Practical help with engineering, operations and getting things made
AliKat Advisory works with engineering, manufacturing and industrial SMEs on problems that need solving rather than analysing. Sometimes that starts with a component, sometimes a drawing, sometimes a factory. The common thread is working out what actually needs changing, and turning that into something made.
You do not need a specification to start a conversation
Most work here begins with a sentence like one of these.
- “This part keeps failing.”
- “We can’t buy this component any more.”
- “We’re busy but the margin isn’t there.”
- “The drawings are in one person’s head and he retires in April.”
Working out what needs doing is itself a piece of work, and one you can buy on its own.
The operations director the business needs, for the days it needs one
Job costing that someone believes. Estimating and pricing. Getting work out on the promised date. Rework and scrap. And taking the business out of the owner’s head — the least urgent item, and the one that decides what it is worth.
One or two days a week, rolling, with notice on both sides.
The drawing that was never made, and the part nobody sells
Manufacturing drawings from a sketch, a photograph or a sample. Obsolete components measured, drawn and remade in metal. Paper archives converted to controlled CAD before the person who understands them retires. Design for manufacture review before you commit to production.
Fixed prices, published, against a scope agreed in writing first.
A small piece of work is a real answer, not a foot in the door
Many stop after the first stage, and that is a good outcome.
- Problem
- Review
- Drawing
- Manufacture
- Repeat supply
- Assessment
- Measurement
- Drawing
- Replacement
- Future supply
- Five drawings
- Triage
- Redraw
- Register
- Repeat supply
- Problem
- Review
- Action plan
- Implementation
- Fractional support
Four things worth knowing before you call
You get the people who understand the job
The people who scope the work stay close to the delivery, and we bring in the experience the problem in front of us actually needs.
We will tell you when there is nothing to do
Sometimes the part is still available from a distributor for less than our engineering would cost. Saying so loses us the job and saves you more.
We are engineers, not your accountants or solicitors
We work alongside your existing advisers, and say plainly when a question belongs to one of them — particularly on intellectual property, machinery safety and employment.
Confidentiality is the default
Drawings and photographs you send are treated as commercially confidential. Client work is never named without written agreement.
Advice grounded in delivery
Our work is based on practical engineering and manufacturing experience, not theory alone. Where a recommendation needs to become a drawing, a component or a manufacturing solution, we can take it through to delivery.
Just as importantly, we are not tied to a particular manufacturing route. If the right answer is to keep your existing supplier, change the process, or do nothing at all, that is the advice you will get.
Not sure which service you need?
Tell us what is actually happening. We will work out the starting point.