I'm using AE throughout my base for storage and automation, but I'm running into a bit of an issue:

• I can use the ME Assembler Chamber to perform on-demand crafting of stuff that doesn't need "external processing" (ie, anything that just needs a crafting grid). Works great!
• I can use the ME Export Buses to pump items into a crafting block; I'm using this to send all apples from my tree farm into a squeezer. Also works great.
• I can use the ME Interface to perform on demand crafting of stuff that needs "external processing" like ore. This doesn't work so great.

The problem with the third one is it's slow. Crafting an Industrial Grinder or a Industrial Steam Engine is really really slow if you have to wait for all the ore to be pulverised and then smelted. And while I can certainly configure all my ore to be pulverised, I don't actually want to smelt it all; I want to keep a stockpile of gold and silver dust so I can create gold ingots, silver ingots, or electrum ingots as needed. What would be nice is a way to make the system keep a buffer of, say, a stack of steel ingots, two stacks of refined iron ingots, etc. on hand, so I could skip the slow parts when I need something crafted, and the system could restock.

The only way I can think of to do this is an ME Export Bus being controlled by an ME Level Emitter. And in fact, I'm using this as part of my powerplant; I've got a bank of TE Sawmills being fed oak logs by a router hooked up to an ME Export Bus; when I get more than 1k planks in my storage system a Level Emitter shuts the Export Bus down; as my boilers use up logs it'll eventually drop below 1k, and switch back on.

I've tried to expand this to more complicated bits of the chain, but it's a bit ugly. For one thing, it basically means that I need a dedicated machine for every item; I can't use the same pulveriser for all ore since each ore needs its own dedicated export bus level emitter pair.

Thoughts? What am I missing? Does anyone have a good AE setup to operate an industrial blast furnace or industrial grinder without tons of duplication?