Managed. We build each agent, connect it, run it and keep improving it.
Unit
One agent per job, working inside the systems you already use.
Price
A setup fee, then a monthly fee for each agent.
For
Owner-run businesses of 10 to 200 people. Starting with custom manufacturers in the Greater Toronto Area.
Allward puts AI agents to work on the administrative jobs that sit between your people, your documents and your systems. An agent checks incoming orders, chases what's missing, prepares the paperwork and asks a named person before anything goes out.
We build them, we run them, and we answer for them.
Order 4417 is a sectional door. The order intake agent's job is to make sure what was keyed matches what the customer agreed to, and to get it to engineering complete.
10:15Released. On the record.
AgreedQuote Q-2291
Size16 ft × 8 ft
WindowsOne row, clear
FinishCharcoal powder coat
KeyedOrder 4417
Size16 ft × 8 ftmatches
WindowsOne row, clearmatches
FinishCharcoal powder coatcorrected 9:42
Prepared by the agentEngineering worksheet · order 4417
8:03 · Agent to M. Tran, Sales
Order 4417 has no finish. Quote Q-2291 says charcoal powder coat. Which is right? I'm holding the order until I hear from you.
9:41 · M. Tran
Charcoal. I missed it when I keyed the order.
For approval · D. Okafor, Engineering
Order 4417, corrected, with its worksheet.
Approve and releaseSend back
Approved by D. Okafor · 10:15
Released to the floor. Nine entries kept in the record.
Fig. 1 · An illustration of an order intake agent at work. The order, the people and the times are invented. Select any step to see the morning at that moment.
Two ways it works
It gets on with the job. And it does what you ask.
On its own
An agent doesn't wait to be prompted. It works through its job as things happen, and stops when something needs a person.
A delivery is received. Checked against the purchase order.
An order arrives. Read against its quote.
An invoice passes 30 days. A follow-up is prepared.
Purchasing agentIllustration
YouOrder another 200 stainless steel brackets from our usual supplier.
Agent
Your last four orders for these went to the same supplier, on 30-day terms. I've prepared a purchase order for 200 at the last price you paid.
Needs you. Purchase orders go out only with your approval.
Fig. 2 · How agents are designed to take instructions: in plain language, inside the same permissions as everything else they do. Allward is entering its first pilots.
You can always tell what was done, and what needs you.
In progress. The agent is working on it.
Needs you. Something doesn't match, or it's waiting for a person's approval.
Done. Checked, and approved where approval is required.
Weekly report · illustration, not customer data
Order intake, week of 9 November
36orders came in.
31
matched their quotes and went to engineering with nothing missing.
5
had a gap. The agent held them back and asked the right person.3 finish left blank · 1 size different from the quote · 1 drawing not attached
5
of the 5 were corrected before engineering saw them.Longest wait for an answer: 1 h 38 min, order 4417
36
of 36 were approved and released by a person. None by the agent.
Prepared by your order intake agent. Reviewed by Allward before it reached you.
Fig. 3 · What a week of one agent's work looks like on your desk. Each number traces back to orders in the record.
Order intakeThursday, 10:20
Needs you · 2
4421Size on the order differs from the quoteAsked M. Tran at 9:58
4418Ready for approvalWaiting on D. Okafor since 9:42
In progress · 1
4422Reading against the quote
Done today · 9
all9 orders checked and approvedOpen the record to see each one
Held orders go toM. Tran ▾
This agent isRunning · Pause
Fig. 4 · The console, mid-morning. An illustration. What needs a person comes first.
We set the limits. You run the day.
Allward decides what an agent can reach and change. Inside that, you supervise it: approve its work, instruct it, pause it, and choose who it answers to.
Each sits at a handoff: the point where work passes from one person, document or system to the next. That is where things get dropped, in a machine shop and everywhere else.
Fig. 5 · One job's path through a business, and the six places we take responsibility. Your path will differ. The handoffs won't.
Fig. 6 · The mark on our name, where it comes from.
About the stripe on our name
It's called a witness mark.
When a fitter tightens a bolt that matters, they paint a line across the bolt and the part it holds. The line says three things: this was done, someone checked it, and nothing has moved since. If anything shifts, the line breaks, and anyone walking past can see it.
Paperwork has never had one. An order can sit wrong for a week and look exactly like one that's right. Our job is to put that line on the work that passes through your office.
QDoes it run by itself, or do we tell it what to do?
A
Both. An agent works through its job on its own as orders, invoices and deliveries come in. You can also ask it a question or give it an instruction in plain language, and it acts within the permissions we've agreed.
QDo we have to change our systems?
A
No. The agent works with what you run now, including the older ERP, the spreadsheets and the inbox. You don't need anyone technical on staff.
QWhat happens when it's wrong?
A
It will be, sometimes. That is why anything leaving your business waits for a named person at the start, why every step is recorded, and why fixing it is our job and not yours.
QHow do we know it works?
A
You see it tested on your own past records before it goes live. We are taking on our first customers now, a few at a time, so judge us on that test.
Have us in.
An hour at your place. Show us the job that keeps getting dropped. We'll tell you plainly whether we can take it on.