Featured: Current Commercial Focus
Manufacturing & Distribution
Our first commercial focus: cross-system operational exceptions.
Overview
U.S. mid-market manufacturers run production and quality across ERP, MES, QMS, supplier portals, spreadsheets, and email. The exceptions that fall between those systems still get resolved by people. This is where we're proving Exception-to-Action Engineering first: a bounded, paid assessment of one recurring exception, followed by a read-and-recommend pilot with human approval before any automated action.
Manufacturing is our first proof point, not our only focus. Shoppeal is a broad AI and software engineering company: we're using one narrow, well-defined problem to prove the delivery method before expanding.
Operational Challenges
- 01Production or quality exceptions that require checking multiple systems (ERP, MES, QMS, supplier portals) to understand what happened
- 02Manual investigation and coordination that depends on a few people who know where the information lives
- 03Recurring exception types with no documented, repeatable decision process
- 04Existing QMS/ERP handling the core workflow but not the cross-system judgment calls around it
How We're Approaching It
- 01Exception Map and Baseline Sheet for one recurring, high-cost exception
- 02Context Map across ERP, MES, QMS, and supplier/email sources
- 03A draft Decision Rulebook and pilot proposal with an ROI estimate
- 04A bounded read-and-recommend pilot with human approval, before any system write-back
Relevant Capabilities
Who this is for
- -U.S. manufacturers, roughly $50M–$250M in annual revenue
- -1–5 facilities, with meaningful production and quality operations
- -An established ERP, plus some combination of MES, QMS, or production systems
- -Recurring operational exceptions that currently require manual investigation across systems
Common triggers
- -ERP modernization or MES/QMS implementation underway
- -Plant expansion, acquisition, or production growth
- -Increasing exception volume or labor/capacity pressure
- -Spreadsheet-heavy processes bridging systems that don't talk to each other
How the first engagement works
Operational Exception Assessment
Fixed fee, typically $7,500–$12,500 depending on scope
We map one recurring exception end to end: the systems it touches, who handles it today, how often it happens, and what it costs. Output: an Exception Map, a Baseline Sheet, a Context Map, a draft Decision Rulebook, and a pilot proposal with an ROI estimate. A defined portion of this fee is credited toward implementation if you proceed within 60 days.
Pilot: Read & Recommend
Typically $35,000–$60,000 depending on scope
We build the system that gathers context, applies the finalized decision rules, and drafts a recommendation, with a person approving every recommendation before anything happens. Output: the final Decision Rulebook, a Human Approval Flow, and a Measurement Report comparing results to baseline. No automatic system write-back at this stage.
Controlled Execution
Typically $20,000–$40,000, scoped once the pilot is proven
Once the pilot has demonstrated reliability and you're ready for it, we add approved system write-back, task creation, and workflow execution, with monitoring and escalation built in.
Where we're being direct about what we don't yet have
- We have strong software and AI engineering depth; deep manufacturing-domain credibility is something we're building deliberately, including bringing in a manufacturing operations advisor.
- We haven't published customer case studies for this wedge yet: the Work section shows a synthetic demonstration, clearly labeled, until real engagements are ready to share.
- If your existing QMS or ERP already resolves this exact workflow well, we'll tell you that rather than force a project.
Recognize this in your operation?
Start with a fixed-fee Operational Exception Assessment: we map one recurring exception, its cost, and whether it's worth automating.