Practical AI, built close to the work.
PrincipleAI helps construction, manufacturing, and distribution companies build capable teams and improve operational workflows. The work is founder-led by Dan Hughes, combining more than 25 years of data, ERP, operations, and technology experience with hands-on AI implementation.
A practical perspective on AI adoption.
Dan Hughes, founder of PrincipleAI
LinkedIn
Dan has spent more than 25 years helping companies get more from their data and systems—the ERP, the reports, the numbers that run the business. Today that work is hands-on AI: he leads client teams as they build working AI workflows and agents, alongside them every week with the same tools he teaches. He started his consulting career at Arthur Andersen and is the co-founder of Claritee.AI, a data analytics software development firm.
He knows construction, manufacturing, and distribution best. And he works from first principles—it’s where the company gets its name: figure out what a process is really for, question the steps that are only there out of habit, then design around how your business actually runs and the people who run it.
A big part of the work is teaching. Dan has run AI training programs for small and mid-sized manufacturers, trained the trainers from Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers across the country, and speaks regularly at industry events—more than 1,000 people trained so far. The pattern holds every time: teams learn faster working on their own problems than watching a demo of someone else’s.
Dan is a veteran of the U.S. Navy Submarine Service, a Temple University accounting graduate, and a licensed sailboat captain. He mentors veterans moving into civilian careers and volunteers as a leader in the Naval Sea Cadet youth program.
Building the applications behind the work.
Justin Hughes, AI Engineer
LinkedIn
Justin builds practical AI applications and agentic workflows for manufacturing, construction, and industrial companies. He enjoys learning how a business operates, identifying where processes can be simplified or automated, and turning those ideas into tools people actually use.
He works with AI development platforms such as Claude Code and Codex, as well as a wide range of commercial and open-source models. His experience includes building an intelligent layer over company data and deploying multimodal applications capable of analyzing text, documents, images, audio, and complex business records.
Justin collaborates closely with each client’s team from the initial conversation through to the finished product. This hands-on approach keeps the focus squarely on solving real business problems—not adopting technology just for the sake of it.
Justin is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Alaska. Outside of work, you’ll usually find him hiking, camping, or spending time outdoors.
Work directly with the person accountable for the outcome.
PrincipleAI is deliberately founder-led. Dan remains involved from the initial conversation through delivery—whether the work involves leadership education, a hands-on workshop, workflow engineering, or ongoing capability development. Application engineering is done in-house.
When a project requires depth beyond that, we deliver through strategic partners, each introduced clearly and brought in for a defined role:
- Liberty Fox TechnologiesBuilds custom software and AI applications, with deep experience in healthcare technology and complex platform migrations.
- Santor TechnologiesDesigns data platforms, dashboards, and reporting on Microsoft Fabric and Power BI, including migrations off older business intelligence tools.
- BoxplotTurns data spread across separate systems into dashboards and reports, and automates the manual work in between.
- Fractional C-SweetPrepares executive teams and boards to govern AI—readiness assessment, hands-on education, and the privacy and compliance questions that follow.
You know who is doing the work, why they are involved, and where accountability sits.
We don’t sell AI. We build what your team will own and run.
The first question is what’s costing you time, money, or sleep—not which tool to buy. More than 25 years inside ERP systems and industrial operations means we learn your process in your language; you don’t have to learn ours.
Some steps should stay human, and we name those before you spend anything. If AI isn’t the answer for a workflow, that’s the recommendation you’ll get.
Everything we build runs on clear written instructions your team can read, edit, and improve. Your operating knowledge stays with you—not locked inside a consultant or a black box.
Workshops build your champions; mentoring builds the workflow owners who run it day to day. Success is your team improving the work without calling us.
Bring one question, goal, or bottleneck. Leave with greater clarity.
In a 60-minute working session with Dan Hughes, we’ll explore what’s on your mind, assess whether AI is relevant, and identify a practical next step—if there is one. Whether you hire us or not.