AI on the shop floor, on top of a deterministic MRP
Where does AI actually help in manufacturing?
The MRP explosion is deterministic and always will be — scrap-aware netting and make/buy decisions are arithmetic, and a plant that cannot reproduce them cannot plan. The AI sits above that: explaining a variance, summarising why an order slipped, and drafting the follow-up.
Every figure in a LekhaPro answer is computed before any model sees it. A router picks the deterministic engines the question needs, those engines read your posted books and return a structured snapshot, and only then is the language model given that snapshot and told to write the reply. Switch the model off and an on-device narrator writes the same answer from the same numbers.
Actual-vs-standard cost variance is computed per order from real issues and receipts. The copilot narrates it; it does not estimate it.
Who does what
| Step | Who does it | Can the model change it? |
|---|---|---|
| Read the posted ledger | Deterministic engine | No |
| Compute the figure | Deterministic engine | No |
| Choose which engines to run | Router | No |
| Write the sentence | Language model | Wording only |
| Propose an action | Named, validated tool | Drafts it; you approve |
| Write to your data | Existing audited mutation | Never unattended |
What it does here
- Explains actual-vs-standard cost variance in plain language
- Summarises production order status and slippage
- Answers stock and shortage questions from posted movements
- Drafts follow-ups against work orders and suppliers
The boundary
- MRP, routings and costing stay deterministic — AI never adjusts a plan figure.
- No machine-level IoT telemetry ingestion; shop-floor data is what your team posts.
- No payroll, so labour cost is expense-voucher based, not payroll-derived.
Questions
Where does AI actually help in manufacturing?
The MRP explosion is deterministic and always will be — scrap-aware netting and make/buy decisions are arithmetic, and a plant that cannot reproduce them cannot plan. The AI sits above that: explaining a variance, summarising why an order slipped, and drafting the follow-up.
Does the AI ever calculate the numbers itself?
No. A deterministic engine computes every figure from your posted books and hands the model a structured snapshot; the model writes prose about it. Turn the model off and an on-device narrator produces the same answer from the same numbers — which is the test worth applying to any AI accounting claim.
Can it change my data?
Only through named tools bound to existing audited mutations, argument-validated before they run, and every tool that writes carries an approval requirement. Nothing bypasses the permissions your user account already has, and every write is logged like any other.