The office is the bottleneck

For many small and mid-sized manufacturers, the constraint on throughput is not the machines. It is the time it takes to get an order entered correctly, materials confirmed, paperwork matched and the customer updated. Planners and buyers spend hours re-keying and chasing instead of planning and buying.

We focus on those office workflows. We do not program machines or replace your MES; we connect the documents and systems around them so information flows without being typed twice.

Workflows we automate

  • Customer order entry

    POs and change orders read and entered with validation. See PO automation.

  • Supplier acknowledgements

    Confirmed dates and prices compared with your POs; late or changed items flagged.

  • Supplier invoices

    Three-way matched against PO and receipt. See invoice automation.

  • Certificates of conformance and analysis

    Received, indexed against lots and checked for required values.

  • Production reporting

    Output, scrap and downtime pulled together into daily or weekly reports.

  • Quote preparation

    Request-for-quote details extracted and pre-filled into your quoting tool.

A typical first project for a manufacturer

  1. Map the order-to-production path

    From customer PO to released work order, with the hand-offs and delays.

    Week 1
  2. Test documents

    Customer POs, change orders and supplier confirmations tested for extraction.

    Week 2
  3. Build and connect

    Validation against item masters, routings and customer terms in your ERP.

    Weeks 3–7
  4. Pilot

    Runs alongside customer service until accuracy is proven.

    Weeks 7–10

An example manufacturing finding

Change orders often cause more problems than new orders.

Example finding (illustrative)
Change orders from customers are missed or applied lateRisk reduction
What we found
Revised POs arrive by email with small changes in quantity or date that are easy to miss when re-keyed.
Fix
Revised POs compared automatically with the existing sales order, with every change highlighted for approval before it is applied.
Effect
No more missed changes, and planning sees the update the same day.

Systems manufacturers usually run

We integrate with the systems you already have.

AreaTypical systems
ERPBusiness Central, NetSuite, Epicor, SAP Business One, Sage, Acumatica, older on-premise ERPs
QualityDocument control and QMS tools, shared drives, spreadsheets
ProductionMES exports, production spreadsheets, shop floor data collection
OfficeOutlook, Teams, SharePoint, customer and supplier portals

What manufacturing automation typically costs

Typical fixed-price ranges for common projects.

ProjectTypical build price
Customer PO and change order entry$12,000–$30,000
Supplier acknowledgement checking$8,000–$20,000
Supplier invoice three-way matching$25,000–$45,000
Production and KPI reporting$8,000–$25,000

Your assessment confirms an exact fixed price. Software and AI usage are paid directly to providers.

Common questions

Do you do industrial automation or robotics?

No. We automate business processes and software integrations. For machine-level automation you need a controls or robotics integrator.

We have an older on-premise ERP. Is that a problem?

Not usually. Many older ERPs can be integrated through their database, file imports or, where necessary, controlled screen automation. We check this in the assessment.

Can you help with quality documents?

Yes. Certificates of analysis and conformance can be received, matched to lots and checked for required values, with missing or out-of-spec certificates flagged.

Find out what one process could save you

Book a paid automation assessment. We map the process with your team, measure the time it takes, and give you a fixed-price build plan with expected savings. If automation is not worth it, we will tell you.