Agentic AI that runs with the plant floor
Discrete and process manufacturers run on MES, historians, ERP, and a thousand spreadsheets in between. We deploy agents that close that gap — scheduling, reconciling, and documenting work — without ever breaking traceability or control-system boundaries.
- MES / ERP / historian-aware
- OT-segmented & on-prem deployable
- Lot & serial traceability preserved
- Part 11 / ISO 9001-ready audit trails
The data exists. The integration doesn't.
Modern plants are not short on data — they're short on the connective tissue between systems.
Your MES knows what ran. Your historian knows how the line behaved. Your ERP knows what was promised to the customer, and your QMS knows what passed inspection. The problem is that these four truths almost never line up automatically, so operators, planners, and quality engineers spend their shifts keying data between screens and chasing discrepancies.
Every one of those manual hops is a chance to drop a lot number, miss a nonconformance, or ship against a stale schedule. And in a regulated plant — medical device, pharma, aerospace, food and beverage — a dropped link in the genealogy is not an inconvenience, it's a finding.
Agentic AI is well-suited to exactly this layer: bounded, repetitive, judgment-light reconciliation that runs continuously across systems. The work is real, the rules are knowable, and the audit requirements are non-negotiable — which is precisely how we like to scope an agent.
Where agents earn their keep on the floor
Each agent owns a narrow, well-instrumented loop — and hands off to a human the moment it hits an exception or a regulated decision.
Production scheduling
Re-sequence work orders against live machine availability, material readiness, and due dates — proposing changes a planner approves, not silently overriding the schedule.
MES ↔ ERP reconciliation
Continuously match work-order actuals, consumption, and yields between MES and ERP, flagging variances before they distort costing or inventory.
Quality & nonconformance
Draft NCR and CAPA documentation from inspection and SPC data, route for disposition, and keep the QMS record complete and signed.
Predictive maintenance triage
Watch historian and vibration data for drift, open work orders in the CMMS, and brief the maintenance lead with the evidence behind each alert.
Tribal-knowledge retrieval
Answer line-side questions from SOPs, work instructions, and equipment manuals — grounded in your controlled documents, with citations to the source.
Supplier & inbound quality
Reconcile ASNs, COAs, and receiving inspections so material is released — or quarantined — without a planner playing email tag with suppliers.
From pilot cell to plant-wide
We start where the risk is lowest and the reconciliation pain is highest, then expand as trust and traceability are proven.
Map
Walk one value stream: the systems, the handoffs, and where data is re-keyed or dropped today.
Contain
Scope an agent to a single read-mostly loop with a human approval gate on any regulated step.
Validate
Run IQ/OQ/PQ, wire up audit logging and e-signatures, and qualify it like any production system.
Scale
Extend across cells, lines, and sister plants once genealogy and metrics hold up.
Traceability and control boundaries stay intact
On a regulated floor, the question isn't whether an agent can do the work — it's whether you can prove what it did, and prove it never crossed a line it shouldn't. We design for that proof from the first workshop.
Agents operate strictly in the supervisory and record-keeping layer. They read from the historian, MES, and ERP and write through your existing work-order and change-control paths. They do not command PLCs or SCADA, and we respect Purdue-model segmentation so OT and IT stay where your security team put them.
- Lot, batch, and serial lineage on every action
- 21 CFR Part 11 e-signatures on regulated steps
- Immutable audit logs mapped to ISO 9001 / IATF 16949
- OT-segmented, on-prem, or air-gapped deployment
A dashboard vs. an operations agent
Visibility tools tell you something is wrong. Agents close the loop — within their guardrails.
| A BI dashboard | An Automatic.co agent | |
|---|---|---|
| On a variance | Shows a red number | Reconciles the source records and proposes the fix |
| On a quality event | Logs the data point | Drafts the NCR and routes it for disposition |
| Across systems | One system at a time | Reads MES, ERP, historian, and QMS together |
| Traceability | You assemble it later | Built as the work happens, audit-ready |
| Control boundary | N/A | Read/record only — never commands the line |
Frequently asked questions
Will agents touch our MES or controls directly?
No. Agents read from your MES, historian, and ERP and write back through your existing change-control and work-order workflows. They never issue commands to PLCs or SCADA — supervisory control stays with your control system and your operators.
How do you handle traceability and lot genealogy?
Every agent action is tied to the work order, lot, batch, or serial it touches, with a full decision trail. The lineage agents produce is itself auditable, so a recall investigation or a customer PPAP request resolves in minutes, not a day of spreadsheet archaeology.
Can this run in an air-gapped or OT-segmented plant?
Yes. We deploy on-prem or inside your OT DMZ, respecting Purdue-model segmentation. Models can run locally so no production, recipe, or quality data leaves the facility — important for ITAR work and proprietary process IP.
How do you keep it validated under FDA 21 CFR Part 11 or ISO 9001?
We treat agents as validated systems: documented intended use, IQ/OQ/PQ, versioned prompts and logic, electronic-signature gates on regulated steps, and immutable audit logs. Changes go through your CSV/change-control process like any other production system.
Related operations & compliance
Industry-specific agents and the governance that keeps them auditable.
Pick one value stream. We'll show you the agent.
A working session on your floor's hardest reconciliation loop — and a deployment plan that keeps traceability and control boundaries intact.