The Briefing · For manufacturers
What AI can and can't do for a small manufacturer: job shops, fabricators and contract manufacturers. One real job per piece, including when not to bother.
For the systems these businesses run and where an agent fits, see the Library: Job shops and machining · Contract manufacturing.
Nothing off the shelf fits
Entering a purchase order is four questions. What Microsoft's order agent now reads for you, and what still has to be built around it.
Nothing off the shelf fits
A job shop's shared inbox mixes RFQs, order-status questions, complaints and bills. What sorting it takes, what Microsoft sells, and what you would still have to build.
Reorganize and the job disappears
UnitedHealthcare dropped pre-approval for care it consistently approved. The same move ends the sign-off on routine reorders.
Buy this instead of hiring
Clearing the card statement is three jobs. PEX says its software matches the receipt and suggests the account, but the work order still needs a person.
Buy this instead of hiring
'Where is this order?' is really three questions. As of September 2026, one small-shop ERP's assistant can answer the first, and only the first.