Manufacturers lose margin between the quote and the invoice. We find where.
A job-shop or engineering works makes its money on the floor and loses it in the office: quotes built by hand, job cards retyped, reports nobody trusts, and software that one person understands. We fix the office so the margin you win on the floor stays won.
Why the office is where it goes wrong
Most works run an ERP or job system, an accounts package, spreadsheets for planning and a shop-floor system of some kind. Each does its job. The trouble is the gaps between them, where people copy figures across and hope they match.
Those gaps are why a quote takes two days, why the forecast is a guess, and why nobody can say which jobs made money last quarter until the accountant has been in.
Where AI helps a works, and where it does not
AI is good at reading drawings, specifications and customer emails and turning them into a first draft of a quote or a job, for an estimator to check. It is good at answering “where is my order?” from your own data.
It is not a substitute for a job system that works. If the data underneath is wrong, AI makes confident mistakes faster. So we usually fix the links first and add AI on top.
| Where it leaks | What it costs | What we change | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ageing in-house software | Slow screens, risky changes, one person holding the keys | Modernise it in small, safe steps, then hand it to your own people | Oldham Engineering |
| ERP and shop floor not talking | Job status retyped; planning built on stale figures | Link the ERP to the shop-floor system so status flows on its own | Oldham Engineering |
| Big customer changes the rules | Orders and invoices must be electronic, or the account goes | Digital ordering and invoicing in the customer’s format, checked before sending | Everything Boxed |
| No forward view of work | Hiring and buying decided on gut feel | A contract forecast report from the data you already hold | Oldham Engineering |
Source: Oldham Engineering and Everything Boxed case studies.
Heavy engineering, modernised and handed back
Oldham Engineering machines, fabricates and assembles heavy components for nuclear, defence, oil and gas, rail and power generation.
Oldham Engineering
Contracts, sales, production and reporting software brought up to date; the JobBOSS ERP link upgraded; a Fastems shop-floor link started. Then we recruited their in-house specialist and stepped back.
Halo Traffic Systems
A maker of portable traffic signals now owns the live control system for its whole fleet, from proposal to live in under five months.
What we would look at first
- 1
One job, end to end
We follow a real job from enquiry to invoice and count each time a figure is typed by hand.
- 2
The system nobody touches
We read the old software, judge the risk, and tell you whether to repair, replace or leave it.
- 3
The quote
How long a quote takes, how many are won, and whether AI could draft the first version for your estimator.
Questions
- Which ERP and job systems do you work with?
- We have worked with JobBOSS, Sage and bespoke in-house systems, and linked them to shop-floor automation. If yours has a way in, we can usually connect to it.
- Do we have to replace our software?
- Rarely. Oldham kept its system and we brought it up to date in two-week blocks. Replacement is a last resort.
- Will you leave us dependent on you?
- No. At Oldham we helped recruit the person who took the system in-house, then ended our retainer.
- Can you come on site?
- Yes. We are in Sheffield and visit works across Yorkshire, the Midlands and the North West.
How long does your next quote take?
The review shows where the days go between enquiry and invoice, and what it is worth to get them back.
Max RevittFounder and Director