The verdict in three sentences
An internal RAG-based AI assistant (search your documents, then generate an answer) costs EUR 35,000 to 70,000 excl. VAT for a Berlin manufacturer with 12,000 pages of manuals and 40 technicians. The non-negotiable point is data sovereignty: a model hosted in the European Union or on a dedicated server, with answers that cite the source page so the technician can check before acting. Properly scoped, the project ships in 10 to 14 weeks, targets 25% less diagnosis time, and runs for EUR 400 to 1,500 a month.
What actually gets built, line by line
The after-sales director is not buying an "in-house ChatGPT". He is buying a full pipeline: ingestion of PDFs and service reports (often scanned), chunking by procedure, a vector index, an answer engine, a tablet-friendly interface for the shop floor and an audit log. Around 70% of the quality depends on document preparation, not on the model.
| Item | 2026 budget (EUR excl. VAT) | Share | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Document audit and scoping | 4,000 to 7,000 | 10% | Inventory of 12,000 pages, outdated versions, access rights |
| Ingestion, OCR and chunking | 7,000 to 15,000 | 20% | Diagrams, torque tables, handwritten reports |
| Vector index and RAG engine | 8,000 to 16,000 | 23% | Hybrid keyword + semantic search, mandatory citations |
| Technician interface (web, tablet) | 5,000 to 11,000 | 15% | Search by machine reference, fault code, photo |
| Security, SSO and logging | 4,000 to 9,000 | 12% | Azure AD or Keycloak, rights per product line |
| Test set and evaluation | 3,000 to 6,000 | 9% | 300 real questions scored by team leads |
| Training and rollout | 4,000 to 6,000 | 11% | Pilot with 8 technicians, then full rollout |
A EUR 35,000 project assumes clean, mostly digital documentation. The upper end at EUR 70,000 is justified as soon as service reports are scanned, multilingual (German and English manuals side by side) or tied to the ERP.
Hosting and security: the three options that hold up in 2026
The question of data leaving Europe stalls half of these projects at board level. It is solved by the hosting choice, which also drives the monthly bill.
| Option | Monthly running cost | Data location | Answer quality | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU-hosted model API (Europe region, no data reuse) | EUR 400 to 900 | EU, DPA in place | Very high | General case, fast start |
| Open-source model on sovereign cloud (IONOS, OVHcloud) | EUR 700 to 1,200 | Germany or France | High | C5 or defence-sector clients |
| Dedicated on-premise GPU server | EUR 900 to 1,500 (3-year amortisation) | Plant | Good to high | Air-gapped network |
| Managed EU vector index | EUR 50 to 200 | EU | Not applicable | Included in first two options |
| Monitoring and updates | EUR 150 to 400 | Not applicable | Not applicable | All options |
Three safeguards belong in the contract: encryption at rest, document segregation by product line or customer, and 12-month retention of question logs for continuous improvement. Add a simple rule to the engine: if no source is found, the assistant says it does not know instead of inventing a torque value or a part number.
Realistic 10 to 14 week plan
| Phase | Duration | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping and document audit | 2 weeks | Scope, 300 test questions |
| Ingestion and indexing | 3 to 4 weeks | Cleaned, versioned corpus |
| RAG engine and interface | 3 to 4 weeks | Prototype on 2 product lines |
| Pilot with 8 technicians | 2 weeks | Measured correct-answer rate |
| Rollout and training | 1 to 2 weeks | 40 technicians in production |
A reasonable pilot exit target is 85% of answers rated correct and sourced on the test set.
Mini case study
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Thomas, after-sales director at a process equipment manufacturer in Berlin, manages 40 technicians who spend an average of 6 hours a week searching manuals. With 25% of diagnosis time saved on those searches, each recovers 1.5 hours a week, or 60 hours weekly for the team. Over 45 working weeks at a loaded cost of EUR 55 an hour, the gain is about EUR 148,500 a year. Against that: a EUR 52,000 project and EUR 900 a month to run, so EUR 62,800 in year one. Payback lands around month five, before counting repeat site visits avoided thanks to a correct first diagnosis.
FAQ
Does our technical data end up with a US vendor?
No, provided the contract enforces an EU region and no reuse of data for training. For maximum assurance, an open-source model on a German or French cloud or an internal server costs EUR 700 to 1,500 a month.
What happens when a manual is updated?
The pipeline reindexes the document in under 10 minutes and archives the old version. Answers always cite the version and page, which prevents applying an outdated procedure.
Can the assistant get a critical value wrong?
The risk exists, hence mandatory source citation and refusal to answer when no document is found. In our pilots, the rate of correct, sourced answers sits between 85% and 92%.
Can it connect to the ERP or CMMS?
Yes, to pull a machine's history by serial number. Budget an extra EUR 6,000 to 12,000 excl. VAT depending on the available API.
How long does technician training take?
A 2-hour session is enough because the interface works like a search engine. Adoption typically exceeds 70% weekly active users after one month.
Let's scope your project. Send us your manual volume, technician headcount and hosting requirement: we will price a sourced AI assistant between EUR 35,000 and 70,000 excl. VAT, deliverable in 10 to 14 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h at kolonell.com/en/devis-gratuit. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
