Discrete Manufacturing
Catch the revised drawing and the late part before they stop the job.
Revised drawings and supplier delays arrive by email while the ERP keeps the old revision and the old date. LevelOneAI connects each change to the jobs, POs and ship dates it affects, so you act before it turns into scrap or an idle line.
Where the work gets stuck
A customer emails Rev C, and the floor keeps cutting Rev B
Purchasing keeps buying material for a revision that's already changed
A supplier pushes a part three weeks, and the job stops halfway through setup
Expedites, overtime and idle operators that earlier warning would have avoided
Engineering Change Fallout & Job Impact Workflow
Stop the floor building to the old revision.
Customers email revised drawings after the order is booked, and the new revision sits in an engineer's inbox while machinists cut metal to the old one. It catches the change and shows everything it affects, before the parts hit the machine.
Doesn't PLM handle this? PLM manages the change inside engineering, but nothing tracks the jobs, POs and customer dates it breaks until each one is resolved.
Drawing 7712-HSG · Rev B → Rev C · 304 → 316 stainless
Job 8021 · Lathe 3
Hold recommendedPlace engineering holdCustomer drawing
Rev C · 316 stainless
ERP job router
Rev B · 40 of 120 done
PO 6650 · bar stock
Old materialFlag to purchasingRev C material callout
316 stainless
ERP open PO
304 stainless · ships Fri
CNC program and inspection plan
Update neededAssign to engineeringCustomer drawing
Rev C
Program and QA plan
Still on Rev B
SO 3307 · Apex Robotics
Customer dateConfirm new dateProduction schedule
Rework adds 6 days
ERP sales order
Ships Nov 14
Found 4 items tied to Rev B
Approve holdIllustrative example · sample company and data
What comes in
- Updated drawing PDFs from customers
- Internal engineering change notices
- Change requests in email threads
What it does
- Reads the part number, revision and material callouts
- Finds every job, PO, program and customer order tied to the old revision
- Puts the fallout in front of the lead engineer or plant manager
What goes into the ERP, after approval
- Engineering hold on the job router
- BOM lines moved to the new revision
- Purchasing flagged to change open POs
What it changes
How the work changes
Measured in the pilot
Drawing change to hold decision
3–10 days → Same day
Open jobs and POs checked
Hit or miss → Every one
Fallout owned to a close
Whoever notices → Every item, with an owner
The business results it drives
Which way each one moves, from where it typically is today
- LowerScrap and reworktoday 3–6% of revenue
- LowerJobs on an old revisiontoday 8–12% of custom jobs
- LowerWarranty and field failurestoday 1.5–3% of shipments
Illustrative ranges, not results: business results also depend on your team acting on what it finds. The pilot measures both against your own baseline.
What's at stake: a $40M plant
- $40Mannual revenue, an engineer-to-order or configure-to-order plant
- $1.6Ma year in scrap and rework at 4% of revenue
- $480,000of it from changes that reached the floor late, if that's 30%
- ~$48,000a year for every 10% of those changes caught in time
In sales terms · at a 5% margin
That $480,000 is the profit you would make on $9.6M of new sales. Every 10% you recover is worth about $960,000 in sales, with no new inventory to carry or customers to win.
Example assumptions, not results, so use your own numbers. A pilot measures the change against your baseline.
For the VP of Operations, plant manager and engineering manager. Holds, BOM changes and PO flags happen only after approval.
Material Shortage & Production Disruption Workflow
Know which job will stall, before the setup starts.
A supplier emails that a part is backordered three weeks, but the ERP still shows Tuesday, so the job starts and stops halfway through setup. It reads supplier and outside-processor updates, checks them against the schedule and recommends a fix before operators sit idle.
Doesn't MRP do this? MRP plans on the promise date in the ERP, while the delay sits in the buyer's email for days.
Disruption queue · this week
Part 882-B · Delta Bearings
Job will stallSwap with Job 4032 (all material in stock)Supplier email · Oct 6
Backordered 3 weeks
ERP PO 7088
Due Tuesday
Shop schedule
Job 4019 starts Monday
PO 7120 · Kestrel Castings
PartialSplit the jobSupplier email
50 now, 150 in 30 days
ERP PO
200 due Oct 20
Shop schedule
Job 4044 needs 200
Job 3988 · Precision Plating
Ship date at riskAsk for a firm datePlater's email
"Still in process"
ERP outside-op PO
Due back Monday
ERP sales order
Ships Nov 3
3 jobs at risk
Approve fixesIllustrative example · sample company and data
What comes in
- Supplier acknowledgments and delay notices (email, PDF)
- Partial-shipment and backorder updates
- Status replies from outside processors
What it does
- Reads the part, quantity and new promise date
- Checks it against the shop-floor schedule and finds the jobs that will stall
- Recommends a fix, like running a job that has all its material
What goes into the ERP, after approval
- PO promise date updated
- Job sequence changed on the dispatch board
- Status request to suppliers who haven't confirmed
What it changes
How the work changes
Measured in the pilot
Supplier delay matched to the jobs it stalls
At setup → Same day
Jobs checked per change
Hit or miss → Every one
Risks ranked by dollars at stake
By who shouts loudest → By jobs and orders exposed
The business results it drives
Which way each one moves, from where it typically is today
- HigherOn-time in-fulltoday 72–82%
- LowerOperator idle timetoday 12–18% of hours
- LowerExpedited freighttoday $80K–$250K a year
Illustrative ranges, not results: business results also depend on your team acting on what it finds. The pilot measures both against your own baseline.
What's at stake: a $40M plant
- $40Mannual revenue, 60 operators on the floor
- 18,000operator hours a year lost to waiting at 15% idle time
- $720,000of labor in that waiting, at $40 an hour
- ~$72,000a year for every 10% of that waiting avoided, before counting freight
In sales terms · at a 5% margin
Every $72,000 of capacity you get back is the profit you would make on about $1.4M of new sales, without adding people or carrying more stock.
Example assumptions, not results, so use your own numbers. A pilot measures the change against your baseline.
For the production scheduler, supply chain manager and VP of Operations. PO dates, schedule changes and supplier requests happen only after approval.
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