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No surprise late parts.

Supplier follow-up for manufacturers, built on HappyRobot's voice agents.

When a supplier hasn't confirmed an order, a HappyRobot voice agent calls, goes through each open line that needs an answer, and brings back the ship date and the reason for any slip. On-time answers are filed on their own. The buyer only sees what changed.

Open the app How a call works
Voice agents powered by HappyRobot. Demo sign-in details come with the walkthrough.
Keystone Precision Castings For Granite Ridge Motion Controls · 3 open lines
Simulated

SupplierThe end covers are behind, we're short on material. Figure end of next week.

AgentSo the end covers ship Friday, October 30. I'll pass that to Jordan.

What the call brought back

GR-HSG-220Motor housing Ships Oct 23, the date on file Accepted
GR-CVR-110End cover Slipped 7 days, material shortage To the buyer
GR-BRK-090Mounting bracket 120 of 200 ship Oct 22, no date for the rest To the buyer

The problem

A slip usually shows up when the part doesn't.

Found on the receiving dock

An unconfirmed slip is discovered when the part doesn't arrive. By then it means line-down hours, expedited freight and a missed customer ship date.

Chased by hand

Buyers confirm orders by phone and email, one line at a time, while headcount stays flat.

Out of a portal's reach

The long tail of smaller suppliers doesn't use portals or EDI, and email is easy to ignore. Voice reaches them.

Waterspyder is the step after the portal and the email, not a replacement for either.

How a call works

One call per supplier, every line that needs an answer.

  1. A line needs an answer

    The supplier hasn't confirmed by portal or email, or a line enters its risk window. Lines from suppliers who often slip are rechecked earlier.

  2. HappyRobot agent

    The HappyRobot agent calls

    It says it's an automated assistant calling for the buyer, notes that the call is recorded, and walks through the contact's open lines, most urgent first.

  3. HappyRobot agent

    It gets real dates

    For each line: quantity, ship date, the reason for any slip, and carrier and tracking if it shipped. "End of next week" is read back as a date.

  4. Results land in Waterspyder

    Each answer is compared with the date on file. On-time answers are accepted. Everything else goes to the buyer, with the transcript one click away.

Supplier business hours Hands off to the buyer on request Do-not-call per supplier Daily call cap and a dialing allowlist

What reaches the buyer

Routine answers file themselves. The buyer gets the exceptions.

If a buyer had to approve every "yes, it ships Tuesday," this would be a suggestion box. So the agent's answers are sorted the moment they land.

Written back automatically

No one has to touch these
  • The supplier confirms the date already on file.
  • The supplier moves a date earlier.
  • Each one is marked as accepted by the agent, so it's clear which dates nobody reviewed.

Autonomy is earned. In a pilot, every write-back waits for a buyer. Once audited accuracy holds, on-time confirmations write back to the ERP on their own.

Sent to the buyer

The exceptions queue
  • Slips: a later ship date, with the reason.
  • Partial shipments and short quantities.
  • Unclear or low-confidence dates.
  • A wrong contact, with the new name and number to review.
  • A supplier who asks for a person or declines the call.

The buyer approves the new date, marks it misheard to keep the old one, or pushes back on the supplier. Approving records who approved it, and that's the gate for any ERP write-back.

The agent never approves a change. It never agrees to new prices or quantities, and no later date goes to the ERP until a buyer approves it.

The board

The record of what the agent did, not a dashboard.

The agent is the product. The board shows its work: every open line, what the last call heard, and whether the part will reach the plant before it's needed.

Supply risk Granite Ridge Motion Controls (sample)
Copperleaf Motor Windings 4-day transit · 88% on time (sample)
Simulated
5 days late 45-10412 · 1Stator winding assemblyCritical Nov 6 · needed Nov 1 Slipped 9 days · material shortage
via call, sent to the buyer
3 days spare 45-10417 · 2Rotor lamination stackCritical Oct 29 · needed Nov 1 Confirmed
ships Oct 25, as the PO asked · via call
12 days spare 45-10430 · 1Lead wire set, 340 frame Nov 4 · needed Nov 16 Confirmed
ships Oct 31 · via portal
Illustration with fictional sample data.

Ranked by what would stop the line

Arrival is the ship date plus the supplier's transit time. Spare days are the need date minus arrival. Late arrivals and thin margins on critical parts rise to the top.

Every date says where it came from

A call, the supplier portal, the ERP or a buyer's edit. Transcripts and recordings sit behind sign-in.

Supplier memory sets the next call

Each supplier's on-time history decides how early its confirmed lines are rechecked: 5 days before shipping at 95% on time or better, 7 days at 85% or better, 10 days below that.

What it saved, counted from answered calls

Buyer hours saved by calls that got answers, lines confirmed on time, and slips caught by phone with their median early warning.

Built on HappyRobot

A supply-chain worker on the HappyRobot platform.

Waterspyder extends HappyRobot into supplier PO confirmation and recalls. HappyRobot runs the conversation. Waterspyder keeps the supply-side record around it and decides what the buyer needs to see.

HappyRobot

The voice agent

Each call runs as a HappyRobot workflow built in Frontal: an outbound voice agent, then AI Extract and AI Classify, then a webhook back to Waterspyder.

  • Recording disclosure, voicemail and phone menus
  • Supplier business hours
  • Transfer to the buyer

Waterspyder

The system of record

Open lines, promised dates, slip reasons and each supplier's track record, kept per client.

  • Who to call, and when
  • The buyer's review queue
  • The approval gate for ERP write-back

MCP server

Lookups for agents

When a supplier brings up a PO that wasn't in the call's payload, the HappyRobot agent can look it up mid-call instead of promising a follow-up.

  • Scoped to that supplier and client
  • Read-only
Roadmap

Freight hand-off. When a slip's reason is freight, the supplier agent hands the shipment to HappyRobot's carrier check-call workflow: two workers coordinated through Frontal.

Supplier confirmation Carrier check call

Multi-client

One template, three industries.

One sign-in works for several manufacturers. Every page, call, import and export stays inside the client picked, and the agent introduces itself on behalf of that client and its buyer.

Sample
Industry
Industrial automation
Makes
Servo motors and drives
Sample recall
A voluntary safety notice on a servo drive
Sample
Industry
Packaged foods
Makes
Granola and snack bars
Sample recall
Class I, an undeclared allergen
Sample
Industry
Medical devices
Makes
Infusion pumps and IV sets
Sample recall
Class II, a medical device

All three companies, their logos, suppliers and orders are fictional.

Recalls

A second worker: letters plus calls.

When a client recalls a product, every account that received it gets a letter, a call if it doesn't answer, and a written confirmation of what it said on the call.

  1. 1 · Letter

    The recall notice

    Mailed first class through PostGrid, marked urgent for Class I and II recalls. The app follows it into the mail, to delivery, or back as returned to sender.

    PostGrid

  2. 2 · Call

    The effectiveness check

    No answer after a set number of days, and the HappyRobot agent calls the account. Returned mail gets a call for a current address.

    HappyRobot

  3. 3 · Confirmation

    In writing

    What the account said on the call is confirmed by letter. The call's answers only fill in the template's blanks.

    PostGrid

  4. 4 · Escalation

    Second notice, then a person

    Still no answer after the last call attempt: a second notice by certified mail, and then it goes to a person.

    PostGrid, then a person

Follows 21 CFR 7.49. First-class letters marked urgent, follow-ups to accounts that don't respond, and phone contacts confirmed in writing.

The model never writes a letter. Letters come from the company's own template.

Safe in the demo. Mail runs in PostGrid's test mode, which never prints, or is simulated. Scripted calls are labeled Simulated.

MCP server

The same numbers, for agents and assistants.

Waterspyder's MCP server gives HappyRobot voice agents and the buyer's own AI assistant the same data and risk rules as the board, so every answer matches what the buyer sees. The token decides which tools a client gets.

Endpointhttps://mcp.waterspyder.com/mcp

The HappyRobot voice agent, during a call

The supplier mentions a PO that isn't in the call's list. The agent looks it up and confirms what it finds, without agreeing to any change.

lookup_polist_supplier_open_lines
  • Only that supplier's orders, for that client
  • The order as the supplier knows it. No need dates, risk levels or margins, so the agent can't hint that a part is critical.

The buyer's own assistant

Claude, ChatGPT or anything else that speaks MCP can answer from the board's numbers.

Buyer asksWhich Granite Ridge parts could stop the line in the next two weeks, and who do I call?

risk_boardsupplier_statusopen_exceptionscall_results_summarylist_clients
Every tool is read-only. Changing a date, quantity or approval stays in the app, behind the buyer. A request without a valid token gets a 401.

Pricing model

Priced on outcomes, not minutes.

The buyer pays for confirmed lines and for slips caught in time. Calls and minutes are only how the agent gets there. The figures below are estimates from the business case, not quotes.

Platform fee

Per account

A base fee for each account. Usage is billed on outcomes, never on calls or minutes.

Per confirmed line Estimate

$1 to $4 a line

Each open line the agent gets a confirmed date for.

Per slip caught early

A premium

Each slip learned with at least a week to go before the part is needed.

Typical account, 3 buyers Estimate

Confirmation work a year
about $39k
Share that reaches the phone
$8k to $16k
Annual contract value
$4k to $8k

Larger account, 8 buyers Estimate

Confirmation work a year
about $104k
Confirmed lines a month
450 to 750
Annual contract value
$10k to $20k

Not billed: voicemail, no answer, and calls that confirm nothing.

Assumptions: 5 hours a week per buyer at $52 an hour loaded, with 20 to 40% of that work reaching the phone.

Getting started: an 8-week pilot with one plant's buyers and about 20 friendly suppliers.

See the agent's work on the board.

Three sample manufacturers, their suppliers and orders, with simulated calls you can play from the board.

Open the app About the MCP server
Voice agents powered by HappyRobot. Demo sign-in details come with the walkthrough.