ZV / Automation
Which job eats the week?
The same thing gets typed twice, and paperwork gets chased by hand. The month takes days to close. Pick the loop you want gone.
- RFQA drawing becomes a quote by handEstimators read the PDF and build the bill of materials one line at a time.
- RevisionThe floor ran the old drawingA revision arrived by email. The job on the floor didn't.
None of those? About 3 minutes to run the numbers.
Run the numbersAutomation for manufacturing and job shops
A drawing becomes a quote by hand
Estimators read the PDF and build the bill of materials one line at a time.
Number to bringHow many quote requests land in a month, and how long does one take?
The floor ran the old drawing
A revision arrived by email. The job on the floor didn't.
Number to bringRoughly what did scrap or rework from old drawings cost last year?
Bring those two numbers
About three minutes. You type the numbers; I do not invent them. The first conversation is next if the loop is worth mapping.
Work you want to stop doing by hand
- Document and invoice intakeFields come off the purchase order, the packing slip, or the supplier document and into the system of record. Anything the extraction can’t identify stops in a queue for a named person.
- Stop double entry between systemsAn order gets one home. The shop system and the books receive a controlled copy, and anything ambiguous waits for the person who owns it.
- Inbound enquiry triageIncoming quote requests land in one queue, sorted by what they are and who should answer.
- Close preparationMonth-end becomes a visible process with owners and blockers instead of a scavenger hunt.
- Finish the workflow you already boughtCheck what the software you licence already does before building anything. Add only the part that is genuinely missing.
- Automation inventory and cleanupOne pass over the small automations already running: what each one does, whose login it uses, what breaks quietly. You get a written register and a decommission list.
Worth reading
The language of business automation
13 minute read
What should your company automate—and when?
11 minute read
What happens to the workflows when someone leaves
4 minute read
A different kind of business
Next step
Tell me which one it is
The first conversation is free, and it’s genuinely fine to arrive without knowing what you need.