built by
Airtable
Category
Product
Spec sheets aren’t built for speed. They’re static, scattered, and slow to analyze—especially when you’re juggling prototypes, components, and deadlines. With Airtable, product ops teams can use AI to instantly extract line items, costs, and specs from PDFs—turning files and docs into actionable insights that accelerate decisions and reduce time-to-market.
Unify, analyze, and optimize material spend
When to use this play
Use this play to manage early-stage designs, analyze material costs, and collaborate across teams—all in one streamlined workflow.
Audit prototype materials: Extract specs and costs from new footwear prototypes automatically.
Identify cost-saving opportunities: Flag high-cost components to improve margins without compromising quality.
Collaborate on design in real time: Visualize materials in 3D to gather feedback and iterate instantly.
Pro tip
Upload multiple spec sheets at once and use AI to auto-tag materials by category (think: outsole, upper, and lining)—making it easier to compare costs across prototypes and spot high-impact savings opportunities.
Business impact
Turn static spec docs into strategic advantage—this play speeds up cost analysis, sharpens margin decisions, and aligns product and design teams.
Make faster decisions: Cut data extraction and analysis from days to minutes.
Improve margins: Surface line-item cost insights to optimize spend.
Unify workflows: Replace siloed docs with a single source of truth for cross-team collaboration.
6 steps to get you started
Follow these six steps to turn static spec documents into a dynamic, AI-powered workspace—and go from siloed data to real insights in minutes.
Sample Field Agent prompts
Start with these prompts for your AI fields in Airtable. Copy and paste into the open field, and customize them for your unique workflows.
Determine if the price paid for a material is typical compared to the market. Use market analysis to assess.
Output:
State if we are on par, underpaying, or overpaying, e.g., "Overpaying: [2 sentences about why, citing key facts]"
Context and data:
- Material Name: _<Insert field>_
- Material Price: _<Insert field>_
Note: You run this extraction AI field agent for any type of product metadata, including style number, category, factory, or materials used.
Extract the style name from a document accurately.
Output:
Return the style name exactly as it appears, e.g., "ZENFLOW STRIDE."
Context and data:
- Document: _<Insert attachment field>_
About Omni and Field Agents
Skip the code. Transform your data into custom interfaces, automations, and agents with Airtable’s AI-native app platform.
Omni helps builders do what they do best.
Truly transformative building requires a deep understanding of your business and the way you work. Omni is your Airtable expert and sidekick who seamlessly integrates with your data, information, and insights to help you build sophisticated workflows in minutes, not months.
Don’t just ask AI. Deploy it.
Put powerful AI agents to work across thousands of Airtable records and embed them into every business process. Airtable's intelligent agents think dynamically, drive decisions, and orchestrate actions across your entire operation.
Try Airtable for free or explore more real-world AI use cases in the Airtable AI playbook.
Unify, analyze, and optimize material spend
These plays feature custom interfaces, currently in beta and launching soon. Book a demo with our sales team to request early access.
Explore related playbooks
Triage and act on customer feedback
Pull in feedback from Intercom, Gong, Slack, and Zendesk—then let AI surface key insights, triage issues, and prioritize what matters.
Stay ahead with real-time competitor intelligence
Offload product research to AI and uncover insights instantly, giving you the edge to outpace competitors.