of UK manufacturers rate themselves "very knowledgeable" about AI applications, and just 8% have actually introduced AI or machine learning.
DSIT Technology Adoption Review, 2025
AI for manufacturing
Your best people are doing data entry.
Updated September 2026
I'm a London-based fractional AI officer helping UK manufacturers automate quoting, production reporting, purchase orders and stock paperwork: the admin eating the week of people who should be running the business, not typing for it.
50%
up to, max £20,000
Made Smarter Adoption grants
Ask about eligibility →
Eligible English manufacturers can get up to 50% of an AI or automation project funded, to a maximum of £20,000, through their regional Made Smarter programme. Every audit I write comes back in a format ready to attach to a grant application. Eligibility and funding rounds vary by region, confirm yours with your local programme before you commit budget.
The sector's own numbers
of UK manufacturing SMEs operate with no robots at all, in the sector often assumed to be furthest along on automation.
DSIT, 2025
of UK SMEs say they "use AI", but only around one in ten have actually automated any part of their operations.
BCC, 2026
Manufacturing isn't behind because the work doesn't suit automation. It's behind because almost nobody on site has been given the job of going and getting it.
Where the time actually goes
None of this needs a research lab. It needs someone to sit with your quoting sheet, your goods-in desk and your Friday report, and build the boring bit once.
Quoting and estimating
~£1,300/moNow: every enquiry means rebuilding a costed quote from scratch: checking prices, digging out the last similar job, hoping nothing's moved since.
Instead: a quoting tool pulls current costs and past-job pricing automatically, so most quotes start as a finished draft, not a blank spreadsheet.
≈25 quotes/week · 45 min cut to 15 · £24/hr loaded ≈ £1,300/month
Purchase orders & supplier invoices
~£550/moNow: the same figures get typed out between email, a spreadsheet and the accounts system, then checked by eye for mismatches.
Instead: line items are pulled straight from the PO or invoice into the accounts system, and mismatches get flagged rather than hunted for.
≈150 invoices/month · 10 min saved each · £22/hr loaded ≈ £550/month
Production & OEE reporting
~£560/moNow: someone walks the floor with a clipboard, then loses a chunk of Friday afternoon turning shift data into a report.
Instead: shift data is logged at source and rolls up into a live dashboard: the weekly report writes itself.
≈5 hrs/week compiling recovered · £26/hr loaded ≈ £560/month
Stock & goods-in paperwork
~£600/moNow: manual reconciliation between the delivery note, the system and the shelf: every goods-in checked and keyed in by hand.
Instead: scanning at goods-in matches delivery notes to purchase orders automatically and updates stock in real time.
≈200 deliveries/month · 9 min saved each · £20/hr loaded ≈ £600/month
Illustrative: every figure above assumes a role, a volume and a loaded hourly cost that won't match your business exactly. The audit prices your own operation, not an average one. Add the four up on a mid-sized site, though, and it's often close to what the audit itself costs, once.
How it works
Four stages · most manufacturers start at stage two
1. Readiness check
FreeTwelve questions, about four minutes, no signup. A scored breakdown across leadership, operations, data and people.
Take the check →2. AI Opportunity Audit
£3,500Half a day on site: the shop floor, the office, and the systems in between. Comes back as a roadmap priced in £/month saved, written up ready for a Made Smarter grant application.
Book a walkthrough →3. Fractional AI Officer
From £4,500/moMonthly strategy with you, the MD. Systems built with your production and office teams, not around them, plus the training so they can run it themselves.
Ask about this →4. Installed systems
OngoingA live view of quoting, production and stock, and a set of automations your own people can run and maintain without me in the room.
Ask about this →Most clients start with the audit, it stands on its own, not as a funnel into the retainer. Made Smarter co-funding, where eligible, can cover up to half of what it recommends.
Why not the usual consultancy
I build things myself
This page is hand-coded, at the same domain you're reading it on: no agency, no template. The readiness check above is a working tool, not a slide deck. You can see the rest of the work on the homepage.
Your team learns to run it
Coaching your production and office staff to run a system beats renting mine to run it for you. The capability stays on site after I leave.
Priced in your arithmetic
Every recommendation carries its own £/month figure, worked the way it's shown above. If it doesn't pay for itself, it doesn't go on the roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
Is the readiness check free?
Yes. It's twelve questions, about four minutes, no signup, and gives you a scored breakdown across leadership, operations, data and people.
What does the AI Opportunity Audit involve, and can it be grant-funded?
Half a day on site, the shop floor, the office and the systems in between, for £3,500. It comes back as a roadmap priced in £/month saved, written up ready for a Made Smarter grant application, which can cover up to 50% of an AI or automation project (max £20,000) for eligible English manufacturers.
What does the Fractional AI Officer retainer cost?
From £4,500 a month: monthly strategy with you, the MD, systems built with your production and office teams rather than around them, plus the training so they can run it themselves.
Ready to see where you stand?
Start with the four-minute check, or skip straight to a conversation, whichever you'd rather do.
Prefer email? rory@roryphillips.dev