AI automation & manufacturing systems for Sheffield businesses
By the time the production figures reach your screen, the job that ran late is already gone and you're piecing together what happened from paper, radio and someone's memory. The line and the office hold two different versions of the same shift, and a skilled person spends their week rekeying between them. That's where an AI automation agency in Sheffield like Propel earns its place — we take the manual capture and the rekeying off your team, so they can run the floor instead of feeding spreadsheets.
No retrofit, no line stoppage. We capture data from any age of plant and sit alongside the ERP you already run — we don't rip it out.
When the floor and the office don't agree, you're managing blind
Sheffield's real value is made on the floor — the AMRC and the Advanced Manufacturing Park orbit, the firms machining, fabricating and forging down the Don Valley, the steel and metals trade that gave the place its name, alongside the digital studios around Sumo and Warp and the professional firms that keep South Yorkshire moving. The problem most operations managers live with is the same one: the systems don't talk to each other. Output, downtime and quality get written on paper, called in on radio or printed off, then typed into the ERP hours later by someone who'd rather be doing the work you hired them for. So the inventory on screen doesn't match the floor, operators improvise, and when a job slips you find out from a month-end spreadsheet instead of in time to protect the margin. Every transcription is another chance for error, every rekey is paid time that adds nothing, and the next hire just covers for a join that should never have been manual. Propel fixes that join — built around how your operation actually runs.
Who we build for in Sheffield
- Advanced manufacturing & engineering
- Steel, metals & heavy industry
- Renewables, ports & field operations
- Digital, games & creative
- Professional & financial services
- Logistics & distribution
- Construction & trades
The floor runs on paper and the office runs on guesswork
Four daily frustrations Steve knows by name — and the first thing we take off your plate is the manual capture that feeds all of them.
Your systems don't talk to each other
The ERP and the shop-floor systems hold different versions of the same job, so operators improvise against an inventory record that doesn't match the floor. Someone burns their week rekeying between the two, and you're still never sure which number is right.
Everything's captured on paper, radio and label printers
Production, downtime, maintenance and quality data gets written down, called in or printed off, then typed up later. By the time it lands in a report it's hours old and carrying transcription errors you can't see, and decisions get made on figures that already moved on.
No real-time view of where it's going wrong
When a job slips or a machine drops out, you can't see where the delay started or what it cost until the shift is over. Scheduling and bottleneck calls get made on gut feel, because the numbers describe last shift, not the one you're trying to save.
Off-the-shelf MES assumes you can retrofit everything
Packaged systems want sensors on every machine and a clean retrofit, but half your plant predates that and you can't stop the line to install it. So an ERP-scale rollout that blows the budget and the timeline becomes the only option on the table — and it stays on the table, undone.
How we get the floor and the office back on the same page
Live visibility from any age of plant, the ERP rekeying gone, and the reports out without the late night — built around your line, not a template.
See your floor in real time, on any age of plant
You get a live view of output, downtime and quality without sensors on every machine or stopping the line — through operator-led capture on a tablet, scanner or terminal that works with kit of any age. Where modern plant can feed data directly, we take it; where it can't, the operator does, and it still flows straight into the reporting.
Stop rekeying between the floor and the ERP
Production and financial data stay in sync because we align your shop-floor systems and the ERP, so the numbers flow from the floor to the office without anyone entering them twice in formats that don't match. We deliver the MES/ERP integration that ends the duplication, not another silo.
Get the audit and customer reports out without the late night
Production, downtime, maintenance, quality and compliance reports generate themselves — including the audit and customer reporting you currently compile by hand the night before a deadline. The figures are already captured, so the report is a click, not an evening.
Know where the delay started while you can still act
Live dashboards show output, downtime, scheduling and asset movement as it happens, so you can see where bottlenecks actually come from — today's position on the floor, not last week's export. The kind of business automation in Sheffield that helps you protect a job's margin before it ships, not explain it afterwards.
Take the routine admin off your skilled people
Your team stops copying data between apps because we build agents that triage enquiries, draft quotes and chase follow-ups, plus automations that connect CRM, accounting and email. As an AI agency in Sheffield we make the handovers happen automatically, so the people you pay for judgement spend their day on judgement.
Build the system you've genuinely outgrown
When off-the-shelf truly can't stretch any further, you get a system built around your operation rather than the other way round. As a custom software development company in Sheffield we ship it, run it and support it — we don't disappear after go-live.
You've not heard of us — so here's a system we built and run every day
Local firms claim integration and never show it; offshore web shops have never set foot on a shop floor. Fair. So here's our one piece of proof, and it's real. Propel's founder built Atlas, a full operating system running That Works — a 26-person agency — with clients, contracts, tasks, hours, delivery, sales, finance, reporting, portals, permissions, audit trails and governed AI in one place, in production every day. We didn't pitch it, we built it and we run the business on it. That's the standard your build is held to: a system that holds up under real, daily load — the same way your line has to. If we can run an entire agency on what we build, we can join your floor to your office without it falling over the first busy week.
1 platform
replacing a stack of disconnected tools
26-person
agency runs on it in production, daily
15+
business functions unified in one system
Built from scratch
not a template or a wrapper
Why Sheffield manufacturers trust Propel to do it
The honest objection first: you've not heard of us, offshore web shops don't understand a shop floor, and local firms claim integration without ever showing proof. Here's ours. Propel's founder built Atlas, a full operating system running That Works — a 26-person agency — with clients, contracts, tasks, hours, delivery, sales, finance, reporting, portals, permissions, audit trails and governed AI in one place, in production every day. We didn't pitch it, we built it and we run it. That's the standard your build is held to: systems that hold up under real use, governed by design with permissions, audit trails and UK data-protection so you always know who did what and when. And we work the way a live operation can actually absorb — workflow-first, fixed scope and fixed price agreed before any work starts. We pick the one process bleeding time, usually data capture or reporting, build it alongside your running line, and only replace what you've genuinely outgrown. As a software development company in Sheffield we work across the city and the towns around it, including Rotherham, Barnsley, Chesterfield, Dronfield and Doncaster.
Where we cover
Based on Sheffield work and serving the manufacturing towns across South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire.
- Rotherham
- Barnsley
- Chesterfield
- Dronfield
- Doncaster
- No retrofit, no line stoppage — we capture from any age of plant and build alongside your running operation.
- Fixed scope and fixed price agreed before any work starts, so the finance lead sees the number and the payback up front.
- We sit alongside your ERP and only replace what you've genuinely outgrown — no big-bang rip-out.
One process first, on the live line, at a price you agree before we start
No open-ended ERP project. We pick the workflow bleeding the most time, prove it alongside your running operation, then move to the next.
AI Opportunity Audit
A free 30-minute session where we walk your actual floor-to-office join — where data gets captured, where it gets rekeyed, where the reporting goes late — and give you an honest read on where automation would pay back fastest, or whether it would.
Scope and design
We map the one process costing you most — usually production data capture or reporting — and agree a fixed scope and fixed price before any build starts. You see exactly what gets built and what it costs, no open-ended day rates.
Build and integrate
We build alongside your live operation and connect to the ERP and tools you already run. The line keeps running, operators keep working, and the capture and reporting come online without a rollout that stops production.
Launch and support
We launch it on the floor, support the people using it, and stay on to extend it to the next workflow once you've seen this one pay back. We ship it, run it and support it — we don't disappear after go-live.
What an operations manager wants answered before booking
Our kit is old — can you capture data without retrofitting every machine?+
Yes. We don't assume sensors on every machine or a clean retrofit. We use operator-led capture — a tablet, scanner or terminal on the floor — so you record output, downtime and quality from any age of equipment. Where modern plant can feed data directly, we take it; where it can't, the operator does, and it still flows straight into the reporting. No machine has to be replaced to get visibility.
Will this integrate with the ERP and accounting we already keep, or just become another silo?+
It integrates. The whole point is to stop the ERP and shop-floor systems holding two different versions of the same job. We connect them so production and financial data stay in sync and nobody rekeys between formats. We sit alongside the ERP you run — we don't replace it unless you've genuinely outgrown it, and even then only after you've seen the case for it.
ERP rollouts take forever and we can't stop the line — how disruptive is this?+
This isn't an ERP-scale rip-out. We work workflow-first: pick the one process costing you most — usually production data capture or reporting — scope it at a fixed price, and build it alongside your live operation. The line keeps running. You see value from the first workflow before committing to the next, so it never becomes the open-ended project you're picturing.
Offshore shops and London consultancies don't get a shop floor — do you actually understand ours?+
We build operational systems, not brochures. Sheffield's value is in advanced manufacturing — the AMRC and the Advanced Manufacturing Park orbit, the engineering and metals firms down the Don Valley — and the recurring problem is production data stuck between the MES, the ERP and paper. That's the work we do. We map your actual floor before proposing anything, rather than selling you a product off a shelf.
Local firms all claim integration but show no proof — why are you different?+
Because we can show you a real one. Atlas is a full operating system our founder built and runs daily for a 26-person agency — clients, contracts, hours, finance, reporting, permissions, audit trails and governed AI in one platform. We didn't pitch it, we built it and we live in it. That's the standard your system is built to, and it's why we lead with proof instead of promises.
How much does it cost, and is our data secure?+
Every build is scoped from the free AI Opportunity Audit and quoted at a fixed price before any work starts — no off-the-shelf packages, no open-ended day rates. You see the scope and the number, then decide, and if the payback isn't there we'll tell you. On data, governance is built in not bolted on: UK data-protection standards, clear permissions and full audit trails as default design, so you always know who did what and when.
Manufacturing and back-office automation across Sheffield and Yorkshire
See where the floor and the office stop arguing
Book a free, no-obligation 30-minute AI Opportunity Audit. We map where automation pays back fastest on your floor and in your office, and give you an honest build-or-don't answer either way. Serving Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Chesterfield, Dronfield and Doncaster.
No retrofit, no line stoppage, no obligation — just an honest read on where it would actually pay off.