Answers from the right machine’s manual, with the source to prove it.
Merkys is AI document search for manufacturing teams. Operators, technicians and engineers ask in plain language and get answers from your manuals, work instructions and engineering records, cited to the document and page. It runs on your own servers.
Seven problems manufacturers bring to us, and how Merkys solves them.
Production knowledge is spread across manuals, drives, tickets and CAD files. Each row is a problem we hear from plant, maintenance and engineering teams, and what Merkys does about it.
-
01
The right value, from the wrong machine.
Manuals for different models and software versions use the same terms. A search for a payload or torque value finds a convincing answer in the wrong machine’s manual.
How Merkys helps: We set up your document collection with machine model, software version and document type, and search narrows to the documents that apply before it ranks. When more than one version could apply, Merkys asks which one you mean.
-
02
The answer depends on who is on shift.
Work instructions, quality procedures and manuals sit on shared drives nobody indexes, so operators ask a colleague instead, and the answer changes from shift to shift.
How Merkys helps: Every shift asks the same source. Answers cite the work instruction or procedure they came from, in the web app, Slack or Microsoft Teams.
-
03
Every minute spent searching is downtime.
When a machine stops with an error code, the operator either knows the fix or searches a long manual while the line waits.
How Merkys helps: The troubleshooting assistant turns an error code or a described symptom into ordered steps from the machine’s own manual, with page references. Unsafe steps are filtered out and low-confidence cases go to maintenance.
PILOT ADD-ON · How it works ↓ -
04
Solved problems get solved again.
Fixes live in old Jira issues, Confluence pages and Teams threads that nobody can find when the same fault comes back.
How Merkys helps: Search Jira, Confluence, SharePoint and Teams together, see how a similar problem was handled, and open the original records from the citations.
-
05
Parts get re-designed instead of reused.
Finding an existing part means knowing its number. Engineers design and source parts the company already has, and each duplicate brings its own tooling, stock and supplier work.
How Merkys helps: Similar-part search takes a drawing, photo, 3D model or description and ranks existing parts from your catalogue by similarity, before anyone designs or sources a new one.
PILOT ADD-ON · How it works ↓ -
06
Design defects surface after release.
Assemblies reach production with missing materials, missing drawings, duplicate parts or part numbers that break convention. The defect shows up as a purchasing query or a planning delay.
How Merkys helps: The CAD release check reads STEP files before release and reports missing materials and drawings, duplicate parts and part numbers that break your naming rules, in seconds.
PILOT ADD-ON · How it works ↓ -
07
Drawings and customer data can’t go to a cloud AI.
Customer drawings, specifications and process know-how are covered by NDAs and are the company’s competitive edge.
How Merkys helps: Merkys is installed on your own servers with local models. Documents, indexes and conversations stay in your environment, and access is controlled per source and per role.
What Merkys does for manufacturing.
Document search tuned for manufacturing is included. The add-ons are tools we run as pilots on your own data first.
Included
Manufacturing document search
Manuals, work instructions and procedures indexed by machine model, software version and document type, so answers come from the documents that apply.
MODEL · VERSION · DOC TYPECited answers, or an honest no
Every claim links to the document and page behind it. If the manuals don’t contain a figure, Merkys says so instead of borrowing one from another machine.
CITED SOURCESEngineering history
Search past Jira issues, Confluence pages, SharePoint documents and Teams content together.
JIRA · CONFLUENCE · SHAREPOINTAnswers across languages
People ask in their own language and get answers from documents written in another.
MULTILINGUALWhere your teams work
Use the web app on the shop floor or in the office, or ask in Slack and Microsoft Teams.
WEB · SLACK · TEAMSAdd-ons, available as pilots on your data
Troubleshooting assistant
Error code or symptom in, ordered steps from the machine’s manual out, with page references, safety filtering and escalation when the evidence is weak.
PILOT ADD-ONSimilar-part search
Find existing catalogue parts from a drawing, photo, 3D model or description, ranked by similarity.
PILOT ADD-ONCAD release check
An issue report for STEP files before release: missing materials and drawings, duplicate parts and part numbers that break your naming rules.
PILOT ADD-ONThree add-ons for engineering teams, in detail.
Each add-on is a working tool built by AAI Labs. We run it on your own data first, measure the result with your team, and agree the scope before a wider rollout.
Troubleshooting assistant for machine error codes and symptoms.
When a machine stops, the fix is usually already in the manual. The troubleshooting assistant finds it: an error code or a described symptom goes in, and ordered steps from that machine’s own manual come out, with the page each step came from.
How it works
-
01
Load your manuals
PDF manuals for your machines are processed inside your network. Text, sections, page numbers and error-code tables are extracted and indexed.
-
02
Describe the stop
The operator enters the code on the display, in any format (E204, e-204, E 204), or describes what is happening: “spindle does not start”.
-
03
Exact code first
Coded faults are looked up exactly in the manual’s error tables. Only when there is no code does it search the manual by symptom.
-
04
Steps, or escalation
It returns ordered steps with page and section references and the original text. Unsafe instructions are filtered out, and weak matches go to maintenance instead.
- Stop the spindle and leave the drive powered for cooling. p. 112
- Check that the drive cabinet fan is running and the filter is clear. p. 112
- Measure the coolant temperature against the limit in table 7-4. p. 113
- Reset the alarm. If E204 returns within 10 minutes, call maintenance. p. 113
- YOU PROVIDE
- Current PDF manuals for one machine family, with their error-code tables. For the pilot, 20–50 past maintenance cases where the right fix is already known.
- YOU GET
- Ordered steps with page and section references, the original manual text to check against, and a clear hand-off to maintenance when the evidence is weak.
- THE PILOT
- One machine family, exact error codes first. We measure time to the right action against manual search and your existing lookup table, and maintenance and safety sign off before go-live.
- KNOW BEFORE
- Scanned manuals need OCR and complex tables may need cleanup. It supports qualified maintenance staff and your safety procedures, and never replaces them.
Similar-part search across your parts catalogue.
Engineers re-design parts the company already has, because finding one means knowing its part number. Similar-part search starts from what the engineer has in hand instead: a drawing, a photo, a 3D model or a short description.
How it works
-
01
Index the catalogue
Each part’s 3D model is rendered and turned into an image fingerprint, and its shape is measured: proportions and a shape profile that ignore scale and orientation.
-
02
Search with what you have
Upload a drawing, photo or 3D file (STEP or OBJ), or type a description such as “angle bracket with two slots”.
-
03
Combine the signals
Visual similarity does most of the work. Measured shape corrects look-alikes, and in your pilot we add the attributes that decide reuse, such as material and thread, from your PDM.
-
04
Review ranked matches
See existing parts ranked by similarity, open any result to compare its render and measurements, and decide whether to reuse it.
| # | EXISTING PART | LOOKS | SHAPE | MATCH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BR-1042 Angle bracket, 2 slots | High | High | Best |
| 2 | BR-1188 Angle bracket, 3 holes | High | Medium | Good |
| 3 | PL-0315 Mounting plate, slotted | Medium | Low | Weak |
- YOU PROVIDE
- Your parts catalogue with 3D models (STEP or OBJ), and the attributes your engineers use to judge reuse, such as material, thread and finish.
- YOU GET
- Ranked existing parts for a new drawing, photo, model or description, with renders and shape measurements to compare side by side.
- THE PILOT
- We index your catalogue, your engineers search with real new-part requests and label which results are true duplicates, and we tune the ranking on those labels.
- KNOW BEFORE
- Parts that look alike can differ in material or thread, which is why your attributes matter. A photo or sketch is matched on looks only, because shape needs a 3D model.
CAD release check for STEP files, before parts reach production.
Missing materials, missing drawings and part numbers like “Default” are quick to fix before release and expensive after it, once they turn into purchasing queries and planning delays. The release check reads your STEP files and reports these defects in seconds.
How it works
-
01
Point it at a release
A STEP file or a folder of them, with the drawing PDFs in the same folder or a subfolder.
-
02
Read the metadata
Each part becomes a simple record: part number, description, author, material and size. Files are read as text, without loading any 3D geometry, so it is fast.
-
03
Run nine checks
Each check is independent and looks for one kind of defect, from a missing part number to two different parts sharing one.
-
04
Get the issue report
A table of issues, each marked as a failure or “cannot verify”, which you can export as CSV for the design review.
| PART | CHECK | RESULT |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Part number “Default” is also used by Cover and Plate, which have different shapes | FAIL |
| Cover | Part number “Default” breaks the naming convention | FAIL |
| Plate | Part number “Default” breaks the naming convention | FAIL |
| All 3 | Material, mass and revision not present in the file | CANNOT VERIFY |
The nine checks
- Part number missing
- Description missing
- Part number breaks your naming convention
- No drawing found for the part
- Material missing
- Mass missing
- Revision missing
- Same geometry under two part numbers
- One part number on different parts
- THE PILOT
- We set up your naming rules and drawing-naming scheme, run the check on recent releases and compare the findings with what your reviewers caught by hand.
- KNOW BEFORE
- Duplicate checks currently work on single-part files, and drawings are matched by file name. Both are part of the pilot setup.
Your drawings stay in your plant.
Merkys is installed inside your environment, not rented as a cloud service. We deploy it with your team and hand over full control.
- DEPLOYMENT
- Kubernetes, on-premise or in your private cloud.
- MODELS
- Local generation and embedding models. Hosted providers only if you choose them.
- DATA
- Manuals, drawings, specifications and conversations stay in your environment.
- ACCESS
- Access controlled per source and per role, with source-system permissions carried through.
- SOURCES
- SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Confluence, Jira, Google Drive and uploads: PDF, Word, scanned documents and ZIP archives.
- ADD-ON INPUTS
- STEP files for the release check; drawings, photos, 3D models or text for similar-part search; PDF manuals for troubleshooting.
Questions we hear from manufacturers
Which documents can Merkys search?
PDF and Word documents, including scanned PDFs through OCR, plus text, Markdown and ZIP archives. It also connects to SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Confluence, Jira and Google Drive.
How does it avoid answers from the wrong machine?
During setup we tag your documents with machine model, software version and document type, and search narrows to the documents that apply before ranking. When more than one version could apply, Merkys asks, and every answer cites its source so it can be checked.
Do our drawings or customer data leave our network?
No. Merkys is installed in your own environment with local models. Documents, indexes and conversations stay with you, and hosted model providers are used only if you choose them.
What does “pilot add-on” mean?
The troubleshooting assistant, similar-part search and CAD release check are working tools built by AAI Labs. We run them on your own data first, measure the result with your team, and agree the scope before a wider rollout.
Which CAD files does the release check read?
STEP files, without loading any 3D geometry. The naming rules it checks part numbers against are set up for your company during the pilot.
How do we get started?
Book a 30-minute demo. We show Merkys working on your own manuals and documents and agree which add-ons are worth piloting.
See Merkys working on your own manuals.
Book a 30-minute demo. We’ll walk through document search on your files, the pilot add-ons and on-premise deployment for your plant.