Digital Transformation & AI Revolution for Hardware Metalworking Industry

In the competitive world of hardware and metalworking, every marketing dollar counts. Businesses often invest significantly in brand building and prospecting, yet these efforts can be undermined by an underperforming salesperson. This is where LAIDFU, a user-configurable AI Assistant, comes into play. With its advanced capabilities, LAIDFU enables management to identify the weakest link in their sales teams quickly and easily, ensuring that underperforming staff can be replaced with competent personnel swiftly. This proactive approach minimizes lost deals due to controllable human factors, making it an essential tool for those involved in the hardware industry.

The customer experience is critical in hardware and metalworking—where client relationships can dictate future orders and partnerships. LAIDFU, developed by Multiable, acts as an AI Copilot designed to enhance customer service monitoring with minimal human supervision. Its user-friendly interface means that you don’t need to be an AI or IT expert to implement it. Whether your business is a small machine shop or a large industrial supplier, LAIDFU helps identify compliance issues and customer service pitfalls, leading to substantial improvements in responsiveness. Additionally, by drastically reducing labor costs associated with data input—traditionally required for CRM systems—companies in the metalworking sector can reinvest those savings into other areas of their business.

In the hardware and metalworking domains, after-sales service plays a crucial role in sustaining client relationships and boosting revenue. Unfortunately, many management teams find that their after-sales staff struggle to identify upsell opportunities. Powered by LAIDFU, the AI Copilot actively identifies these opportunities and intelligently assigns capable staff to follow up. Imagine a mid-sized manufacturer of precision tools that not only sells products but also offers maintenance services; with LAIDFU, management can effortlessly identify clients due for tool updates or service contracts, ensuring consistent revenue streams without the heavy lifting from the sales team.

In the trading of hardware and metalworking supplies, crises can arise without warning, from supply chain disruptions to shifting customer demands. LAIDFU excels in crisis management by monitoring customer interactions and activities closely. The AI Copilot does this without any human supervision or the need for additional data input from users. For instance, if a large-client order is delayed due to a supply issue, LAIDFU promptly alerts management, allowing them to intervene before the situation escalates. This proactive monitoring is invaluable in the world of hardware sales, where maintaining client trust is imperative.
By integrating LAIDFU into their operations, businesses can leverage the power of AI while minimizing implementation costs. The user-configurable nature of this AI Assistant ensures that any hardware or metalworking company can benefit from sophisticated technology without the need for extensive expertise in artificial intelligence or IT systems. As a result, organizations can focus on growth and client satisfaction, leaving the complexities of AI to LAIDFU.

M18 production module manages the entire manufacturing process, such as cutting, drilling, tapping, riveting, spot welding, grinding, lapping, chamfering, turning, milling, punching, stamping, etc. By automatically generating route cards/ job cards and monitoring every step of the manufacturing process, M18 ERP production module keeps work moving forward without delay by orchestrating:

• The Schedule of Dispatch,
• The Wage Payment Method (whether it should be Piece Rate Pay or Time-based Pay),
• The Details of Timesheet,
• The Quality of the Product/ Component,
• The Time to Stock In,
• The Working Schedule of Workers, etc.

M18 ERP provides comprehensive features for managing employee attendance and payroll, for instance leave management, shift management, attendance calculation, etc. The calculation will be user-defined based on piece rate pay or time-based pay in order to fit for different enterprises’ requirement, such as by product, by process, by department, by individual, by group, etc. which is adapted to different processes, workshops, machining centres, time of product processing, etc. By automatic wage calculation in real-time basis to compare the actual output with the wage calculation, not only enhances the efficiency in wage calculation but also ensures the accuracy. Such robust wage calculation feature can optimise the HR associate productivity and minimise human error effectively.

Multiable understands there are different units used to communicate within different departments in hardware/ metalworking industry. Hence, multi-unit calculation and conversion feature for the same product, material, semi-finished product, such as piece, KG, box, etc. should be highlighted. It definitely enhances the communication between different departments to perform a better efficiency and productivity and assists enterprise in business expansion and growth.

The scalable M18 production module seamlessly collaborates with powerful bill of materials based on enterprise actual status, such as the amount of available machine, production index, etc. to calculate the needed materials for each production order. With the flexible material picking management, enterprises can define appropriate picking method based on practical situation, such as order picking, batch/ consolidated picking, backflushing, etc. M18 ERP monitors lifecycle of manufacturing process, starting from picking materials to production and dispatch which minimise the waste and cost of materials and improve the accuracy of material cost calculation.

• Electroplating,
• Heat Treatment,
• Semi-finished Product,
• Finished Product,
• Particular Process, etc.

By strictly controlling the cost and amount of the materials, enterprise can monitor the quality of outsourced process with the below features and form a well-integrated omni-channel management:

• Outsourcing Plan Generation,
• Outsourcing Quotation,
• Outsourcing Suppliers Management, etc.