Alex Gruebele & Chandler Gonzalez - Tau9 Labs | How Tau9 Labs Helped a Manufacturer Cut Quoting Time from Hours to Seconds — and Double Win Rates

Alex Gruebele and Chandler Gonzalez, co-founders of Tau9 Labs, build custom AI systems that solve the messy, high-value problems generic manufacturing software can’t touch. With roots in robotics, hyperscale software, and logistics, they focus on the workflows where context matters most—quoting, downtime, document analysis, and technician knowledge. Their work shows how applied AI can transform mid-market industrial operations in months, not years, by fitting the way factories actually run.

You’ll Learn

• Why generic SaaS breaks in manufacturing—and how custom AI can match real-world workflows without forcing process changes.
• How decades of unstructured documents hide the root causes of downtime, warranty costs, and defects—and how AI can surface them.
• A practical approach to turning vague “AI requests” into solvable, ROI-positive operational problems using on-site discovery and the five whys.
• How AI-accelerated engineering compresses build cycles from quarters to weeks, enabling tools like instant quoting platforms.
• When to build vs. buy: the signals that indicate a custom solution will outperform configurable off-the-shelf tools.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
01:00 Backgrounds & the origin of Tau9 Labs
03:20 Why manufacturing lags in software adoption
05:10 Common operational problems & unstructured data
07:15 Downtime, tribal knowledge, and automation
08:50 Quoting workflows and workflow automation
09:50 How Tau9 diagnoses the “real” problem
12:20 On-site discovery and the five whys
15:20 Case study: injection molding quoting platform
18:10 Designing for speed and user behavior
20:15 Building the platform in four months
22:50 Results: conversion lift & revenue impact
25:10 Build vs. buy in industrial AI
28:45 Why on-site U.S. engineers outperform remote teams
31:20 How AI changes software design principles
33:50 Who Tau9 Labs is best suited to help
35:50 Closing

Links

• Explore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/articles/how-tau9-labs-helped-a-manufacturer-cut-quoting-time-from-hours-to-seconds----and-double-win-rates
• Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/njuUtQucqHU
• Connect with Alex Gruebele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgruebele/
• Connect with Chandler Gonzalez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandlergonzales/

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