Patrick Byrne is a mechanical and manufacturing engineer with a particular competency in data science\/analysis. After graduating, he joined Intel, working in a role that used data to reduce costs. <\/p>\n
It was there that he was introduced to the automation and machine learning that\u2019s now at the heart of Annora, the company he cofounded in 2024 with artificial intelligence expert Dr Wes Teskey to build AI agents and software for infrastructure critical manufacturing. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe two biggest challenges for manufacturing companies in the West are competition from countries with lower labour costs and a retiring workforce that isn\u2019t being replaced. Both of these challenges only have one solution: automation,\u201d Byrne says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, the software currently used by manufacturing companies makes automation almost impossible because data is spread across many different silos that don\u2019t talk to each other,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have to enter information into multiple systems that are clunky, slow and difficult to use. It\u2019s hard to switch off these systems too because they are ingrained. It can take years to change over and there\u2019s always a risk. Transitions gone wrong can cripple companies.\u201d <\/p>\n
The commercial drawback of these legacy systems is stark. They create production bottlenecks and slow down the quotation process, resulting in low win rates for new work. Annora\u2019s solution is to combine the silos into a single system that is capable of tracking every action and order across the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause every action is tracked, simple and repetitive tasks can be automated and the system gets smarter and improves over time,\u201d Byrne says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes time to build a solution so we do so iteratively, focusing first on revenue generation to fill the company\u2019s existing capacity. This focus on revenue means customers start seeing returns within a few months of working with us compared with three to five years for a regular ERP [enterprise resource planning] transition.\u201d <\/p>\n
The business began as a consultancy 18 months ago with its product gradually taking shape since then. Informing its development has been the fact that Byrne spent hours crunching data in client companies trying to fix problems caused by the lack of joined-up systems. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out that things were worse than we\u2019d imagined,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had initially built an AI search system, like ChatGPT, for a particular company but then we discovered that the underlying data was often outdated, incorrect or conflicted with other sources. Multiple systems that don\u2019t talk to each other create errors, missing data and massive inefficiency.\u201d <\/p>\n
As Annora won more consultancy assignments, Byrne studied workflows reviewing transcripts, running calculations and interviewing directors, executives and workflow owners, only to see the same problems arising again and again. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe breakthrough came when we realised that problems in manufacturing, engineering and purchasing often didn\u2019t originate in these departments, but were coming from upstream,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cSales didn\u2019t have clear boundaries around what they could sell, so they\u2019d commit to products that had never been built, or couldn\u2019t be built at all. This cascaded downstream into chaos. That\u2019s when we understood that starting from the top of the funnel, the enquiry and quoting process, didn\u2019t just deliver fast ROI it also solved problems across the entire company.\u201d <\/p>\n
To go with their novel product the founders decided to change how companies were charged for QPR (configure, price, quote) systems. Traditionally, they paid up front and essentially took all the risk whereas Annora charges a small percentage on business won using its system. <\/p>\n
The company\u2019s target market is growth-oriented manufacturers employing between 50 and 1,000 employees. Its competition comes from large and long-established players in the sector but Byrne is undaunted. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey were developing their systems when it was really expensive to build software so they\u2019ve just continue to stack more software on top of systems often not designed for manufacturing in the first place,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cOthers before us have tried to replace these legacy software companies but they\u2019ve been replacing like-with-like. We\u2019re doing something entirely different. <\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of building another monolithic platform, we\u2019re building flexible modules that can be implemented on their own or as part of a whole system replacement. We\u2019re enabling companies to replace their ERP over time rather than forcing a big switch all at once. This means our customers can get a return on their investment and use that return to fund the replacement of their existing systems. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur flexible modules are like templates that can be redesigned to fit the customer perfectly by using generative AI to rewrite the code. The customer gets something that feels entirely bespoke but delivered faster than traditional software can be configured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annora got going on a shoestring budget of about \u20ac25,000 and Byrne has been full time in the business for the last 18 months without drawing a salary. The company received a small feasibility study grant from the Dublin city local enterprise office and Byrne took part in both the New Frontiers programme at Dundalk Institute of Technology and the National Digital Research Centre\u2018s pre-accelerator. <\/p>\n
Annora is opening a funding round in the new year with the aim of raising around \u20ac3.5 million. \u201cI\u2019d like a combination of money and expertise \u2013 people with manufacturing experience and connections who could help us expand our product into niche industries we\u2019re less familiar with,\u201d Byrne says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest part of setting up the business has been operating in uncertainty,\u201d he adds. \u201cYou work 80 hours a week with no idea if you will be successful. I\u2019ve been lucky to watch my mother run her business since I was 12 so I was under no illusion about how difficult it is. The main thing I\u2019ve learned is that all you can do is keep going and stay focused on what you can control.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Byrne is a mechanical and manufacturing engineer with a particular competency in data science\/analysis. After graduating, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,289,290,18,19,12528,12527,17,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-281344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-industry-enterprise","14":"tag-innovators-to-watch","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115884003348780929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}