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DIRECT SPEND ANALYTICS FOR MULTI-PLANT MANUFACTURERS

Stop paying three prices for the same part

Stop paying three prices for the same part

Stop paying three prices for the same part

Three plants buy the same material from the same supplier at three prices, because each ERP numbers it differently. The Direct Spend Agent matches each part across every plant and prices the spread against annual volume.

In short: the Direct Spend Agent is AI direct spend analytics for manufacturers running more than one plant or ERP. It resolves each part to one identity across your part masters, invoices and quotes, then shows where the same item carries different prices, for purchasing to act on.

Three plants buy the same material from the same supplier at three prices, because each ERP numbers it differently. The Direct Spend Agent matches each part across every plant and prices the spread against annual volume.

In short: the Direct Spend Agent is AI direct spend analytics for manufacturers running more than one plant or ERP. It resolves each part to one identity across your part masters, invoices and quotes, then shows where the same item carries different prices, for purchasing to act on.

HOW IT WORKS

How the Direct Spend Agent goes to work

How the Direct Spend Agent goes to work

How the Direct Spend Agent goes to work

Prebuilt, configured to your plants, then released. No migration, no change to how plants run.

Prebuilt, configured to your plants, then released. No migration, no change to how plants run.

01

Start from the prebuilt agent

It already knows parts, BOMs, routings, work centres, purchase orders and scrap codes, and the checks your estimators and buyers run.

02

Configure it to your tools, systems and parameters

We connect each plant’s ERP, Coupa, invoices, the historian and quote emails, and load your cost standards, margin targets and approval chain.

03

Release it into the work

It starts on live quotes, invoices and shift notes. Our platform checks every draft against its source and stops for approval.

04

It works like a trained member of your team

Work arrives ranked with the action drafted. A named person decides, and nothing reaches a customer or supplier without approval.

OUR PLATFORM

What makes it work

What makes it work

What makes it work

Our platform is the instruction manual behind the agent.

Our platform is the instruction manual behind the agent.

It knows how you decide

It knows how you decide

Your cost standards, margin targets, capacity rules and approval chain, plus what your estimators and plant managers know, written down as the playbook the agent follows.

It reads every system

It reads every system

Every plant connected where it sits, one record per part, and every figure traced to its invoice, receipt or work order.

It checks its own work

It checks its own work

Every draft is checked against its source and your rules, and the agent stops where a person has to approve.

It stays inside your rules

It stays inside your rules

It sees only what the person it works for can see, and every step is logged.

THE SYSTEMS IT READS

The systems the Direct Spend Agent is configured to

The systems the Direct Spend Agent is configured to

The systems the Direct Spend Agent is configured to

Reached where they sit, including controls and historians on the floor. Nothing is migrated.

Reached where they sit, including controls and historians on the floor. Nothing is migrated.

SAP

SAP

Orders, costs and receipts at plant level

NetSuite

NetSuite

Finance and the general ledger

Coupa

Coupa

Purchase orders and approval history

Supplier invoices

Supplier invoices

What you paid, line by line

Quote emails

Quote emails

Spot prices that never reached an ERP

Part and item master

Part and item master

One part, three part numbers

Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation

Line controls and PLC data

Siemens

Siemens

Machine and drive telemetry

MES and historian

MES and historian

Machine-level runtime and cycle data

Shift notes

Shift notes

Why a line stopped, in the shift lead’s words

Freight bills

Freight bills

Cost to serve by customer and lane

Excel workbooks

Excel workbooks

Rebate accruals and credits nobody joined

FAQ

AI direct spend analysis for manufacturers: common questions

AI direct spend analysis for manufacturers: common questions

AI direct spend analysis for manufacturers: common questions

How do you match a part across three ERPs?

How do you match a part across three ERPs?

On specification, not part number. Standard, dimension, material and supplier are read from the part master, invoices and quotes, and records describing the same item are resolved together.

Where does the data come from?

Where does the data come from?

Each plant’s part master, supplier invoices at line level, quote emails never keyed anywhere, and freight bills, so the comparison is landed cost. Volume comes from the ERPs.

What does configuring the agent for our plants involve?

What does configuring the agent for our plants involve?

Connecting each plant ERP where it stands, reading invoices and quote emails, and confirming uncertain part matches. The output is a request with invoice lines attached, and procurement approves it.

Do we need a data team to run this?

No. We connect your systems, configure the agent to your rules and run the layer underneath it. Your team reviews and approves the agent’s work; nobody has to build or maintain data pipelines.

Do we have to move our data into a new warehouse first?

No. The agent works across the systems you already run, through a governed context layer that keeps every figure traced to the record it came from. If you already have a warehouse, it becomes one more source.

Why not build this ourselves?

You can, and for some teams it is the right call. The build is rarely the hard part. Resolving the same part, supplier and plant across systems, keeping definitions consistent and getting the team to use it every week is where internal projects stall. We take that on so your engineers do not become platform operators.

Let’s build your company a brain
and put AI to work.

Let’s build your company a brain
and put AI to work.

Let’s build your company a brain
and put AI to work.

Your systems, your documents, and what your people have been carrying around in their heads. Thirty minutes to see what an AI brain could look like in your company.

Book a strategy call