Laitao

Chapter 02Agentic AI and production workflows

AI agents inside the production flow

An order arrives as a PDF, a delivery route gets planned in a spreadsheet, a quote is priced over the phone. Between those steps, people retype, double-check and chase. An AI agent takes over those handoffs: it reads, queries the systems, prepares the decision and puts it in front of the right person. It also gets maintenance and production working in the same CMMS.

123456

  1. 01Sensor · bearing 2 vibration

    4.2 mm/s

    alarm threshold 4.5

  2. 02Stator temperature · generator 1

    71 °C

    limit 85

  3. 03Service report · PDF

    Part mentioned 6316 bearing extracted

  4. 04Thermal camera · bearing 2

    +11 °C over 48 h

  5. 05Message from an operator

    “Unusual noise on the bearing 2 side since this morning.”

  6. 06Maintenance agent · log

    • reads the report and the message
    • cross-checks vibration and thermal image
    • ERP: 2 bearings in stock
    • proposes a planned stop, Thursday 6 a.m.
    • waits for the shop supervisor to approve
Illustration. An agent reads a signal, a reading, a document, an image and a conversation at once, then proposes an action that waits for a person to approve it. The values are made up. Photo: Wolfgang Weiser, Unsplash, reworked by Laitao.

Maintenance and production in the same CMMS

In many plants, maintenance and production each organize their own side: the CMMS (the maintenance management system) on one side, the production schedule on the other, with phone calls and spreadsheets in between. The image above shows what changes when an agent brings them together.

Workflows at every step of production

A production process is a chain of workflows: at every step, information passes from one person, department or piece of software to the next. Those handoffs are still often done by hand, by email, spreadsheet or phone. That is where an agent has the most to do.

  1. Orders

    receiving, entering, confirming lead times

  2. Planning

    scheduling, assigning workstations and crews

  3. Purchasing

    chasing suppliers, receiving goods, matching invoices

  4. Manufacturing

    work orders, changeovers, instructions at the workstation

  5. Quality

    nonconformities, inspection sheets, customer complaints

  6. Maintenance

    work requests, spare parts, service reports

  7. Shipping

    picking, delivery routes, transport documents

  8. Invoicing

    invoices, reminders, credit notes

Data in every shape

Anatomy of an agentic workflow

The same sequence shows up from one plant to the next. What changes is the data, and who signs off.

  1. Receive

    An order, a message, an alert.

  2. Read

    The agent pulls out what matters, whatever the format.

  3. Cross-check

    It queries the ERP, the stock, the history.

  4. Propose

    It drafts a reply, a schedule, a quote.

  5. Approve

    A person accepts, corrects or rejects it.

  6. Act and log

    The action goes out, and everything is logged.

Work in progress

At an industrial joinery manufacturer we have worked with since 2025, the open workstreams cover the whole chain:

What we deliver

  • Tools that run on your side

    The goal is agents that work on their own inside your teams, on your data.

  • Partner engineering

    Gilles Babinet leads the strategy; partner engineers build and deploy.

  • Trained teams

    Training days so your people can use the agents, correct them and make them evolve.

  • Support over time

    A year-long engagement rather than a one-off deliverable: workflows change, and the agents keep up.

Let’s talk about your production flows

Tell us where information gets lost between two steps, and we will get back to you to set up a first conversation.