OpenLazarus for manufacturers: an AI layer around the ERP

Contents

1. What it does in a plant
2. What stays in the ERP
3. Controls and quality records
4. Published evidence
5. Strengths and limits
6. Pricing
7. Questions to ask OpenLazarus
8. Sources

Type	AI layer beside the ERP
Pricing	Published
Website	openlazarus.ai

OpenLazarus is a company-owned operating system with AI teammates that each have an inbox and a phone number⁠1The agent libraryOpenLazarus. For manufacturers, it positions itself beside the ERP rather than in place of it: it reads jobs, routings and inventory from the ERP and writes back what changes⁠2Manufacturing: every quote, job, machine and part, on one systemOpenLazarus.

Best for: Mid-sized manufacturers whose delays sit in the office: quotes waiting on an estimator, material ordered late, mill certs lost in inboxes and NCRs on paper.

Not the right fit for: Manufacturers that need MRP, BOM management, job costing or the general ledger. Those stay in a production ERP.

What it does in a plant

Its manufacturing page describes modules named for the shop's own work⁠2Manufacturing: every quote, job, machine and part, on one systemOpenLazarus:

• Jobs: every work order from release to ship, with its routing and promise date.
• Machines: what each machine is running and what is next.
• Material: bar, plate and purchased parts, with heat numbers and mill certs.
• Quality: every NCR and customer complaint, with an owner and a root cause.
• Quotes: every RFQ by stage, priced from the last routing.
• Customers, phones and reports: OEM buyers and terms, front-office lines, on-time delivery, spindle hours and scrap by part.

Example AI teammates cover production scheduling, purchasing, quality and quotes. The page says the design takes one conversation and that its engineers then connect the ERP, phones and drawings, usually within a few weeks for a shop of about 220 people.

What stays in the ERP

MRP, bills of materials, capacity planning, inventory valuation, job costing and the general ledger are not described as OpenLazarus functions. Its page says most shops move the daily work into OpenLazarus first and keep the ERP for job costing and the books⁠2Manufacturing: every quote, job, machine and part, on one systemOpenLazarus. Machines are connected only where they already report status; elsewhere a cell lead updates the job from a tablet.

The page's example company, Brinkhorst Precision, is invented, and its figures are illustrative, as the page states. OpenLazarus has no published manufacturing case study.

Controls and quality records

Each teammate has limits, for example a material order over $20,000 or moving a promised ship date, which wait for approval; every action is logged. For AS9100 and ISO 13485 shops, NCRs, mill certs and first-article reports are filed against job, part and heat number with who did what and when, on a server the company owns⁠2Manufacturing: every quote, job, machine and part, on one systemOpenLazarus.

Published evidence

• Quick Scan & Go (testimonial, retail). The CEO of an 80-store retailer says OpenLazarus consolidated its data systems and deployed AI agents for operations, and credits that with 76% profit growth. Customer-reported, and not a manufacturing case.⁠5AI ArchitectsOpenLazarus

Strengths and limits

Strengths

• Covers the office work that production ERPs leave to email and phone: RFQs priced from past routings, purchase orders, supplier follow-up and filing mill certs against heat numbers.
• Approval limits per teammate, such as a material order over $20,000 or moving a promised ship date, with every action logged.
• Files every NCR, mill cert and first-article report against its job, part and heat number, with who did what and when.
• Published prices for plans, hosting and engineering support.

Limits

• Not a replacement for a production ERP: its own page says most shops keep the ERP for job costing and the books.
• MRP, BOM explosion, capacity planning and inventory costing are not described.
• Machines are connected only where they already report their status; otherwise a cell lead updates jobs from a tablet.
• No published manufacturing case studies; the manufacturing page uses an invented example company.

Choose another option if: You are choosing the ERP itself. Pick it from the systems below by how you produce, then decide whether an AI layer is needed around it.

Pricing

Published: Starter $100 or Pro $300 a month with matching AI credits; managed hosting from $150 a month; engineering support from $4,500 a month; 5.5% on AI credits.

Questions to ask OpenLazarus

• Which ERP fields will it read, which will it write back, and how are conflicts handled?
• How does a drafted quote use our routings and current material prices?
• What does an auditor see for a cert or NCR filed by a teammate?
• Can we pilot one step, such as purchasing for released jobs, before a yearly engagement?

Compare OpenLazarus with the other systems in the main guide’s table.

Sources

1. The agent library. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
2. Manufacturing: every quote, job, machine and part, on one system. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
3. Pricing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
4. Questions about OpenLazarus. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
5. AI Architects. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
6. Design an operating system for your business with AI: the OpenLazarus builder. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.

Further reading

• Buyer's guide · Updated quarterlyThe best ERP for manufacturing in 2026, by kind of plantAn analysis of seven manufacturing ERPs and one AI layer that runs beside them, matched to how a plant produces, with the evidence behind each and an established path from selection to go-live.
• Guide · ERP and AIERP plus an AI layer: how manufacturers are modernising the officeThe slowest steps in many plants happen in inboxes, not in the ERP. A sourced look at what an AI layer can take over, what it must leave alone and how to start.
• Guide · Choosing a systemHow to choose an ERP for a manufacturing businessMost ERP selections fail before the contract is signed, in a demo built on the vendor's data rather than the plant's. A method that keeps the decision anchored in how the shop actually runs.