Pilot the RFQ quoting assistant first
Run a 12-week pilot of the RFQ quoting assistant from Oct 19, then fund invoice matching and the maintenance assistant. Together the three are worth $1.65M a year.
Quoting scored highest of 18 use cases on value and is feasible with tools Kelvane already owns. The pilot is judged on two numbers: three hours or less per quote, and a median price within 5% of what the estimators would have quoted, with none beyond 10%.
Not yet. Autonomous supplier negotiation and generative fixture design scored below 50. Negotiation would need a person to approve every commitment, and fixture design needs the CAD history organized first.
What would change the answer. If customer NDAs bar drawings from Kelvane's Azure tenant, start with invoice matching instead and run quoting on the drawings customers allow.
Why now: in a Deloitte survey reported in January 2025, 55% of industrial product manufacturers already used generative AI tools, and more than 40% planned to raise AI and machine-learning investment over the following three years (Digital Commerce 360).
Five quick wins, five strategic bets, and two to park
Scored 0 to 100 on value, feasibility, data readiness and risk, weighted 35, 25, 20 and 20. Bubble size is annual value; $5.25M a year across all 18, before overlaps. Open any use case for the detail.
Swipe sideways to see the whole chart.
| Use case | Value | Feasibility | Data | Risk | Score | Value a year | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | 74 | 72 | 78 | 80.7 | $774K | Quick win | |
| 74 | 88 | 80 | 82 | 80.3 | $308K | Quick win | |
| 58 | 90 | 84 | 86 | 76.8 | $146K | Quick win | |
| 80 | 76 | 70 | 76 | 76.2 | $568K | Quick win | |
| 66 | 82 | 78 | 80 | 75.2 | $214K | Quick win | |
| 84 | 64 | 60 | 70 | 71.4 | $640K | Strategic bet | |
| 52 | 82 | 74 | 84 | 70.3 | $120K | Next wave | |
| 76 | 68 | 52 | 80 | 70.0 | $330K | Strategic bet | |
| 60 | 78 | 66 | 70 | 67.7 | $88K | Next wave | |
| 70 | 62 | 60 | 72 | 66.4 | $190K | Next wave | |
| 58 | 74 | 64 | 74 | 66.4 | $84K | Next wave | |
| 64 | 70 | 58 | 72 | 65.9 | $95K | Next wave | |
| 78 | 56 | 50 | 72 | 65.7 | $450K | Strategic bet | |
| 88 | 44 | 48 | 66 | 64.6 | $520K | Strategic bet | |
| 80 | 50 | 56 | 64 | 64.5 | $410K | Strategic bet | |
| 50 | 76 | 62 | 76 | 64.1 | $72K | Next wave | |
| 55 | 38 | 40 | 60 | 48.8 | $60K | Parking lot | |
| 62 | 40 | 44 | 30 | 46.5 | $180K | Parking lot |
Three business cases worth $1.65M a year
Each case shows where the value comes from, what it costs to build and run, and when it pays back. Stress-test the cash curve with the adoption buttons.
RFQ quoting assistant
Reads each RFQ package, finds parts Kelvane has made before and drafts the cost build-up for an estimator to approve.
- Value a year
- $773,500
- To build
- $165,000
- To run
- $4,500 a month
- Payback
- Month 8
Where the value comes from
At the pilot gate of 3.0 hours a quote, estimator time is worth $400,000 and the case $713,500 a year.
Build and platform
- Pilot $78,000, then hardening $87,000
- Runs on Microsoft Foundry with Azure AI Search, in Teams
- Run cost covers model use, search, hosting and support
Invoice capture and matching
Reads supplier invoices, matches them to purchase orders and receipts in SAP, and sends only the exceptions to accounts payable.
- Value a year
- $308,272
- To build
- $95,000
- To run
- $2,500 a month
- Payback
- Month 8
Where the value comes from
Build and platform
- A small build on today's ECC; SAP's own invoice AI takes over after go-live
- Runs on Copilot Studio now; SAP Business AI after the S/4HANA go-live
- Run cost covers model use, search, hosting and support
Maintenance troubleshooting assistant
Answers technicians' questions from machine manuals and nine years of work orders, on the plant-floor tablets.
- Value a year
- $567,552
- To build
- $140,000
- To run
- $5,000 a month
- Payback
- Month 9
Where the value comes from
Build and platform
- Rolled out one plant at a time
- Runs on Amazon Bedrock, next to the plant data lake
- Run cost covers model use, search, hosting and support
Cumulative net value, first 24 months
Swipe sideways to see all 24 months.
As planned: payback in month 8; $277,938 net after a year and $997,438 after two.
Value, not only cash: estimator, accounts payable and technician time freed for other work counts at its hourly cost.
Microsoft for quoting and invoices, AWS for the plant floor
Four platforms compared on what Kelvane already runs, where the data lives and what each use case needs.
RFQ quoting assistant
Microsoft Foundry with Azure AI Search, in Teams
Estimators work in Teams and Excel; customer drawings stay in Kelvane's tenant under its Azure agreement.
Invoice capture and matching
Copilot Studio now; SAP Business AI after the S/4HANA go-live
A small build on today's ECC. After the S/4HANA go-live, SAP's own invoice AI takes over, so this is not over-built.
Maintenance troubleshooting assistant
Amazon Bedrock, next to the plant data lake
Work orders and machine data already sit in the plant data lake on AWS; tablets sign in with Kelvane's Entra ID.
| Platform | What Kelvane already has | Best fit here | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| MicrosoftMicrosoft Foundry, Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft 365, Teams, Entra ID and an Azure agreement | RFQ quoting, invoice matching for now, PO entry, the service desk agent | Primary |
| AWSAmazon Bedrock, SageMaker | The plant data lake and nine years of work orders | The maintenance assistant, then predictive maintenance | For plant data |
| SAP Business AIJoule and AI built into S/4HANA | Arrives with S/4HANA in November 2027 | Invoice matching after go-live; demand sensing | After S/4HANA |
| Google CloudVertex AI, Gemini | No footprint today | Strong for vision work, but it would add a fourth platform to run | Not for the top three |
Ten ready, seven need work, one gap to close first
Each of the top three use cases checked against the six areas of our AI governance checklist.
| Area | 1. RFQ quoting | 2. Invoice matching | 3. Maintenance assistant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity and access | ReadyEstimators' Entra ID group; drawings keep their SharePoint permissions | ReadyAccounts payable team only; approvals stay in SAP | Needs workShared plant-floor tablets move to named sign-in before the pilot |
| Human oversight | ReadyAn estimator approves every quote; nothing reaches a customer automatically | ReadyExceptions go to AP clerks; payment approvals do not change | ReadyIt suggests steps; technicians decide; it never controls a machine |
| Data protection | Needs workCustomer drawings under NDA stay in Kelvane's tenant, with no model training on them; label the RFQ folders | ReadyBank details masked in prompts and logs | ReadyManuals and work orders only; no personal data |
| Security | Needs workRFQ files come from outside: scan them and limit what the assistant can do with their contents | Needs workNever change a vendor's bank details from an invoice; route changes to the existing call-back check | GapPlant network boundary: read-only access to the data lake and no path to machine controllers. Needs a review by the plant network team |
| Audit and monitoring | Needs workLog each draft with its sources and the estimator's changes | ReadySAP document trail plus the reason for each match | Needs workTechnicians rate each answer; wrong answers reviewed weekly |
| Cost and accountability | ReadyOwner: VP Sales. Budget alert at $4,500 a month | ReadyOwner: the controller. Cap at $2,500 a month | Needs workOwner: VP Operations. Agree how cost is split across plants |
One RFQ, from inbox to approved quote
The $7,500 prototype add-on starts from a clickable concept like this one, with sample data, then becomes working software on 50 of your own past quotes. Click through the four steps.
1. Read the RFQ
- Customer
- Ridgeholm Off-HighwayRFQ letter
- Part
- HM-4410 hydraulic manifold, revision CDrawing, title block
- Material
- 6061-T6 aluminumDrawing, note 3
- Critical feature
- Main bore Ø22.000 ±0.010 mmDrawing, section A-A
- Quality
- PPAP level 3RFQ letter
- Volume
- 12,000 a year in lots of 1,000RFQ letter
- Quote due
- Oct 9, 2026Email
2. Find similar parts
Same: Same bore tolerance, alloy and PPAP level
Different: Two fewer ports
9,000 made in 2025 at $43.80
Same: Same envelope and alloy
Different: Different port pattern; looser bore
4,500 made in 2024
Same: Same bore tolerance
Different: Valve body, 6063 alloy
20,000 a year, current
3. Draft the cost
| Line | Basis | Per part |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Bar stock at this week's price, 0.62 kg a part | $6.85 |
| Machining | HM-3920 routing plus two ports, 11.3 minutes | $22.04 |
| Setup | Three setups spread over 1,000-part lots | $1.65 |
| Finishing | Type II anodize, outside vendor | $2.40 |
| Inspection | CMM check on every bore | $1.85 |
| PPAP | Level 3 package spread over year one | $0.75 |
| Freight | To Ridgeholm's plant | $1.75 |
| Cost | $37.29 | |
| Suggested price | 18.0% margin; HM-3920 last sold at $43.80 | $45.50 |
4. Estimator review
12 working weeks for $78,000, with a go or no-go on Jan 22
Three estimators quote 30 live RFQs both ways. The plants close over the holidays, so the pilot pauses with them.
Swipe sideways to see the whole plan.
Data ready
11 years of quotes indexed; 50 test RFQs ready
Drafts within 10%
The assistant drafts at least 45 of 50 test RFQs within ±10% of the final price
Go or no-go
3.0 hours or less per quote, and a median within ±5% of the estimators' prices on 30 shadow quotes, none beyond ±10%
Six steps from approval to the go or no-go
- Oct 6, 2026Confirm customer NDAs allow drawings in Kelvane's Azure tenantLegal with sales
- Oct 7, 2026Name the pilot owner and three estimatorsVP Sales
- Oct 9, 2026Approve the $78,000 pilot and choose the build partnerSteering committee, with IT and procurement
- Oct 19, 2026Pilot week 1: export 11 years of quotesKelvane IT with the build partner
- Oct 30, 2026First gate: the data is readyPilot owner
- Jan 22, 2027Go or no-go on the pilot gatesSteering committee