Example automations · as-is

Machine Shops

The paperwork between the print and the part — RFQs, CoCs, revision tracking, chasing outside processes — doesn't have to be a person's job. Instead of macros, brittle scripts, and a clipboard, you describe the work in plain English and InTouch AI runs it against your Gmail and Sheets.

RFQs, drawings, outside processes, CoCs, shop status — described in your own words, run on your schedule. No per-job fee, and InTouch AI runs on your own computer, so your prints and customer files never leave the shop.

InTouch AI lives on your own computer. Your prints, quotes, and customer files stay in the shop — nothing gets uploaded to someone else's cloud, and there's no per-job fee. Use it as much as you want.

Everything below is a real, ready-to-run automation you install with a click and point at your own sources — your quote log, your traveler flow, your CoC template. Every shop runs a little differently, so you adjust it to yours and check it before you rely on it. You start from something that works, not a blank page.

The old way, named

RFQs pile up faster than you can quote

Email comes in from 15 customers a day. Some are real RFQs with prints attached, some are status checks on quotes you sent two weeks ago, some are change orders. Triaging by hand is a half-hour every morning.

Drawings revise mid-production

Customer sends rev D on Tuesday. You're already running rev C since Monday. By the time anyone notices, you've got 40 parts you can't sell. Extracting the part number and rev from each PDF title block doesn't have to be a human job.

Outside processes ship and never come back

Heat treat lot at the vendor since the 14th, supposedly back yesterday. You call to check. Spreadsheet says nothing. The job needs them for the assembly tomorrow.

CoCs are death by template

Every shipment needs a Certificate of Conformance. Same template every time, but each customer has tweaks: their PO number, your traveler number, the material lot, the heat-treat cert reference, the inspector who signed off. 15 minutes per shipment that doesn't have to be human.

Specs are unfamiliar territory

Drawing calls out AMS 2750. Your QE manager knows it; the lead programmer doesn't. A fast structured summary of what the spec requires, what's typical, and what shops get wrong saves a half-hour Google search.

End-of-day status is in your head

How many open quotes? Rush queue depth? Stale RFQs to chase? Shipments waiting on CoC? You know it by feel. A printed one-pager at 7 AM saves you a brain dump.

Example AI skills

Reference and analysis tools that already speak aerospace, medical, and general-machining. Ask in plain words; get the answer.

Spec Summary

Paste an AMS, ASTM, MIL-STD, NAS, ASME, or ISO spec number. Get a 60-second orientation: title, scope, key requirements, who invokes it, common pitfalls, verification trail. Refers you to the actual document for exact numbers (specs are copyrighted).

GD&T Explainer

Paste a GD&T callout or describe a feature; get a plain-English breakdown of what the tolerance is asking for, how it's measured, and what often gets confused with what.

Material Substitute

Customer calls out AMS 5604 (17-4 H1075). Stockless. What are the practical substitutes, what's the customer-approval risk, and what cert paperwork changes? Answers with sourcing context.

Quote Estimator

Sanity check a quote. Given the part scope and your hourly rates, returns hours/labor/material/markup breakdown plus risks that could blow the price. Pairs with your real estimating process.

Example automation workflows

Scheduled or trigger-driven. They read your Gmail labels and Google Sheets, do the work, and digest to your channel. You describe it once; it runs without you. This is the contract, now intelligent: tell InTouch AI what to do, when, what to do when it works, what to do when it doesn't, and who to notify. The "doesn't work" clause stopped being a dumb retry — InTouch AI reads the failure, refreshes the expired token, and tells you the one sentence that matters.

RFQ Triage

Polls Gmail for new RFQ emails. Claude classifies each one: customer, project, parts, rush vs standard, complexity. Logged to a QuoteLog Sheet, digest to the front office.

Drawing Rev Watcher (Gmail-based)

Watches Gmail for drawing-revision emails. Extracts part number + revision from each PDF title block via Claude, looks the part up in DrawingsTracker, archives the old drawing on rev change, alerts production. Catches rev changes mid-production before parts get made wrong.

CoC Generator

When a ShipLog row flips to "ready-for-coc", generates the Certificate of Conformance PDF from a template + the row's data (PO, traveler, lot, inspector). Customer-specific tweaks supported via per-customer template overrides.

Outside Process Tracker

Tracks lots out for heat treat, plating, anodize, NDT. Alerts on lots stale past the promised return date. Pairs with your traveler workflow.

Shop Status Digest

Once-a-day plain-text digest of open quotes, rush queue, stale RFQs to chase, shipments ready for CoC, CoCs sent today. Goes to the owner subscriber via the channel you've configured.

Quote Follow-up

Weekly digest of quotes you sent 7+ days ago without a response. The owner decides who to call; the workflow is the nag.

How it works

1. Install

Download the free Personal edition of InTouch AI. Browse the InTouch Hub, pick the workflows and skills you want, click Install. Or use the REST API.

2. Adapt

Each workflow has placeholders (Sheet IDs, Gmail labels, credential names, recipient publishers). Read the README, set the placeholders, point at your actual sources. Verify locally before scheduling.

3. Schedule

Attach a daily/hourly schedule and walk away. InTouch AI runs the workflow, sends the digest to your channel (email, Slack, Discord, Teams), and logs every run. When something breaks: "It broke. Here's why. I fixed it." And as a workflow earns your trust, turn the determinism dial — graduate it from AI-driven to fully deterministic, zero AI cost, identical every time, fully audited.

What you don't get

Straight talk. No surprises, no fine print:

  • No ERP / MRP integration. The workflows work off Google Sheets you maintain. Pairing with Plex, Epicor, or JobBOSS is a customer-specific project.
  • No NIST 800-171 / ITAR-aware automation. InTouch AI runs on your hardware; you control where data lives. The example workflows assume Google Workspace data flow. If you're DFARS-bound, talk to us about an on-premises-only setup.
  • No CMM data ingestion. Inspection automation (capturing CMM output into a QA database) is a real Phase-2 project; not in the example set today.
  • No quote pricing. The estimator uses your hourly rates. We're not in a position to know your true labor cost.

Run It

Personal edition is free. Install it on the shop-office PC, connect your Google account, and point it at your quote and ship logs. The morning triage is done before you walk in — and because it runs on your own computer, your prints and customer files never leave the shop. Find it. Run it. Stop triaging.

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