In ep 27, Metalinked’s co-founder explains why small manufacturers should start with a specific problem, and not just look at the latest AI tool.

AI is such a daunting thing, but it’s such a beautiful thing as well, because it can create opportunities for small businesses, for medium-sized businesses to move very fast.”

— Rehaan Bicha, co-founder and CEO of Metalinked

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, October 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Secret Life of Inventory, the inventory management podcast produced by inFlow Inventory, this week released Episode 27, “The AI Playbook: How to Get Started with AI in Operations”, featuring Rehaan Bicha, co-founder and CEO of AI company Metalinked.

In conversation with hosts Jared Plumb and Melinda Tse, Bicha’s advice to small and midsize manufacturers is direct: start with one specific problem, not the latest AI tool.

Drawing on Metalinked’s work with more than 300 companies, Bicha recommends ranking the problems on a team’s plate, connecting scattered data into one pipeline, and testing AI on one part of the business before expanding. He argues smaller manufacturers have an edge because “everyone’s usually in one room,” so decisions move faster.

Focus is what makes the results possible. Bicha describes a Los Angeles manufacturer with about 4 million USD tied up in inventory that, after connecting its data and capturing what its team knew, found roughly 600,000 USD in savings by reusing parts it already owned.

The episode also covers:

Which workflows should be automated?
Bicha sorts AI work into two categories: finding opportunities, such as alternate suppliers or excess inventory, and making tedious tasks like quoting and document creation easy. High-stakes financial decisions should keep a human in charge.

Is vibe-coded software ready for operations?
Not without the right infrastructure. Bicha calls vibe coding a double-edged sword: building the interface is easy, but security, hidden infrastructure costs, and maintenance are not. He shares the story of a former client that built its own tool and was later hacked.

What should businesses ask AI vendors?
Where their data goes and how it is protected. Bicha recommends asking whether a vendor is SOC 2 compliant, whether it meets FedRAMP requirements for U.S. government work, and whether the solution can run on the company’s own premises.

Find Episode 27 for free on:
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
and other major platforms.

Want more?
New episodes of Secret Life of Inventory are released on the first Tuesday of every month.

About Secret Life of Inventory
Secret Life of Inventory is a podcast produced by inFlow Inventory and hosted by Jared Plumb and Melinda Tse. The show explores the unseen side of inventory management for small and midsize businesses, from purchasing and warehouse operations to manufacturing and fulfillment, through practical explainers and conversations with operators and industry experts. Recent episodes have covered inventory costing methods, lot and serial number tracking, and choosing a third-party logistics partner. Past guests include Jim Vinoski, host of Manufacturing Talks, and inventory expert Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management. Plumb and Tse have also appeared as guests on Manufacturing Talks. Operators and industry experts can apply to be a guest at secretlifeofinventory.com.

About Metalinked
Metalinked is manufacturing intelligence software built for operations teams. Beginning as a research project at the University of California, Berkeley, Metalinked uses AI to help manufacturers automate the work that quietly eats their day, including: quoting, sourcing, procurement, and bill of materials (BOM) risk detection. Its Astra platform monitors the companies, markets, and suppliers that matter to each business, verifies what changed, and recommends a next action. For more information, visit metalinked.ai.

About inFlow Inventory
inFlow Inventory is cloud-based inventory management software built for small and mid-size businesses. With more than 20 million products tracked in inFlow worldwide, it helps teams manage inventory, sales orders, purchase orders, and B2B wholesale from a single platform, with integrations for Xero, QuickBooks Online, Shopify, WooCommerce, and 95+ other tools. inFlow is proudly Canadian, founded in Toronto in 2007. For more information, visit inflowinventory.com

Maya Garvey
inFlow Inventory
maya.garvey@inflowinventory.com

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