Global Shop + industrial equipment OEMs
AI for Global Shop Solutions in Industrial Equipment Manufacturing
Short answer
AI for a Global Shop Solutions equipment manufacturer connects a private model to the BOMs, jobs, purchase orders and project costs the ERP already holds, so planners and project managers can ask which builds are at risk from long-lead parts or engineering changes. It runs read-only on your network and shows the query behind each answer.
- ERP
- Global Shop Solutions
- Industries
- Industrial Equipment, Engineered-to-Order, Machinery OEM
- Written for
- VP Operations
An industrial equipment builder is a different animal from a job shop, even when both run Global Shop Solutions. The product is a machine, a skid, a conveyor line or a custom press, with a multi-level bill of materials, a mix of fabricated, machined and purchased components, and a delivery date tied to a customer's plant installation. One late gearbox can hold a whole machine.
That complexity lives in the ERP: multi-level BOMs and revisions, jobs and sub-jobs, purchase orders with long lead times, engineering changes, and project cost against a fixed or milestone-billed price. The people who need to see across it, such as program managers, planners and the controller, spend much of the week assembling the picture from separate screens and spreadsheets.
Equipment makers also carry design IP that is the business: drawings, control logic and process know-how. They are understandably wary of any tool that sends that material, or even their BOMs and supplier pricing, to an outside AI service. The workable approach is a model on infrastructure they own, reading the ERP in place.
This page describes private AI on Global Shop for equipment OEMs: the data it reads, use cases that tend to pay back, where Global Shop's own planning tools remain the right answer, and what to check before connecting an AI layer to a live system.
What usually gets in the way
The problems we hear most from vp operations teams running Global Shop Solutions.
Long-lead parts hide inside deep BOMs
A purchased motor, drive or casting may sit three levels down a multi-level BOM. Its lead time sets the build date, but it is rarely visible to the program manager until it is late.
Engineering changes ripple unevenly
A BOM revision affects open jobs, purchase orders already placed and parts in stock. Working out what a change touches means walking several screens, so impact is often discovered on the floor.
Project cost is understood late
Hours, material and outside services accrue against a fixed-price build. By the time variance appears in a report, the options to correct it are limited.
Aftermarket and spare parts are a second business run by the same people
Serial number history, installed base and spare part orders sit beside new-build work, and answering a customer's service question can mean searching old jobs.
Institutional knowledge sits with a few veterans
Why a particular option was built a certain way, or which supplier is reliable for a given component, lives in people's heads and old emails rather than in a retrievable form.
Where AI earns its place in Global Shop Solutions
Each use case names the ERP objects it reads or writes, so your ERP team can judge the integration effort before anyone commits budget.
Long-lead component risk list
The assistant walks open job BOMs, finds purchased components whose lead time and PO status put the build date at risk, and lists them by project with the dates involved.
Touches: Job and BOM components, purchase orders and lines, vendor lead times, job due dates
Outcome: Gives program managers an early exception list instead of discovering a missing part at assembly.
Engineering change impact summary
Given a BOM revision, the assistant lists open jobs using the changed component, POs and stock on hand for the old and new part, and the work already completed.
Touches: BOM revisions, open jobs, purchase orders, inventory, job operations
Outcome: Shortens the time to understand a change's cost and schedule effect, so decisions are made with the facts.
Project margin watch
For each open project, the assistant compares cost incurred and estimated cost to complete against the contract value, and explains in words where hours or material are running over.
Touches: Jobs, job cost, labor and material transactions, sales order or contract value, outside services
Outcome: Moves variance discovery from month-end closing to a regular conversation while corrective action is still possible.
Supplier performance answers
Buyers ask which vendors miss promise dates on a component family and get the evidence from receiving history, to inform sourcing and expedite decisions.
Touches: Vendors, purchase orders, receipts, promised and actual dates, item master
Outcome: Replaces anecdotes about supplier reliability with data when negotiating or qualifying alternates.
Installed base and service lookup
Service staff ask what was built for a customer, which options and serial numbers it carried and which spares were shipped, and get an answer assembled from past jobs and shipments.
Touches: Sales orders, serialized shipments, as-built job records, spare part orders
Outcome: Cuts the time to answer a customer's service call and reduces reliance on one person's memory.
Quote-to-job comparison
When quoting a variation of a past machine, the assistant retrieves comparable past quotes and the jobs they became with estimated versus actual cost by major assembly.
Touches: Quotes, estimates, jobs, job cost by assembly, BOM
Outcome: Gives sales engineers evidence on where past estimates ran light, particularly for custom options.
Shop floor and fabrication status
Planners ask which sub-assemblies are complete, which are waiting on outside processing, and what remains to start final assembly, in plain English.
Touches: Job operations, sub-jobs, work centers, outside service POs, inventory
Outcome: Replaces a standing status meeting scramble with an on-demand picture across the build.
Reference architecture
The AI layer reads Global Shop data in place through read-only access agreed for your version and environment, maps it to equipment-building vocabulary, and returns answers that show the generating query. Anything resembling a change is a draft awaiting approval.
- 1
Global Shop data access
Read-only database views or scheduled exports through the reporting and data access routes supported for your version, confirmed with your reseller or Global Shop Solutions during discovery.
- 2
Semantic layer
Maps jobs, sub-jobs, multi-level BOMs, revisions, routings and purchase orders to terms such as build, assembly, option, long-lead and ECO, including custom fields.
- 3
Model serving
An open-weight model such as Llama, Qwen or Mistral class served with vLLM or Ollama on shop-owned GPUs or a private tenant.
- 4
Retrieval and agents
Structured queries for numbers plus retrieval over engineering notes, ECO documents and supplier correspondence where permitted. Agents draft expedite notes and change summaries for approval.
- 5
Governance and audit
Per-user logging and role-aware access, with project or customer exclusions for sensitive programs.
Integration notes for your ERP team
- Confirm the data access route for your Global Shop version and hosting with your reseller before assuming direct table access.
- Multi-level BOM explosion is the most valuable and most delicate query; test it against known builds before trusting it for risk lists.
- Map engineering revisions explicitly, because a question about a component must resolve against the revision actually used on each open job.
- Join with PLM or CAD vault metadata only where the shop has it and wants it, as an optional second phase.
- Use read replicas or off-hours exports so analytical questions do not compete with transaction processing.
- Write-back is limited to drafts such as expedite emails and ECO summaries approved by a named person.
Deployment options
On-premises
Equipment builders with an on-site Global Shop installation and IP or customer restrictions on cloud tools.
Model, connector and index run on your network with no outbound path for ERP or design data.
Private cloud tenant
Builders with Global Shop in a hosted environment under their own contract.
A dedicated tenant adjacent to the ERP, isolated from shared AI services.
Hybrid across plants
OEMs with multiple facilities or an acquired division on a separate instance.
Each site keeps its data local; a governance layer lets approved users query across sites without centralizing the databases.
Compliance and data control
How the architecture supports your obligations. Certification and accountability stay with your organisation; the design keeps the evidence straightforward.
EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the Machinery Regulation 2023/1230
Technical file and risk assessment records that you keep can be retrieved on request. The assistant surfaces what is on file for a build and does not determine conformity; the Machinery Regulation applies from January 2027.
UL 508A and NFPA 79 for control panels
Where panel builds are recorded in jobs and BOMs, the assistant can list the listed components and revisions used. Listing and compliance decisions stay with your engineers and the certifying body.
ITAR and customer IP restrictions
Keeping the model on your own hardware means drawings, BOMs and supplier pricing are not sent to a public AI provider, and controlled programs can be excluded from retrieval.
ISO 9001 change control
Suggested actions, such as an ECO impact summary, are drafts routed through your existing change control rather than applied automatically.
Where Netray fits
ERPray
Natural-language questions and dashboards for planners, program managers and buyers over Global Shop job, BOM and purchasing data.
DataRay
Useful when engineering documents, supplier emails and file shares need to be searched alongside ERP data, all on-prem.
Custom build
For bespoke agents such as an ECO impact assistant or a configurator-linked quote comparison.
How an engagement runs
Phase 1 . 2-3 weeks
Discovery
- -Global Shop version, hosting and data access route confirmed
- -BOM, revision and job structure review
- -Ranked use cases with program managers and buyers
- -Deployment recommendation
Phase 2 . 6-8 weeks
Pilot
- -Read-only connector
- -Long-lead risk list and ECO impact summary live for a pilot group
- -Validation against known builds
- -Logging and role mapping reviewed
Phase 3 . 4-6 weeks
Production
- -Project margin watch and supplier performance answers rolled out
- -Role-based access
- -Backup and restore plan
- -Admin runbook
Phase 4 . Ongoing
Improve
- -Installed base and service lookup
- -Document retrieval for engineering records
- -Model updates
- -Quarterly accuracy review
Questions to ask any vendor, including us
A short list that separates real Global Shop Solutions AI work from a chatbot demo.
- How will you access Global Shop data for our version, and is that route supported by our reseller?
- Can the assistant explode multi-level BOMs correctly against the revisions on our open jobs?
- Where does the model run, and can we confirm our design and supplier data stays on our network?
- How are custom fields and options handled in the semantic layer?
- What stops it from writing to the ERP, and how are drafts approved?
- Which of these questions does Global Shop's own planning and reporting already answer well?
- What hardware is needed for a company of our size?
- What do we keep if the engagement ends?
Frequently asked questions
Can AI predict late equipment builds in Global Shop?
It can flag builds at risk using data you already have: open BOM components, PO promise dates and lead times against the build date. It is a rules-and-data exception list, not a forecast model, and it is only as good as the promise dates entered by buyers.
Does it replace Global Shop's planning tools?
No. MRP and scheduling remain in Global Shop. The AI layer helps people ask questions across data the ERP already holds, such as what an engineering change touches, and draft follow-ups. Where the built-in tools answer a question well, we would use them.
Is our design and supplier data exposed to public AI?
No. An open-weight model runs on infrastructure you own or in a private tenant, and the connector has no route to public AI services. Drawings, BOMs and supplier pricing stay within your boundary, which is a common requirement for equipment OEMs.
How does it handle engineering revisions?
Revisions are mapped explicitly so each question resolves against the revision actually on each open job. This is validated against known builds in the pilot, because errors here would undermine trust in risk lists and change summaries.
Can it help with the EU Machinery Regulation?
It can retrieve technical file and risk assessment records you already keep, per machine or serial number. It does not determine conformity or replace your engineers and notified body; it makes records easier to find when asked.
Will it write purchase orders or change BOMs?
No. It is read-only by default. It drafts expedite notes and change summaries, and anything entered in Global Shop is done by a person through the normal process.
How long is a typical pilot?
About six to eight weeks for a read-only pilot with two or three use cases, after a discovery phase of two to three weeks. Timelines depend on data access approvals and how clean BOM and revision data is.
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Talk it through with an engineer who knows Global Shop Solutions
Bring one real question your team cannot answer from the ERP today. We will map the data path, the model, and where it runs, and tell you honestly if AI is the wrong tool for it.