Manufacturing & AI

How LAMA Is Using AI to Build a Smarter Roofing Manufacturing Process

December 4th, 2025

A year or so ago, adopting an ERP was an impractical essential that we avoided.

They were expensive, rigid, and never fit the realities of our vision: a lean asphalt membrane plant.

So we built our own system; a web of Excel sheets connected with formulas, discipline, and a whole lot of patience.

It worked.

But we hated it.

Moving From Spreadsheets to Intelligent Agents

Instead of bending our process to match an ERP, we built something better: an AI-driven layer that adapts to the way we already work.

As AI matured, we started delegating more tasks to it. We learned its strengths: structure, spark, innovation. And its limits: judgment, hallucination, and context.

Understanding this gave us leverage.

Claude Was a Turning Point

We're technical people, but time is limited.

The introduction of Claude Code by Anthropic changed everything.

Claude Code became the fastest path from idea to execution.

Building prototypes moved from months to days.

AI stopped being a tool.

It became a collaborator that we leveraged

Giving Every Roll a Digital Memory

Our first major transformation was simple in theory: every roll should remember everything.

So we created a digital footprint that captures the moment asphalt enters the plant to the moment a finished roll leaves on a truck, its complete story is recorded.

What once required expensive, complex systems now runs quietly in the background.

Where We're Going

We are in the process of building the factory around an AI core.

A true central brain.

A real-time intelligence that every component connects to; every sensor, every motor, every pump

As this core grows, the factory becomes more stable, more predictable, and more consistent from roll to roll.

A production process that feels interconnected and aware.

This is the future we are building toward.

And every tool we build brings us a step closer

Distributors and contractors are rethinking how they run their businesses. If AI is part of your roadmap, we’d love to hear your vision with AI.

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