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Keystone Systems

Manufacturing

Connor runs an advanced-manufacturing business and personally built its customer platform, so we know the quote-to-ship workflow from the shop floor up. That includes the additive and low-volume work where every order is a little different.

Interactive exampleManufacturing
Show the workflow

Quote to production order · Trigger: A customer uploads a part file

Current state

  1. 01Manual

    Customer emails a CAD file and quantities

    Customer · Email

  2. 02Manual

    Engineer opens the file and estimates material and machine time

    Engineer · CAD

  3. 03Manual

    Sales builds a quote in a spreadsheet

    Sales · Spreadsheet

  4. 04Manual

    Quote emailed; follow-ups by hand

    Sales · Email

  5. 05Manual

    Accepted order re-keyed into the ERP

    Ops · ERP

  6. 06Manual

    Planner adds the job to the schedule

    Planner · Whiteboard

Steps
6before, then after:5
Manual touches
6before, then after:0
Hand-offs
4before, then after:2
Systems touched
5before, then after:3

Showing the current state. Counts come from this illustrative workflow, not measured client results. Legend: dashed = manual, orange = automated, solid dark = human review.

Use cases

Where we'd look first.

15 automation use cases that commonly apply to manufacturing.

Filter these in the explorer

  • Employee onboarding & offboarding

    One HR event provisions accounts, groups, licenses and devices, and reverses all of it on exit so access is removed on day one.

    Directory & SSOService desk

  • Infrastructure as code

    Servers and configuration defined in Puppet and cloud templates: reproducible, reviewable and auditable instead of hand-built.

    PuppetAWS / Azure / GCP

  • Disaster-recovery playbooks & tests

    Written, rehearsed recovery runbooks with automated backup verification, so recovery is a procedure rather than a scramble.

    AWS / Azure / GCP

  • Instant quoting & pricing engine

    Turn geometry, materials, machine time and margin rules into consistent, instant quotes, with engineers reviewing only edge cases.

    Custom appERP

  • Order to production planning

    Accepted orders flow into planning with travelers, status tracking and customer updates, without re-keying.

    ERPCustom app

  • Order to fulfillment

    Orders route to pick, pack and ship with labels generated, tracking sent and exceptions surfaced to staff.

    E-commerce platformWooCommerceCustom app

  • Inventory sync across channels

    One source of truth for stock across storefronts, marketplaces, warehouse and ERP, with low-stock alerts.

    E-commerce platformERPNetSuite

  • ERP integration

    Connect quoting, orders, purchasing, inventory and finance to Dynamics AX, NetSuite or another ERP so every team sees the same numbers.

    ERPDynamics AXNetSuite

  • Build & option configuration

    Validate complex option sheets at order time and generate the build spec and bill of materials automatically.

    ERPDynamics AXCustom app

  • Materials & reorder tracking

    Consumption tracking, reorder points and supplier orders before a job or menu item stalls for lack of stock.

    ERPSpreadsheets

  • Shipping & label automation

    Rate-shop carriers, generate labels and push tracking to customers automatically.

    E-commerce platformWooCommerce

  • CRM & pipeline automation

    Activity logged automatically, follow-ups scheduled and pipeline reports kept current, so nothing falls through.

    CRM

  • Prospect & competitor research

    Software that finds and enriches target accounts, for example identifying a competitor's customers from public signals.

    CRMCustom app

  • AI agent for email & support

    An agent that reads the inbox, answers routine questions from your own data, drafts the rest and escalates anything unusual.

    AI agentsEmail & inboxService desk

  • Reporting dashboards

    Dashboards fed directly from your systems for throughput, margin, pipeline or program metrics, with no spreadsheet assembly.

    SpreadsheetsERPCRM

Relevant experience

We've worked inside this industry.

  • ConnorFounder & Operator of Apis Dynamics (advanced manufacturing, 2026–present). Built its customer platform with 3D model analysis, quoting, pricing, accounts, orders, production planning and workflow automation.
  • CwynIT Operations Manager / Systems Engineer at AM General (2008–10).

Platforms we've worked with

Next.jsTypeScriptSupabasePostgreSQLThree.jsDynamics AXNetSuite
Next industryE-commerce & retail

Let's map your workflows.

A short call about how your business runs. We'll tell you honestly where automation would pay off first, and where it wouldn't.

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