AI for Manufacturing & Industrial Tech
Your machines generate more data than your teams can act on. That's the problem worth solving.
We help manufacturers move from pilots that worked on one line to deployments that work across the plant - without stopping production to do it.
Sound familiar?
The challenges holding manufacturing companies back from scaling AI
Your machines generate data your systems can't use
Operational technology from five vendors spanning three decades, each with proprietary protocols. The majority of AI project time on the shop floor goes to data engineering and integration - not to building anything useful. IT/OT convergence remains the biggest blocker, and most vendors will tell you it's solved when it isn't.
Source: CrowdFlower Data Scientist Survey, 2016; Cognilytica, 2020
The pilot worked. The rollout didn't.
Your predictive maintenance model works on one machine type in one plant. Apply it to a different variant in another facility with different operating conditions and it falls apart. The gap between a successful pilot and a deployment that generalises is where most manufacturing AI projects die - and it's a solvable problem if you design for it from the start.
Source: McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 2025; BCG, 2024
We can't afford downtime for experiments
Plant managers running 24/7 operations resist anything that could disrupt production. That instinct is right. The answer isn't to ask for tolerance for disruption - it's to design deployments that don't require it. Connecting sensors to a running line is not inherently dangerous if you know what you're doing.
How we help manufacturing companies
Practical AI implementations with measurable results on the shop floor
Tender and RFQ processing in minutes, not weeks
Your commercial team spends days or weeks screening RFQs and assembling proposals. AI reduces that to minutes: auto-screening go/no-go decisions, extracting requirements from tender documents, and generating proposal drafts that are 40-60% complete out of the box. One client reduced RFQ screening from a 2-week process to under 30 seconds. Another increased concurrent tender capacity from 4 to 8 while improving quality scores.
- 40-70% time reduction per tender or proposal
- RFQ screening from weeks to seconds
- Proposal consistency checking that catches critical errors automatically
Document extraction that turns paper into data
Product specifications, quality certificates, customs declarations, technical manuals - your team processes thousands of documents per year, most of them by hand. AI reads, parses, and structures this data in seconds. We've seen 97% time reduction on product specification extraction (15 minutes down to 30 seconds per document) and invoice processing fully automated at scale.
- 90-97% time reduction per document processed
- Scalable to 100,000+ documents per year
- Automated quality and compliance checking at the point of processing
Trusted by manufacturing leaders
“The WAIMAKERS session was a groundbreaking event for Dura Vermeer, demonstrating the immense potential of AI in the construction industry. Over 50 of our team members gained practical insights.”
Job Dura
Chairman of the Board, Dura Vermeer
“Wouter presented a workshop at Protix and did it with great professionalism, clarity and depth. The team was enthusiastic about the knowledge presented and interactivity of the workshops.”
Kees Aarts
CEO & Founder, Protix
“In the dynamic landscape of digital transformation and AI product development, Wouter's guidance has been a cornerstone of success for Elastofirm.”
Rene Doup
CEO, Elastofirm
“WAIMAKERS was able to take a complex topic and break it down into clear, practical steps. With over 50 employees from different departments, Wouter helped us develop an actionable AI strategy.”
Charlotte Langerak-Visser
CEO, Viscon Group
“Marco and Wouter translated the potential of Generative AI into highly relevant use cases for a company like ours, combining deep product knowledge with multilingual support and regulatory complexity.”
Andrea Artoni
CEO, Almac Crawler
“WAIMAKERS facilitated three dedicated sessions for our team, guiding us through not just the possibilities of AI but also hands-on exercises and strategic planning.”
Marten Hatzmann
Global Head of Oilseeds, Managing Director Netherlands, Olam Agri
“Wouter and his team helped us connect the dots between our operational processes and scalable AI applications.”
Remko Papenburg
CEO, Sonic Equipment
“Wouter and his team at WAIMAKERS helped us incorporate AI into our daily operations, from portfolio companies to the investment team. Their practical, no-nonsense approach enabled us to see immediate benefits.”
Peter van den Anker
Partner, NewPort Capital
“Wouter and his team helped us translate the hype around AI into concrete use cases for KUBO. The session was practical, fast-paced, and highly applicable to both our commercial and technical teams.”
Wouter Kuiper
CEO, Kubo
“The Generative AI Masterclass gave us clear insight into how AI can improve both the speed and quality of our commercial and operational processes.”
Matthijs de Jong
CEO, HVO Meat
How we work with manufacturing companies
A proven approach adapted for production environments
Assessment
We audit your OT/IT landscape, data readiness, and identify highest-impact AI opportunities without disrupting operations
Pilot
Proof of concept on a single line or machine type with measurable KPIs in 4-6 weeks
Scale
Roll out across plants, machine types, and shifts with proper training and change management
Optimise
Continuous model improvement and expansion to new use cases as your AI maturity grows
Free: AI Readiness Checklist for Manufacturers
Assess your factory's AI readiness across maintenance, quality, and supply chain in 10 minutes.
- OT/IT convergence readiness assessment
- Use case prioritisation by OEE impact
- Common pitfalls: why manufacturing pilots don't scale
Let's talk about what AI looks like on your shop floor.
Book a 30-minute call to walk through your maintenance, quality, and operational challenges - no pitch deck, just a conversation.