Gateway / portal
One secure front door to a scattered tool landscape
A registry-driven gateway that turns a sprawl of disconnected internal systems into a single, governed home your team actually uses.
The engagement
Workflow automation and cost-saving with AI.
Phase I · ScopeWe identify the purpose, current roles and system of records.Then we agree on the boundaries for your first build to pin down the targeted value generation.Example: Quote to order — 35 RFQs a week, no fixed owner.Fixed price · $5,000 CAD
Phase II · Current stateWhere the 240 minutes actually go.Five steps on paper. Inside step 03 sits the searching, re-keying and rework no process map ever shows.240 min per quote · 2–3 days to the customer
Phase III · OwnershipNobody is accountable for 04 Approve.Four people support the margin call and no owner is identified. That is the delay — not the pricing.The finding that fixes the timeline
Phase IV · RedesignAI does the reading. Your people keep the judgment.Same five steps, same system of record — rebuilt around what AI can now do. One step stays human, deliberately.240 min → 27 min per quote
Phase V · Value proofThe return, in your own numbers.Set the role, the rate, the hours and the share you believe is removable. Every figure on the right recomputes — none of them is a number we entered for you.Fixed price · $5,000 CAD
The processQuote to order
01
Intake
25 min
02
Clarify scope
55 min
03
Price
70 min
04
Approve
50 min
05
Send
40 min
Scope
Whatthe work
Inbound RFQ to quote to order confirmation
About 35 RFQs a week, no fixed owner
Quoted turnaround: "two to three days"
Whothe roles
Inside sales receives it and opens the file
Estimating prices it; engineering checks feasibility
Controller approves anything off standard margin
Howthe system of record
Shared sales inbox and the drawing attachments
The estimating spreadsheet on the shared drive
ERP item and cost tables; last year’s quote folder
Current stateQuote to order
01
Intake
25 min
02
Clarify scope
55 min
03
Price
70 min
04
Approve
50 min
05
Send
40 min
Process sub-steps · inside step 03not documented in any process map
L2.1Hunt the drive for a comparable past quote
searching25 min
L2.2Re-key BOM lines and pull current material cost
transcription20 min
L2.3Rebuild the margin sheet for this configuration
rework15 min
L2.4Correct the version that was already stale
rework10 min
240 minper quote
2–3 daysto the customer
Searching, re-keying, waiting. Only one step is a decision.Ownership · who owns which stepQuote to order
01
Intake
25 min
02
Clarify scope
55 min
03
Price
70 min
04
Approve
50 min
05
Send
40 min
RASICresponsible · accountable · support · informed · consulted
Nobody is accountable for 04 Approve. Four people support the margin call and no owner is identified.
Redesign · the AI-native rebuild
AI runs itHuman decides
01AI
IntakeReads the email, drawings, and spec sheet and extracts the line items into a structured quote file.25 min0
02AI + human
ClarifyAI drafts the clarification email against the gaps it found in the spec. Inside sales sends it.55 min5 min
03AI + human
PriceRetrieves comparable historic quotes and current ERP costs, builds the priced sheet with sources attached.70 min10 min
04Human
ApproveThe margin call, owned and made on evidence already assembled — not two days of waiting.50 min12 min
05AI
SendQuote, cover note, and the CRM and ERP records write themselves the moment it is approved.40 min0
Per quote
Before240 min
After27 min
Value proof · your own numbersLive calculator
5,796
hours a year releasedburdened ×1.30, 46 working weeks3.15
FTE of clerical workagainst a one-time $5,000 CAD$256,183
of labour a yearat the rate and share you setUnder a week
paybackon the one-time fixed priceRead as investment: nobody leaves. The same 5,796 hours fund the work there was never time for — roughly 1,449 more quotes out the door a year, or supplier development and process improvement, at no added headcount.
Illustrative, not a client case study. Wages are Job Bank Ontario and StatCan, burdened ×1.30 across 46 working weeks.Prior First Builds
Things we've already built
Custom app
A custom CRM app, shaped to the specific workflow
A bespoke operations app built around how the team actually works — pipeline, outreach, accountability, a live command center — instead of forcing the team into off-the-shelf software.
Market intelligence
Market & technology intelligence, kept current
A technology-roadmapping workspace — grounded in MIT technology-roadmapping research — that turns scattered market and technology signals into a living capability roadmap, not a slide that's stale the day it's made.
Agentic document generation
Diagnose in plain language, generate the documents
Compass is a digital and operations readiness assessment tool. It routes any manufacturing challenge — described in plain language — to the right practice, identifies gaps and then suggests an immediate fix.
Repeatable infrastructure for software development
A fat platform holds every workflow, hook, and state for software development — so the agent stays thin, disposable, and governed. Same input, same path, every run.
Explore Agent OrchestrationYour workflow, reimagined
Tell us about your process challenges. We align the scope and help you to get started with workflow automation and AI cost-saving.
Get in touchWhat we rebuild
Five workflows worth an afternoon
A living knowledge base your whole team can ask
The answer lives in one expert's head — and walks out the door when they retire.
Built fromSetup sheets, SOPs, work instructions
Audit evidence assembled on demand
An IATF or ISO audit costs someone two weeks of digging for evidence.
Built fromQuality manual, records, controlled documents
A downtime classifier + self-writing shift report
You know you lose hours every week — you just can't prove where.
Built fromShift and downtime logs
One live view that tells you what needs chasing
Someone spends half their day chasing late orders by phone and email.
Built fromERP order and purchase-order exports
A supplier scorecard that surfaces problems early
You can't tell which suppliers are actually costing you.
Built fromERP PO-to-invoice exports
Why ForgeShift
Industrial software development experience
First Build is delivered by an operator who built and ran Factory-of-the-Future systems across dozens of manufacturing plants. One complete, working, tested workflow.
01Fixed scope: One AI-native workflow + team build session + 30 days support
02Fixed price: 5,000 CAD / First Build (excl. tax)
03Set up in your own account so your data stays yours. Team empowered to continue
Get in touch
Why now
22,500 / yr
Ontario manufacturing workers retiring through 2033 — one in four is already over 55. The knowledge cliff is here.
Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters — Ontario Workforce Report, 2025
Grants buy plans
CDAP's $15,000 grant closed in February 2024. What's left is up to $15,000 from NGen or DMAP to fund planning. First Build is the implementation.
NGen / NRC-IRAP — Industrial AI Readiness · Ontario Centre of Innovation — DMAP
~12% on AI
Only about one in eight Canadian firms has adopted AI. The capability is here now — first movers, building from data they already have, set the pace.
Statistics Canada — AI adoption in Canadian firms, 2026
The window is open now.
First Build is the low-risk way through it — one workflow, proven, from data you already have.
Not sure where to start? Diagnose your operation free with Compass.
Get in touch