Agent Glossary

Sales & Commercial

RFQ Agent — Live

Customer → RFQ Creation

Receives customer RFQs (email, portal, or form), extracts product specs and quantities, pulls historical cost actuals for similar job families, applies current material and labour rates, and drafts a structured quote for estimator review. Flags jobs where margin would fall below threshold before the quote goes out.

Outcome: Quote turnaround time ↓; margin floor enforced at point of issue; historical cost actuals inform every new quote.

Order Intake Agent — Planned

Customer → Order Confirmation

Validates new purchase orders against current capacity, open load, credit limit, and promise date feasibility before the order is confirmed. Flags conflicts for sales review and prepares the confirmation or counter-proposal. Triggers order record creation in the Data Hub automatically on approval.

Outcome: Over-committed schedules caught before confirmation; order intake time reduced; credit exposure managed proactively.

Customer Intelligence Agent — Planned

Customer → Account Management

Maintains a continuous profile of each key account — OTIF history, margin contribution, complaint frequency, payment behaviour, and order trend. Flags accounts showing churn signals (OTIF drops, complaint spikes, order volume decline) and surfaces upsell opportunity where margin and volume headroom exist.

Outcome: At-risk accounts identified early; revenue retention improved; sales team focused on highest-value accounts.

Pricing Agent — Thesis

Sales → Pricing Review

Compares win/loss rates against the margin profile of quoted jobs by job family, customer, and material type. Surfaces price points where the business is systematically leaving money on the table (wins at high margin) or competing on price where margin is structurally thin.

Outcome: Pricing strategy grounded in actual margin data; systematic under-pricing identified by job family.

Contract & SLA Agent — Thesis

Sales → Contract Management

Monitors expiring contracts, SLA obligations, and penalty clause triggers across the active customer base. Prepares renewal briefings with margin and OTIF performance history. Alerts account management before a penalty clause becomes chargeable.

Outcome: Penalty exposure reduced; contract renewals initiated on time with data-backed negotiating position.

Operations & Production

Operations Agent — Live

Production → Daily OTIF & Briefing

Runs at 06:30 daily. Scores every active order against promise date, production stage, idle time, and crew availability. Explains what is at risk and why. Drafts the morning briefing for ops director and plant manager. Holds customer update notifications for one-tap approval when a promise date moves.

Outcome: At-risk orders surfaced before the customer calls; briefing assembled in minutes not hours; OTIF improved through earlier intervention.

Scheduling Agent — Planned

Production → Production Scheduling

Optimises job sequencing across machines and work centres against promise dates, crew availability, and material readiness. Surfaces scheduling conflicts (two high-priority jobs competing for the same cell) and proposes resequencing options. Flags capacity bottlenecks forming over the next 1–2 weeks.

Outcome: Schedule conflicts caught before they cause misses; throughput improved through better sequencing; capacity bottlenecks identified with lead time to act.

WIP Agent — Planned

Production → Work-in-Progress Monitoring

Monitors every job's stage, idle time, and WIP value in real time. Flags jobs that have been idle longer than standard cycle time for their type. Surfaces WIP buildup at a specific work centre (queue forming) before it cascades into a delivery miss. Prepares supervisor alerts with context on which jobs are affected.

Outcome: WIP idle time reduced; bottleneck queues identified early; supervisors focused on highest-risk jobs at any moment.

Capacity Agent — Planned

Production → Capacity Planning

Projects forward load vs. available capacity by work centre or machine cell over a rolling 2–4 week horizon. Surfaces cells approaching overload before they become delivery misses. Generates a weekly capacity health report for production management and flags when new orders should be accepted with extended lead time.

Outcome: Over-commitment caught before it damages OTIF; capacity data available in order intake decisions; overtime planned proactively rather than reactively.

Shift Handover Agent — Thesis

Production → Shift Management

Generates an end-of-shift summary at each shift change: open jobs and their current stage, any exception flags from the last 8 hours, priority actions for the incoming crew, and any quality or equipment events that need follow-up. Delivered as a structured feed to the incoming supervisor.

Outcome: Shift handover quality standardised; no context lost between crews; incoming supervisor briefed before walking the floor.

Estimating & Cost

Estimating & Margin Agent — Live

Estimating → Quote Accuracy & Margin Recovery

Drafts structured quote support for new inquiries using historical cost actuals from the same or similar job families. Flags quotes where margin is below threshold before issue. After job completion, compares actual cost to the quoted estimate, identifies the largest variance drivers, and feeds the findings into the cost assumptions for the next similar estimate. Runs the learning loop weekly.

Outcome: Under-pricing stops repeating; gross margin recovered quote over quote; quote turnaround time ↓.

Cost Variance Agent — Planned

Finance → Job Cost Review

Monitors actual vs. standard cost per job family in real time — broken down by labour, material, freight, and rework. Surfaces systemic over- or under-runs by cost category and flags when variance on a job family exceeds a configurable threshold. Prepares a weekly cost variance summary for finance and production management.

Outcome: Cost leakage identified at category level before quarter end; corrective action possible while jobs are still running.

BOM Accuracy Agent — Thesis

Engineering → BOM Management

Flags discrepancies between the Bill of Materials and actual material usage per job. When actual usage consistently exceeds BOM quantity for a component, triggers an engineering change request for review. Surfaces components where BOM accuracy is systematically degrading estimate reliability.

Outcome: BOM accuracy improves over time; material cost estimates become more reliable; scrap driven by wrong BOM quantities reduced.

Quality

Quality & CAPA Agent — Live

Quality → Defect Management & CAPA

Watches for defects, holds, and NCRs in the live record. When a new defect or quality hold is recorded, the agent investigates — pulling related jobs, inspection history, and prior NCRs for the same product type — to identify likely cause and prepare a CAPA initiation. Tracks open CAPAs to resolution and escalates overdue items. Generates the weekly quality exception summary.

Outcome: CAPA response time ↓; scrap, rework, and warranty cost reduced; quality trends surfaced before they become batch failures.

In-Process Inspection Agent — Planned

Quality → In-Process Inspection

Monitors in-process inspection results against acceptable quality levels (AQL) and control limits by product type and work centre. Flags processes drifting out of statistical control before a full batch is compromised. Triggers an alert to the quality lead and production supervisor with the specific machine, operator, and inspection readings involved.

Outcome: Batch failures caught at the part, not the pallet; scrap rate reduced; inspection response time cut from hours to minutes.

Supplier Quality Agent — Planned

Supply Chain → Supplier Quality

Tracks incoming inspection reject rates by supplier and material type. When a supplier's reject rate exceeds threshold or trends upward over three consecutive receipts, it prepares a supplier NCR and performance alert. Generates the monthly supplier quality scorecard automatically, ready for the supplier review meeting.

Outcome: Incoming quality issues escalated to suppliers faster; supplier scorecard preparation time eliminated; poor performers identified before they affect production.

Returns & Claims Agent — Thesis

Customer Service → Returns & Warranty Claims

Classifies incoming warranty claims and customer returns by root cause — linking each back to the originating production job, lot, and inspection record. Prepares the CAPA trigger and updates the customer quality scorecard. Surfaces patterns across returns (same defect type repeating across different customers) that in-process inspection alone wouldn't catch.

Outcome: Warranty cost traced to root cause; repeat returns from the same process failure eliminated faster; customer trust metrics improved.

Maintenance & Reliability

Reliability Agent — Live

Maintenance → Predictive Maintenance & Downtime

Continuously watches equipment readings (blade wear, vibration, temperature, cycle counts) and downtime event history. Identifies recurring patterns — the same machine failing in the same way at similar intervals — and prepares a preventive maintenance work order before the next expected failure. Explains likely cause and production impact in plain language to the maintenance lead.

Outcome: Unplanned downtime hours ↓; capex on premature asset replacement deferred; maintenance planned during low-demand windows.

CMMS Agent — Planned

Maintenance → Work Order Management

Monitors open maintenance work orders, overdue preventive maintenance schedules, and spare parts inventory levels. Sends the daily maintenance dashboard to the maintenance supervisor with a ranked list of priority work. Flags when a critical spare part is below reorder point before the asset it supports goes down.

Outcome: Overdue PMs eliminated; spare parts stockouts for critical assets avoided; maintenance team workload visible and prioritised.

Asset Lifecycle Agent — Thesis

Maintenance → Asset Management

Tracks cumulative downtime events, total repair cost, and age per asset across the plant. When a machine crosses a configurable cost-of-repair threshold or shows an accelerating failure rate, it prepares a replace-vs.-repair analysis for finance and maintenance management — including production impact of continued operation vs. replacement timing.

Outcome: Capex decisions grounded in actual failure data; emergency replacements replaced by planned ones; repair spend optimised against replacement cost.

Supply Chain & Procurement

Procurement Agent — Planned

Procurement → Purchase Order Management

Monitors open purchase orders against production material requirements. Flags supplier delivery risk — POs due within the next 5 days that have not yet confirmed shipment — before it disrupts the production schedule. Prepares expedite requests or alternative supplier lookups automatically when a PO is at risk.

Outcome: Material-driven production stoppages ↓; procurement team alerted to supplier risk with time to act; expediting cost reduced.

Inventory Agent — Planned

Supply Chain → Inventory Management

Watches stock levels against forward production demand by material and SKU. Surfaces stockout risk (demand will outpace supply within a configurable horizon) and excess inventory buildup (stock well above forward demand, tying up working capital). Prepares reorder recommendations and flags slow-moving stock for management review.

Outcome: Stockout-driven production stoppages eliminated; excess inventory reduced; working capital released from slow-moving stock.

Supplier Scorecard Agent — Planned

Supply Chain → Supplier Performance

Generates a periodic performance scorecard for each strategic supplier across three dimensions: on-time delivery rate, incoming quality reject rate, and cost variance vs. PO. Delivers the scorecard to procurement before the scheduled supplier review meeting. Flags suppliers whose performance has materially degraded since the last review period.

Outcome: Supplier reviews grounded in data not memory; poor performers identified and challenged early; scorecard prep time eliminated.

Freight & Logistics Agent — Thesis

Logistics → Outbound Shipment Management

Monitors outbound shipment status against promise dates and carrier confirmed ETAs. Flags shipments at risk of late delivery — before the customer calls — and prepares a customer update notification for approval. Tracks carrier performance over time and surfaces patterns of delays by lane or carrier.

Outcome: Customer informed proactively on late shipments; carrier performance managed with data; OTIF score improved on the logistics leg.

Finance

Invoice & AR Agent — Live

Finance → Accounts Receivable

Triggers invoice drafting automatically on shipment confirmation — no manual re-entry. Monitors aging AR by account and surfaces collection risk: accounts approaching payment terms with no activity, or accounts with dispute flags open. Prepares the weekly AR aging report and flags accounts for proactive outreach before they become overdue.

Outcome: DSO days ↓; invoice cycle time reduced; overdue accounts caught before they compound; working capital released.

Working Capital Agent — Planned

Finance → Cash Flow Management

Monitors DSO, WIP value, inventory turns, and days payable outstanding against targets. Prepares the weekly working capital dashboard and flags when any metric is trending away from target. Surfaces specific jobs or orders responsible for WIP buildup and identifies accounts with the largest impact on DSO.

Outcome: Cash position improved through proactive working capital management; WIP and AR drivers visible in real time; finance team focused on the most impactful actions.

Budget Variance Agent — Planned

Finance → Budget vs. Actual

Compares actual spend to budget by cost centre as transactions land in the live record — not at month end. Explains the largest variances with operational context drawn from the Data Hub (e.g. "freight overage driven by three expedite shipments in week 2"). Prepares the monthly variance commentary for finance review, reducing manual analysis time.

Outcome: Budget overruns identified mid-month when corrective action is still possible; variance commentary automated; finance close time reduced.

Impact Scorecard Agent — Planned

Finance → Performance Measurement

Generates the monthly impact scorecard from the live Data Hub: actual vs. baseline on every agreed objective — OTIF, margin, COPQ, downtime, DSO, management hours. Produces the full audit trail behind every number. Delivers the scorecard to the CFO and, where applicable, reconciles against the gain-share model.

Outcome: Impact measured, not asserted; scorecard prep time eliminated; every savings claim traceable to the live record.

HR & People

Attendance & Crew Agent — Thesis

HR → Workforce Management

Monitors attendance patterns, unplanned absences, and overtime accumulation by department. Surfaces crew availability risk for production scheduling — flagging when short-staffing on a critical work centre threatens the day's schedule. Identifies recurring absenteeism patterns for HR management review.

Outcome: Crew shortfalls visible before they affect production; overtime patterns managed proactively; HR focus on the highest-impact attendance issues.

Training & Certification Agent — Thesis

HR → Compliance & Certification

Tracks certification expiry dates across the workforce — forklift, safety, equipment operator, first aid, and any role-specific qualifications. Triggers renewal reminders to the employee and manager 30 days before expiry. Flags any upcoming expiries that would leave a critical work centre non-compliant if not renewed.

Outcome: Compliance lapses eliminated; certification renewals managed without HR manually tracking spreadsheets; audit-ready records maintained automatically.

Onboarding Agent — Thesis

HR → New Hire Onboarding

Guides a new hire through their onboarding checklist — documents to submit, system access to complete, safety training to attend, certifications to book. Monitors milestone completion and sends daily progress updates to the hiring manager. Flags outstanding items that would delay the employee reaching productive status.

Outcome: Time-to-productivity reduced; onboarding compliance improved; manager kept informed without manual follow-up.

Customer Service

Customer Update Agent — Live

Operations → Customer Communication

When a promise date moves or a shipment is delayed, the Operations Agent prepares a customer update notification drawn from the live record — accurate, specific, and sourced from the same data that triggered the alert. The notification is held for one-tap approval before sending, ensuring the customer hears from the business before they call.

Outcome: Customer trust maintained through proactive communication; account management time freed from reactive update calls; update accuracy improved (sourced from live record, not memory).

Support & Enquiry Agent — Thesis

Customer Service → Inbound Enquiries

Handles routine inbound customer enquiries — order status, shipment ETA, invoice queries — by retrieving the answer directly from the live Data Hub record. Escalates non-routine enquiries with full context (order history, open issues, relevant notes) already prepared for the account manager, so they can respond in minutes rather than hours.

Outcome: Routine enquiry response time ↓ to near-instant; account management team focused on complex issues; customer experience improved through faster, more accurate responses.

Escalation & Complaint Agent — Thesis

Customer Service → Complaint Management

When a customer complaint is logged, the agent investigates the associated orders, quality records, and delivery history to establish root cause and prepare a structured response. Classifies complaints by type and links them to open CAPAs where applicable. Generates the monthly complaint trend report for the quality and ops leadership team.

Outcome: Complaint response time ↓; root cause established from data rather than investigation from scratch; complaint patterns surfaced for systemic action.

Executive & Management

Executive Briefing Agent — Live

Management → Reporting & Decision Support

Generates structured briefings calibrated to the recipient — operations director (daily OTIF + exceptions), plant manager (production and quality overview), CFO (weekly financial health and monthly impact scorecard), CEO (monthly business summary). Each briefing is produced by the system from the live Data Hub — assembled in minutes, not by a person spending 60 minutes pulling from five spreadsheets.

Outcome: Management briefing prep time eliminated; every leader gets the right level of detail; decision quality improved through consistent, timely information.

Cross-Department Synthesis Agent — Live

Management → Strategic Operations Review

When the picture spans more than one department — a delivery risk driven by a quality hold caused by a supplier rejection and a maintenance event — this agent synthesises signals across the Operations, Quality, Reliability, and Supply Chain agents into a single coherent view. Identifies second-order connections that individual department agents would not surface on their own.

Outcome: Cross-functional issues identified before they become crises; leadership given a joined-up picture rather than three separate department reports; root cause analysis accelerated.