News
UK NEWS +VOX: Topline Glass introduces in-house artificial intelligence system for order processing
UK-based Topline Glass has rolled out a new artificial intelligence–based order processing system designed to improve accuracy, consistency and customer service across its operations, following an internal development effort led by Office Manager Sam Turnock.
The system, known as COLBi, short for Customer Order Logic & Build interface, has been developed entirely in-house and is already handling a growing share of incoming work. Built to upload, read and interpret customer orders submitted in formats including emails, PDFs and scanned documents, COLBi marks a shift in how the business manages information from order receipt through to production.
Unlike traditional optical character recognition tools, the system uses artificial intelligence to interpret intent within customer instructions. It is designed to understand variations in terminology, identify ordering patterns and adapt to how individual customers communicate over time.
“This isn’t just about reading text,” says Turnock. “It’s reading orders like a human would and trying to understand what the customer actually wants.”
COLBi is trained on a customer-by-customer basis. The system learns default specifications, recurring preferences and established conventions, retaining that knowledge for future orders. For Topline Glass, this creates a consistent experience for customers while giving the office team access to shared knowledge that would otherwise sit with individuals.
After two months of live operation, the system is now processing orders for the company’s four largest customers, representing around 40 percent of weekly line items. The business aims to increase that figure to 80 percent by the end of the year, while more complex or unusual orders will continue to receive manual review.
“For customers, the biggest benefit is accuracy,” says Turnock. “Computers don’t mis-key numbers. But just as importantly, it frees our office team up to spend more time on service, advice and relationships.”
Further development is already planned. Future phases may include automated email integration, overnight order handling and possible links to quoting and production planning systems, extending the system’s role across more of the order lifecycle.
Turnock is clear that the technology is intended to support, not replace, staff. “This isn’t about replacing people,” he says. “It’s about letting technology take care of repetitive tasks, so experienced staff can focus on delivering the best possible service.”
For Topline Glass, COLBi reflects a practical application of artificial intelligence, shaped internally to meet the day-to-day demands of its customers and operations.
Why This Matters: This development matters for fenestration because it shows AI being applied to everyday operational pain points, not theory. By improving order accuracy and consistency, systems like this reduce waste, protect margins and free skilled staff to focus on customers, setting a practical benchmark for digital progress across the sector today.
