Machinery · Use case library
For each application: what it saves, what it costs to introduce and when it pays off. Calculated for a company with 100 employees, with the assumptions disclosed, so you can plug in your own numbers.
How to read the library
Anyone who shows you an ROI calculation without disclosing the assumptions is selling you an opinion. That is why the model comes first here. Replace the values with your own, and the model calculation becomes your calculation.
The calculation is deliberately the conservative lower bound: only working time saved, against full costs. Better quality, avoided failure costs and shorter lead times come on top in reality, but cannot be quantified seriously without your numbers. The percentages for time saved sit at the lower end of what is known from projects and studies.
Overview
At the top is what pays off quickly, at the bottom what may be strategically right but needs patience. Tools, running costs and the data protection assessment for each application are in the PDF.
| Application | Area | Time per week | Savings per year | Set-up | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating manual from CAD and bill of materials | Technical documentation | 5.6 h | €21,420 | €3,500 | 2.4 months |
| Inspection instructions at the workstation | Quality and complaints | 6.0 h | €17,550 | €3,500 | 2.9 months |
| Draft requirements and functional specifications | Technical documentation | 4.8 h | €18,360 | €4,000 | 3.1 months |
| Pre-screen technical enquiries | Quotes and sales | 4.2 h | €16,065 | €3,500 | 3.4 months |
| Analyse tenders and customer specifications | Quotes and sales | 4.0 h | €15,300 | €4,000 | 3.5 months |
| Generate management reports | Management and administration | 4.0 h | €15,300 | €3,500 | 3.6 months |
| Translate technical documents | Technical documentation | 4.8 h | €14,040 | €4,000 | 3.9 months |
| Pre-qualify service requests | Service and customer support | 4.9 h | €14,332 | €3,500 | 4.4 months |
| Audit preparation and QM reports | Quality and complaints | 3.2 h | €12,240 | €4,000 | 4.5 months |
| Make troubleshooting knowledge available | Service and customer support | 4.2 h | €16,065 | €3,500 | 4.6 months |
| Structure 8D reports | Quality and complaints | 3.2 h | €12,240 | €4,000 | 4.8 months |
| Record shift handovers | Production and maintenance | 4.8 h | €14,040 | €4,000 | 4.9 months |
| Service report from field notes | Service and customer support | 4.5 h | €13,162 | €4,000 | 5.4 months |
| Identify spare parts | Service and customer support | 4.0 h | €11,700 | €3,500 | 5.6 months |
| Condense supplier communication | Order processing and purchasing | 3.2 h | €9,360 | €4,000 | 6.7 months |
| Create requests for quotation and orders | Order processing and purchasing | 3.0 h | €8,775 | €4,000 | 6.7 months |
| Draft sales correspondence | Quotes and sales | 3.5 h | €10,238 | €4,000 | 6.9 months |
| Customer briefing before the meeting | Quotes and sales | 3.2 h | €9,360 | €4,000 | 7.2 months |
| Make technical knowledge searchable | Technical documentation | 13.5 h | €51,638 | €21,500 | 7.9 months |
| Job adverts and first screening | Management and administration | 2.4 h | €7,020 | €4,000 | 8.1 months |
| Cluster customer complaints | Quality and complaints | 2.1 h | €8,032 | €3,500 | 8.4 months |
| Capture lessons learned | Production and maintenance | 2.0 h | €7,650 | €4,000 | 8.7 months |
| Keep work instructions up to date | Production and maintenance | 2.8 h | €8,190 | €3,500 | 10.4 months |
| Check against standards and directives | Technical documentation | 1.8 h | €6,885 | €3,500 | 11.0 months |
| Order confirmation and master data | Order processing and purchasing | 7.2 h | €21,060 | €12,000 | 11.2 months |
| Review framework agreements and clauses | Order processing and purchasing | 1.4 h | €5,355 | €4,000 | 11.2 months |
| Support onboarding | Management and administration | 2.1 h | €6,142 | €3,500 | 11.6 months |
| Generate a quote from an enquiry | Quotes and sales | 8.4 h | €32,130 | €35,000 | 18.3 months |
| Post delivery notes and invoices | Order processing and purchasing | 6.3 h | €18,428 | €35,000 | 43.2 months |
| Analyse downtime | Production and maintenance | 1.8 h | €6,885 | €35,000 | via downtime |
Time per week is the working time saved across the whole company. Payback is the set-up cost divided by the monthly surplus after running costs. “Analyse downtime” pays off through avoided downtime hours, not analysis time.
Three implementation classes
€4,000 set-up, 2 to 4 weeks
Licence, onboarding and prompt templates, no infrastructure of your own. Only the licences keep costing money.
€3,500 set-up, 3 to 6 weeks
Builds on a shared knowledge platform, €120 a month to run. The platform itself costs €18,000 once and €350 a month and is paid for by the first application. Buy twelve isolated tools instead and you pay for it twelve times.
€35,000 set-up, 3 to 6 months
Your own interface to ERP or machine data and your own operation, €500 a month.
Where to start
The most common way to burn money on AI in SMEs is the broad start: five pilots in parallel, each sixty percent done, none in production. Two paths have proven themselves.
€57,330 a year for €11,000 set-up
Operating manual from CAD and bill of materials, inspection instructions at the workstation, drafting requirements specifications. Three applications without infrastructure of your own, paid back together in under six months. The point is less the money than the proof inside the company that it works.
four applications, one platform
Making technical knowledge searchable pays for the platform and still pays off in eight months. After that, pre-screening enquiries, management reporting and pre-qualifying service requests only cost the add-on instead of a new island.
Before every start
Who in the company notices when the result is wrong? If nobody can answer that, the application is not ready yet.
Does the process run stably today? AI only speeds up a broken process, it does not fix it.
Who will run this in two years? Without a named owner, the pilot becomes shelfware.
Series
AI and automation
Five AI applications around enquiries and quotes in machinery manufacturing, with hours, setup costs and payback for a reference company of 100 staff.
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FORGESeries6 min read
AI and automation
Five AI applications for order processing and purchasing in machinery manufacturing, costed: hours, setup, payback, and where automation does not pay.
FORGESeries5 min read
AI and automation
Operating manuals, specifications, standards checks, translation, knowledge search: five AI applications for technical documentation at machine makers, costed.
FORGESeries6 min read
AI and automation
Pre-qualifying service requests, finding spare parts, reports from notes, securing fault knowledge: four AI applications for machinery service, costed.
FORGESeries4 min read
AI and automation
8D reports, complaint clustering, audit preparation and inspection instructions with AI: four applications for machinery makers, costed.
FORGESeries4 min read
AI and automation
Shift handover logs, work instructions, downtime analysis and lessons learned: four AI applications for machinery makers, with setup costs and payback.
FORGESeries4 min read
AI and automation
Management reporting automation, job adverts with initial screening, onboarding support: three AI applications, costed, and where the EU AI Act sets limits.
FORGESeries4 min read
Free PDF
19 pages: all 30 applications with problem, solution, tools, running costs and data protection assessment, plus the two ways to get started. In German.
Tool list for each application, market status August 2026
Data protection assessment for each application
May be shared freely within your own company
In the intro call we go through the list with your numbers and find the applications that pay off first for you.