Questions manufacturers ask before working with Wallai.

Probably, but not the way the pitches make it sound. I don't start with AI. I start with where your week actually leaks: the quote that takes days, the report someone rebuilds every Monday, the customers who quietly stopped ordering. Some of those are AI problems and some are plain plumbing, and I'll tell you which is which. You find out on a free 15-minute call, before you spend a dollar.

Manufacturing and industrial companies are where I do most of my work, and it's who this site is built for. The method travels, though. I've run the same playbook for a construction and trades company and a six-department engineering firm, because the problem is the same everywhere: years of data sitting in systems that can't answer a question. If you run an operation with real records and a process that eats your week, it's worth a 15-minute conversation.

The fit is Canadian manufacturing and industrial businesses doing $1M–$50M in revenue, with a team of 10 to 500 people. Smaller than that, and a fixed build usually isn't worth it yet. Bigger, and you probably have an internal team for this already. If you're inside that band and your systems hold years of data nobody can question, you're squarely who I build for.

There are three steps, and the first is free. The 15-minute call costs nothing. The Assessment is $1,497 flat for one hour, and the whole fee credits against a build if you go ahead. The Build is a fixed price by scope, $10K–$95K: smaller builds start at $10K, and the biggest system builds, like a live ERP dashboard, run toward $95K. For scale, the live ERP dashboard build I show on the site ran about $55K. Either way you get one fixed number in writing before any work starts, so there's no meter running and no surprise at the end.

You see the first working proof in 14 days: something real you can put your hands on, not a slide deck. Full adoption takes longer, because getting a team to actually run a new tool is the slow part, and it's the part most consultants skip. That's the trade I make on purpose: fast proof so you know it works, then I stay at your side until your people run it without me.

No. The one fixed number you agree to before work starts covers the build and me staying until your team runs it, not just the install, so a longer adoption never costs you more. There's no meter and no monthly fee unless you choose to keep me on afterward as the Fractional AI Partner, which I'd quote separately before you commit.

It's yours. The build runs on your own data, your team is trained on it, and it's documented, so it keeps working after I leave. There's no subscription to feed and no platform you're renting from me. If you'd rather keep me on to own the AI side as the tools change, that's the Fractional AI Partner option, but it's a choice, not a requirement. Most builds are done, handed over, and running on their own.

This is the question I get asked most, and it's the right one. My engineers connect by API, read-only. Nothing in your ERP changes without your say-so. Your system of record keeps running exactly as it always has, and I never write to your production data. Nothing goes into a public chatbot, and we set the guardrails on what's shared together, in writing, before anything starts.

No. I build a layer on top of the systems you already run, I don't replace them. Your ERP, your CRM, whatever you've got stays in place and keeps doing its job. My engineers connect by API, read-only, and pull the answers out. Before you buy anything new, I make what you already own earn its keep.

Yes, gladly, and before you share anything sensitive. Your records, your pricing, and your customer list are yours, and they stay that way. We agree on what I can touch and what stays off-limits, in writing, up front. If you can't share any operational data, even under an NDA with guardrails we set together, I'm honestly not the right fit, and I'll tell you so on the call.

You own it. The build is made on your data, for your business, and it stays yours to run. I don't recycle one client's data, models, or playbooks into another client's work. What I learn inside your operation doesn't leave your project. That's part of what the NDA and the guardrails are for.

Fifteen minutes, no prep needed. You tell me where your week goes and where the money feels stuck, and I tell you the one thing I'd look at first. It's a working session, not a sales pitch: you leave with one fix you can make this week, whether or not we ever talk again. If it's worth going further I'll say so, and if it isn't I'll tell you that too.

Less than you'd fear, and that's on purpose. I know your best people already cover two jobs. I need a few hours up front to learn how you work and read-only access to the right systems, then my engineers do the building. Your team's real time comes at the end, during training, and I keep it light, because a tool nobody has time to learn is a tool that dies.

That's the real risk, and it's why most tools die on the shelf. Nobody stays past the install, so the system nobody logged into becomes the reason not to try again. I work the opposite way: I build into how your people already work, not around them, and I stay and train them until running it is just part of the job. I don't count a build as done until your team is using it without me.

Me, with an in-house engineering bench behind me. I run every engagement personally, from the first call to the handover, and my engineers build the APIs and systems on your data. You're not handed to a junior after you sign. I spent 16 years in the corporate world, 10 of them at Pfizer, one of the most data-heavy companies there is, where the job was turning messy operational data into decisions people actually trusted. That's the same job in your business, just a different building.

Yes, once we're both serious. I keep clients de-identified in public, but privately I'll connect you with a reference close to your size and setup, including work I've done inside an older ERP like the one you're probably running. Owner to owner, you hear it straight. I'd want the same before I signed anything.

Some, but it's mostly financing and tax measures now, not the old adoption grants. BDC's LIFT program, launched in April 2026, offers loans and advisory support for Canadian businesses adopting AI, generally for companies with at least $1M in revenue for a software or AI build like this; its equipment and robotics financing starts higher, at $5M in revenue. Tax credits like SR&ED reward genuinely novel R&D, not routine adoption of tools that already exist, so a straightforward build usually won't qualify on its own. I'm not your accountant and this isn't tax advice, but I'll point you toward the right program for what you're building so you can confirm it with your advisor.