From idea to a ready production project — with AI
The new line has to go in during a shutdown window, the same people keep daily production running and the grant report is still ahead — how do you know which investments are really under control? Projektiassistent brings a manufacturer's investment, development and improvement projects into one workspace: a plan with deliveries, schedule, budget, risks and owners is ready in minutes, and the board sees the whole portfolio in one view.
A production investment shouldn't live in Excel and the production manager's head
The payback calculation, supplier quotes, installation plan, budget and grant conditions are often spread across files and inboxes. Projektiassistent brings them under one project and shows problems before the machine is ordered and the money spent.
Information is scattered
Payback in Excel, the supplier's quote in an email, the installation plan on a whiteboard. Nobody has the full picture — not even the board.
The project competes with production
The same process engineers, automation engineers and maintenance technicians keep daily production running. The project always comes second until the deadline arrives.
Delivery slips, the shutdown window doesn't
A late machine only becomes obvious when installation should start — and the next suitable shutdown is months away.
Grant reporting comes later
Costs, activities and results have to be evidenced. If the structure isn't there from the start, they get pieced together from invoices and emails.
Before ordering the machine: is the investment really ready?
A good payback calculation and a project ready to start are not the same thing. Before launch, business goal, deliveries, installation time, people, budget and funding conditions have to be consistent. Approval checkpoints, the budget warning and attention signals show what is still missing.
- Approval checkpoints before launch
Record the own-contribution decision, funding conditions and the critical delivery as milestones for an approver to confirm — the system saves who approved and when. The project stays in Draft status until you decide to launch it.
- Deliveries, shutdown window and workload
Equipment delivery, installation and testing are linked by dependencies. The critical path shows whether the work fits the planned shutdown; resource planning in the Business plan shows whether the maintenance team is overloaded.
- Net and VAT tracked separately
Cost lines in net and VAT with category and status (planned, committed, invoiced, paid); reserved, used and free balance in real time.
What manufacturers use Projektiassistent for
You get a plan built for the specific project, not an empty template. The AI accounts for the field's specifics — equipment lead times, installation within a shutdown window, testing and commissioning, operator training, quality requirements and funding conditions.
Automation & robotics
Robot cells, welding and packaging automation — payback, delivery, installation, testing and training in one plan.
Production line investments
A new line or machine from idea to start-up — lead time, shutdown window and budget tied to the production plan.
Product development
Concept, prototype, tests and pilot run — stages, dependencies and quality checkpoints you can follow.
Digitalisation
Rolling out a manufacturing execution or ERP system and collecting data from the line — stages, testing and adoption.
Quality & certification
A quality management system (e.g. ISO 9001) and CE marking — requirements, audits and corrective actions as checkpoints.
Plant extension & relocation
A new production building or moving lines — construction, building services and relocation tied to the production plan.
Energy efficiency & green transition
Solar panels, heat recovery and resource efficiency — savings as an indicator and funder requirements in the plan.
Supply chain & new suppliers
Supplier qualification, component localisation or introducing a new material — tests and approvals in the right order.
Lean & continuous improvement
Improvement ideas on a Kanban board — each initiative with its owner, deadline and result.
How a production project moves from idea to result
Example: a metalworking company invests in a robotic welding cell. The same project goes through every stage in one workspace — nobody has to copy information from file to file.
Idea
“We'll add a robotic welding cell next to manual welding to raise production capacity.” You describe the project in a couple of sentences and the AI turns it into a structured draft plan.
Pre-assessment
Business goal and indicator, suppliers and lead time, installation within the shutdown window, training, budget and risks are thought through before the decision.
Decision
The board sees what the investment costs, who leads it, when it will be running and what risks come with it — not just the payback figure.
Funding
From the same plan, the AI prepares a structured application for EIS or another chosen measure — goal, activities and budget are already linked.
Delivery
Delivery, installation, testing and training in the Gantt view with dependencies; resource planning in the Business plan shows whether the automation engineer is on two projects at once.
Result & reporting
Start-up, indicator status, budget use and decisions — the AI status summary and the project document for the board or the funder from the same data.
Several investments and development projects — all in one view
Projektiassistent isn't just for running a single project. In the Business plan, line investments, product development, digitalisation and improvement projects come together in a portfolio where every project carries a health score and cross-project dependencies are visible.
The CEO, production manager or development manager gets the answers at a glance:
- Which investment and development projects are running right now?
- Which ones are behind schedule — and does that put the shutdown window at risk?
- Where is there a risk of overspending?
- Where are process engineers and the maintenance team overloaded across projects?
- Which decisions does the board need to make?
What happens when the project shifts?
Something always shifts in a production project: a supplier is late, the grant decision is delayed or a key person is needed in several places at once. The what-if simulation in the Business plan shows the impact on the project end before the decision is made — not after the shutdown window has passed.
Equipment delivery is late
Pick the delivery task, enter a delay in days and see how far it pushes the project end — and whether installation still fits the shutdown window. Simulations are kept in the history.
The grant comes in smaller
Update the budget and see at once whether the cost lines still fit — if costs exceed the budget, the budget block shows a warning. The critical path shows which activities have slack to be postponed.
A key person is unavailable
Resource planning shows each person's open tasks, hours and workload percentage — when the automation or process engineer is off sick or on another project, work goes where there is room.
From business goal to real results — and a report for the board
An investment is not a goal in itself. The board and the funder want to know whether productivity, capacity or quality actually improved. In Projektiassistent the chain from goal to indicator lives in one place — so when someone asks “what did this investment deliver?”, the answer is there.
- Strategy
- Business goal
- Investment plan
- Project
- Deliveries & activities
- Owners
- Budget
- Indicators
- Result
- Summary for the board or supervisory board
The AI status summary gives the project's current state in moments. The project document exports as PDF or DOCX in one of five design templates — without spending hours writing it up.
- A structure that suits grant reporting
Cost lines carry category, status, date, supplier and invoice number from the start, and VAT is calculated separately for each line — the cost summary for interim and final reports comes from the data.
- Decision log and versions
Every important decision is saved with its rationale, decision-maker, status and date; in the Business plan earlier versions can be restored.
Industrial funding — an application from the same plan
The AI gathers the project's business goal, action plan, budget, risks and team into a structured application for the chosen funding programme. Create several applications per project — 3 a month on Standard, unlimited on Business.
EIS development grants
Grants from the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (formerly EAS and KredEx) for product development, innovation and export capability.
Digitalisation & automation
Measures for digitalising and automating production — a measurable productivity goal and a justified budget.
Green transition & resource efficiency
Energy and resource-efficiency measures from KIK and other funders — an impact indicator with baseline and target.
You can enter the measure's web address when drafting the plan and the AI takes its content into account, so you can check compliance before submitting. Final eligibility is always decided by the funder — EIS or KIK, for example.
Excel is fine for a payback calculation. A production investment needs a system.
Excel isn't a bad tool — payback and costings will still be done there. It just wasn't built to manage deliveries, dependencies, people's workload and several projects at once. Here's where it stops being enough.
| Projektiassistent | Excel | |
|---|---|---|
| Project status | A live project that updates as work happens | A static table updated by hand |
| Deliveries and installation | Dependencies and impact on the shutdown window | Dates in cells, links in someone's head |
| People's workload | Resource planning across projects (Business) | Invisible until someone can't cope |
| Budget | Net and VAT separate, cost lines with status | Formulas that drift apart between copies |
| Risks | Risk register with impact × probability score, risks proposed by the AI with the plan | A separate sheet, if someone makes one |
| Report for the board | AI status summary from the same data | Written up by hand |
| Multiple projects | Portfolio view for the whole company (Business) | One file at a time |
Product data, prices and partners — access only for those who need it
Manufacturing projects hold product development information, supplier prices and investment decisions that aren't meant for everyone. Access is checked on every request. Permission levels and the decision log come with every plan; the audit log, versions and workspaces are in the Business plan.
Role-based permissions
Three permission levels: Viewer, Editor and Admin. A supervisory board member can be a Viewer — they see and comment but can't change anything.
Partners in their own project only
An equipment supplier or integrator is invited by email to their own project only. The share can be removed immediately at any time.
Workspaces
Plants, subsidiaries or product development in separate workspaces; a role profile sets which modules a user can see or edit.
Audit log
Major changes, decisions, risks and approvals on one timeline, with who and when.
Encrypted connection
All traffic over HTTPS with HSTS; every request checks that the data belongs to an environment the user has access to.
Data export and GDPR
“Export my data” downloads a copy of your personal data, “Delete my account” removes the account; the project document exports as PDF or DOCX.
If your company or group has information security requirements you'd like to go through before adoption, write to us — we'll answer question by question. Contact →
The right methodology for a production project
A phased Waterfall or Hybrid with a Gantt view for line and plant investments; Scrum for product development, where requirements sharpen through testing; Kanban for continuous improvement. Switching methodology never alters the project's substance.
Start with one investment, not the whole plant
New software doesn't have to be rolled out across the whole company at once. The fastest way to see the value is to take one current or planned project and run it through Projektiassistent.
One project
Pick your next line investment, automation or grant project and build its plan. The trial lasts 14 days (up to 3 projects) and no credit card is required.
Pilot with the team
Invite production, maintenance, quality and finance — each with their own permissions. The first status summary for the board shows whether it saves time.
Whole company
If the pilot works, bring the remaining projects into the portfolio on the Business plan and separate plants or subsidiaries into workspaces.
Frequently asked questions from manufacturers
Is Projektiassistent suitable for a small manufacturer?
Yes. You can start with one investment and a couple of users — the Standard plan covers Gantt, Kanban, risks, budget and AI for up to 20 active projects. When there are more plants, subsidiaries or projects, the Business plan adds the portfolio view, resource planning, workspaces, role profiles, workflow forms and up to 100 active projects. Company size isn't the requirement; the requirement is running investments and development projects alongside daily production.
Can the board see the status of every investment and development project in one view?
Yes. The Business plan's portfolio view shows every project on one screen with a health score (on track, monitoring, at risk, blocked), overdue tasks and risks show up as signals and dependencies between projects are visible. The board or supervisory board can be given Viewer access to see and comment on a project without changing anything. For the meeting, the AI drafts a status summary and the project document can be shared as PDF or DOCX.
How do we plan equipment installation within a shutdown window?
The shutdown window is added to the schedule as a milestone, and delivery, installation, testing and training are linked to it through dependencies. If the delivery slips, the critical path shows the projected end and slack, and attention signals highlight overdue tasks; the Business plan's what-if simulation shows the delay's effect on the project end. Resource planning (Business) shows whether the maintenance team or the automation engineer is tied up on other projects at the same time.
Is it suitable for projects funded by EIS or KIK?
Yes. The AI prepares a structured application from the same plan for the chosen funding programme (3 a month on Standard, unlimited on Business); the own-contribution decision and funding conditions can be recorded as milestones for approval. VAT is calculated separately for every cost line and each line has a category and status, so the cost summary for interim and final reports comes from the data. Final eligibility is always decided by the funder.
Can we involve an equipment supplier or integrator in the project?
Yes. A supplier or integrator is invited by email to their own project only and sees only the projects shared with them — product development information and prices from other projects stay hidden. Sharing a project has three permission levels: Viewer, Editor and Admin, and the share can be removed immediately at any time. The Business plan adds workspaces per plant or subsidiary and role profiles that set each module's level (none, view, manage).
Does Projektiassistent replace an ERP or a manufacturing execution system?
No. It is a workspace for planning and managing investment, development and improvement projects — plan, schedule, budget, risks, decisions and reports. Production orders, stock, maintenance work orders and accounting stay in the ERP and other systems built for them. On the Business plan it connects to existing systems through API tokens and webhooks, sends notifications to Slack or Teams and puts deadlines in your calendar via a calendar feed.
How is product development and investment data protected?
All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS and HSTS) and access is checked on every request; on the Business plan, changes are recorded in the audit log with who and when. Users can download a copy of their personal data and delete their account. Data processing is described in detail in the privacy policy.
Can we start with a single investment?
Yes — and that's the most sensible way. The trial lasts 14 days, includes up to 3 projects and 20 AI requests and requires no credit card. Business plan features (portfolio, what-if, resource planning) are not part of the trial — if you'd like to see them and your own project first, request a demo through the contact page.
Let's make your next investment decision-ready
Try 14 days free — 3 projects and 20 AI requests, no credit card required. Want to see how it looks with your own project first? Request a demo.