AI consultancy Nelson

Engineering, manufacturing and marine services

Quotes, job costs and paperwork take the hours you need on the tools

Steel and freight move after the quote goes out, good tradespeople are hard to find, and the owner is still the estimator, buyer and accounts clerk. We build small tools that take the admin off you and your best people and show what each job really cost.

1 · Where the money and the hours go

The price moved, you are a fitter short, and the quoting waits until night

You price a job on Monday and the steel price has moved by the time the order goes in. The shop is busy, but you are a fitter short, and the person who knows how the last one was done is also the one answering the phone. You are on the tools all day, then quoting, ordering, chasing a progress payment and doing plant records at night, and you only find out a job lost money when you invoice it. On a refit or repair the real extent only shows once the hull or engine is opened up, and the extras done on the day are easy to forget before the invoice goes out.

An engineering or manufacturing workshopTodayWith the software in place
QuotesWorked out from memory after hours, using last month's steel price; quotes go out days late and the ones that go quiet never get followed up.Quote drafted from your charge-out rates, current supplier prices and similar past jobs for you to check and send, with a validity date, and a list of quotes waiting for follow-up.
Job cost versus quoteNobody knows which jobs made money until the accountant does the year-end, if then.Hours and materials booked against each job and compared with the quote while the job is still running, so the next quote for that kind of work is better.
Skilled people's timeYour best fitter or welder answers calls, chases parts and fills in job cards; what they know is in their head.Job cards, time and ordering captured quickly at the bench, and past job notes and photos searchable, so more of their day is billable and a newer person can find how it was done.
Variations and extrasExtra work found on the day, especially on marine repairs, is remembered at invoice time or not at all, then argued about.Extras noted with a photo at the bench, sent to the customer for approval, and carried onto the invoice.
Getting paidInvoices go out when the owner finds time; late payers chased from memory.Invoice raised from the finished job or milestone, payment matched in Xero, reminders on a schedule you can see and change.

We cannot find you a fitter or hold the steel price. We can take the admin off the people you have and show what each job cost while there is still time to act. Engineering decisions, program checks and machine operation stay with your qualified people.

Watch it happen Try it yourself

2 · Automate the process

Watch a workshop job from request to paid

A customer asks an engineering workshop for a replacement stainless guard. Watch it go from the website request to the payment matched in Xero, with a voice-over. Or have one written for your own workshop. The businesses, people and prices are made up.

  1. Booking: the customer fills in the form on the website.
  2. Chat: the AI assistant asks the questions a good office person would ask.
  3. Plan: the chat becomes a job sheet with tasks, materials and a time estimate.
  4. Quote: priced from the price list, approved by the owner, then sent.
  5. Schedule: booked into the first free time and confirmed by the customer.
  6. Updates: texts go out as the work moves.
  7. Paid: the payment is matched to the invoice in Xero.

Try it yourself

Live demos set up for your kind of business

Each demo opens on an example that fits this page. They are illustrations: a business version needs your own rules, information and agreed connections.

Plain English to machine code

Explore an illustration of preparing a drawing and G-code from a description. It demonstrates a possible workflow; it is not approval to run code on a machine.

Try the CNC demo

Enquiries for a machining shop

Ask a fictional machining and fabrication shop about a job and see what the assistant collects.

Try it as a workshop

Invoice inbox with a steel invoice

See a steel merchant's invoice read, checked and prepared for your accounts.

Try the invoice inbox

3 · Stand apart

Then add something the others do not have

Once the routine work runs by itself, the same records can do more for you and your customers. These are possibilities we can scope around your workshop.

Quotes built from your own past jobs

A quoting assistant that drafts from your charge-out rates, current supplier price lists and what similar past jobs actually took in hours and material, flags where a price is out of date, and leaves the final number to you. Only as good as the job history you have, which is worth checking at scoping.

Extras captured at the bench

For marine refit and repair and for fab and install work, staff photograph and note extra work when it is found, it goes to the customer for approval, and it lands on the invoice. Fewer forgotten extras and fewer arguments.

Job cost check while the job is running

Compare hours and materials booked against the quote part way through, so an overrun shows up in week two, not at invoice. Needs time and material capture the floor will actually use, which is the hard part and should be scoped honestly.

Searchable shop know-how

Search your own past job notes, drawings, photos, supplier manuals and fixes, with the source shown, so a newer tradesperson or apprentice can see how the last similar job was done. Qualified people still make the call.

Getting started

A sensible first project

Choose one type of job and organise the information from enquiry to workshop handover. Agree the required fields, the current document versions and how the team records progress.

A small, reliable job record can be more useful as a first step than attempting to replace the entire production system.

Questions

Questions before you start

Can software connect to our existing machinery?

We need to check the machine, controller, supported interfaces and operating requirements. Compatibility is established during scoping.

Does AI replace the operator or engineer?

Engineering decisions, program validation and machine operation remain with qualified people following your procedures.

Do we need to replace our current systems?

We look first at gaps between the systems you use. A focused connection or tool may be enough.

See all industries · See all live demos

Based in Nelson, working with businesses across Nelson Tasman and the top of the South. Meet the team