AI for a small manufacturer: where can an agent actually help?

Examples of agents we build for small manufacturers

Each agent is custom-built on your tools; a few examples:

• The orders agent: reads orders received by email or as PDFs, checks part numbers and prices, and prepares their entry in your ERP.
• The order confirmation agent: compares the requested date with shop capacity and drafts the confirmation with a lead time you can hold.
• The quote request agent: reads the customer's drawing or specification, finds similar parts already quoted and drafts the quote.
• The nonconformance agent: reads the inspection report and the photos of the part, opens the record in your quality tool and suggests actions.
• The technical questions agent: finds the right revision of the spec sheet and drafts the reply to a customer on a material or a tolerance.
• The supplier delays agent: tracks promised delivery dates, chases the supplier as soon as a date slips and alerts production planning.
• The shop floor agent: answers operators at their workstation or on WhatsApp with the procedure, the setup sheet or the machine history.
• The audit file agent: gathers procedures, material certificates and records requested by a customer or an auditor, and flags what is missing.
• The maintenance agent: reads service reports and alerts you when the same breakdown keeps coming back on a machine or a periodic check is due.
• The Monday update agent: prepares the order book, delays, open nonconformances and the week’s invoicing for management.

Can it handle customer orders and emails?

Orders come in by email, as a PDF attachment, sometimes typed into the message itself. The agent reads each email, picks out part numbers, quantities and requested dates, and prepares the next step: the order to enter, the confirmation, or the question to ask when a part number is unclear.

Connected to your ERP, it prepares the order directly in it and checks prices and part numbers against your price lists. Your order desk only has to approve.

Can it answer technical questions with the right spec sheet?

A customer asks about a material, a tolerance, whether two parts fit together. The answer is in a spec sheet, if you can find the right revision.

The agent finds the sheet, in its latest revision, and drafts the reply, citing the document.

Can it produce a quote without redoing everything?

For a request for quote, the agent reads the drawing or specification, finds past quotes on similar parts and the relevant routings, then drafts a first version, with the assumptions it made and the items it could not price.

Can it help with quality documents?

Procedures, nonconformance reports, the files a customer asks for during an audit: the documents exist, but they are scattered. The agent gathers them for an audit, finds every procedure for a given workstation or machine, and opens the nonconformance record in your quality tool from the inspection report and photos.

How do you keep the know-how when someone leaves?

A shop's know-how is written down somewhere: setup notes, meeting minutes, emails, a spreadsheet only one technician knows how to find. When that person retires, the documents stay, but nobody knows where to look.

Saména reads those folders and links every document to the others by customer, project, method and team. Your people ask their question, from their workstation or their phone, and the agent answers, citing where each piece of information comes from.

What about the confidentiality of our drawings and prices?

Your files stay in SharePoint, OneDrive or Dropbox. Saména reads them in read-only mode, only in the folders you pick, and keeps no copy.

What Saména retains is encrypted with a key unique to your company. Servers are in France, the database is in the European Union. You choose the model: Claude, models from OpenAI, or Mistral if you prefer a French model. It runs in Europe and keeps none of your data. Saména can also run on your own servers or on a dedicated instance.

How does it get started?

Our engineers know AI and they know business processes. They first look at how your company works, from order to shipment, and tell you where an agent is worth it. Then they build it and connect it to your tools.

It starts with a call. You grant access to your tools in two clicks, with no password to share, and two weeks after the call your first agent is running, in the Saména app and also from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot.

A dedicated contact then keeps your agents evolving. There is a one-time setup fee, then a monthly subscription for the whole company, with unlimited users.

Frequently asked

Can the agent connect to our ERP?

Yes, that is the point of a custom build: we connect to the tools you already use, ERP, quality tool, email and shared folders, without asking you to switch.

Do we need an IT department to set this up?

No. You grant access to your tools in two clicks, with no password to share, and our engineers build the agents.

Can an order or a quote go out without approval?

By default, no: the agent prepares it and someone on your team approves. For simple messages, such as a standard order confirmation, you can choose to let them go out on their own.

Can Saména run on our own servers?

Yes. Saména can run on your servers or on a dedicated instance.

Can we start with one department?

Yes. You can start with one department and a first agent, your order desk for example, then expand whenever you want. The subscription covers the whole company, with unlimited users.