Run it better.
Make it worth more.
AliKat Advisory puts senior operational leadership into engineering and manufacturing SMEs for part of the week. Where the problem turns out to be a drawing nobody made, or a part nobody sells, we can take that through to a finished component.
Fractional operations, engineering documentation, obsolete parts and drawing conversion.
Advice that can become a drawing or a component.
Typically within one working day. CAD accepted as DXF, DWG, STEP, PDF.
Four sentences we hear constantly. Most are the same problem wearing different clothes.
- “We are busier than we have ever been and the bank balance says otherwise.”
- “Nothing leaves on the promised date, and nobody can tell me why.”
- “The drawings are in Dave’s head, and Dave is retiring in April.”
- “The part is obsolete and the machine it belongs to has ten good years left.”
Busy and unprofitable is rarely a sales problem; it is usually that nobody knows what a job costs. Late delivery is rarely a capacity problem; it is usually sequencing and rework.
Five services, and they connect
Fractional Operations
Senior operational leadership, one or two days a weekWe come in one or two days a week and fix the mechanics — what a job actually costs, how work is sequenced, and where the margin leaks.
Engineering & Drawings
Manufacturing drawings, DFM and technical documentationIf the drawing only exists in one person’s head, you cannot second-source it, cost it properly, or reproduce it. We write it down, to a standard a supplier can quote from.
Obsolete Parts & Reverse Engineering
Measured, drawn and manufactured in metal — quantity of oneMost UK reverse engineering stops at a CAD file. We measure the part, establish what it was made from, produce a drawing you own, and see it manufactured.
Paper to CAD Conversion
Legacy paper drawings redrawn as manufacturable CADThe archive is paper, and the person who understood it is retiring. We redraw the drawings that are worth redrawing — and query the ones that no longer match the part.
Technology Solutions
Managed IT, Microsoft 365, cyber security and connectivityMost SMEs do not need more technology. They need what they already depend on to be secure, reliable and properly looked after — and someone to work out which is which.
The answer does not have to stop at a report
Our work is based on practical engineering and manufacturing experience, not theory alone.
And we are not tied to a particular manufacturing route. If the right answer is to keep your existing supplier, or do nothing at all, that is the advice you will get.
Fixed-price ways to start
Defined pieces of work with a written output, priced up front. Nothing rolls over automatically.
Obsolete Part Replacement
A physical part you cannot buy any moreThe component is out of production, the OEM has closed or the lead time is unacceptable, and the machine it belongs to is worth keeping.
Business price, from£750Manufacturing Drawing Service
A sketch, a photograph or a sampleYou know what you need making, but there is no drawing a supplier could quote from — just a sketch, an old print, or the part itself.
Business price, from£295Paper to CAD Conversion
Paper drawings, old PDFs or marked-up printsYour part drawings are on paper, in a filing cabinet, and the person who understood them is retiring — or has already gone.
Business pricePer drawingThree more are priced on the prices page .
You do not need to know what you want yet.
Most useful conversations start with a symptom rather than a brief. Tell us what is happening and we will tell you whether we can help, or that you do not need us.