Manufacturing & Engineering

UK manufacturing is being hollowed out.
AI intelligence is your countermove.

Import competition, rising equipment costs, and unclaimed R&D credits are eating your margins. OTTO matches specialist equipment finance, STERLING finds R&D in your production process, PERCY benchmarks your supply chain, and STERLING finds Made Smarter funding, all automated.

165K UK manufacturers
£192B Annual UK manufacturing output
£18.4B R&D spend eligible for credits
OTTO
Equipment & asset finance
Machinery leasing
Working capital
144+ specialist lenders
Finance Agent
STERLING
Process innovation R&D
Engineering credits
ERIS scheme analysis
AIF deadline alerts
Tax Intelligence
PERCY
Supply chain benchmarking
Component cost analysis
Supplier alternatives
Volume intelligence
Supply Chain Agent
STERLING
Made Smarter grants
UKRI manufacturing calls
Decarbonisation funding
Application intelligence
Grant Agent
£18.4B of eligible R&D expenditure sits in UK manufacturing. Most of it unclaimed. STERLING identifies qualifying activity in your production process and ensures you claim every pound.
165,000 UK manufacturers, most without AI intelligence tools
£192B Annual UK manufacturing output
£18.4B Eligible R&D spend in UK manufacturing
24hrs OTTO equipment finance introduction speed

Four agents. Every commercial angle in manufacturing covered.

Manufacturing businesses have four distinct commercial levers, equipment finance, R&D credits, supply chain cost, and government grants. SME Growth Team deploys OTTO, STERLING, PERCY, and STERLING in parallel, each running daily, each reporting back to your morning brief.

01

OTTO finances your next asset

CNC machines, robotic arms, injection moulding equipment, industrial vehicles, OTTO holds specialist manufacturing lenders who understand asset-backed lending on production equipment. Hire purchase, finance lease, and operating lease all matched to your position. No generic business loan required.

OTTO, EQUIPMENT & ASSET FINANCE
02

STERLING finds R&D in your process

Process innovation, material science, quality improvement systems, automation development, all potentially qualifying R&D. STERLING analyses your production activity against HMRC criteria. Most UK manufacturers claim nothing. STERLING ensures yours doesn't miss a pound of qualifying expenditure.

STERLING, MANUFACTURING R&D INTELLIGENCE
03

STERLING identifies Made Smarter funding

Made Smarter, Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, Innovate UK manufacturing calls, decarbonisation grants, STERLING scans all active funding programmes daily and scores eligibility against your sector, size, and technology profile. Alert fires when a match opens.

STERLING, MANUFACTURING GRANTS INTELLIGENCE

Four AI agents engineered for manufacturing.

Each agent operates autonomously, feeding intelligence into SME Growth Team's daily brief. No manual intervention required.

OTTO
Finance Agent

144+ lender panel with manufacturing asset specialists. Equipment, machinery, and production line finance, matched to your balance sheet and asset lifecycle.

STERLING
Tax Intelligence

Identifies qualifying R&D activity in your production process. Process innovation, material science, automation. Tracks AIF deadlines and ERIS scheme eligibility.

PERCY
Supply Chain Agent

Benchmarks component and raw material costs against verified alternatives. Gives you the data to fight import competition on cost before the order goes out.

STERLING
Grant Agent

Scans Made Smarter, UKRI, and decarbonisation programmes daily. Scores eligibility against your profile and fires alerts when funding windows open.

Every financial and intelligence lever in manufacturing.

01

Asset & Equipment Finance

Specialist lenders for production equipment, machinery, and industrial assets. Hire purchase, finance lease, and operating lease, matched to your balance sheet, cash flow profile, and asset life. No personal guarantee fishing.

Agent: OTTO
02

R&D Tax Credits

Process innovation, automation development, material science, and quality system improvement all qualify. STERLING identifies the activity, quantifies the claim, and tracks AIF deadlines. Most UK manufacturers claim nothing, that changes in session one.

Agent: STERLING
03

Supply Chain Intelligence

PERCY benchmarks your component and raw material costs against verified alternative suppliers. Import competition is real, PERCY gives you the data to fight back on cost before the order goes out, not after.

Agent: PERCY
04

Made Smarter & UKRI Grants

Made Smarter digitisation grants, Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, Net Zero manufacturing support, UKRI future manufacturing calls, STERLING scans all programmes and alerts you when a match opens with the deadline already loaded.

Agent: STERLING

What manufacturers gain when AI runs the commercial layer.

"OTTO found a specialist manufacturing lender who understood our CNC asset portfolio. We closed the finance in under two weeks."

144+ Lenders on OTTO's panel, including manufacturing asset specialists

"We didn't think our process improvements qualified as R&D. STERLING identified three distinct qualifying streams in our first audit."

£18.4B R&D spend in UK manufacturing eligible for tax credits, most unclaimed

"PERCY found an alternative steel supplier at 19% below our current rate. That's a material number when you're ordering at volume."

19% Typical supply chain cost delta identified by PERCY on first audit

"STERLING alerted us to a Made Smarter digitisation window with £50K available. We had eight days to apply. We made it."

Daily STERLING scans all active manufacturing grant programmes, matched to your profile
Deploy for Manufacturing

Your commercial edge.
Built on intelligence, not instinct.

Submit your details and we'll assess your manufacturing business, identify equipment finance gaps, R&D credits, and grant opportunities, and have SME Growth Team operational within days.

Every agent reports to SME Growth Team.

OTTO, STERLING, PERCY, and STERLING don't operate in silos. Every finance match, R&D qualification, supply chain benchmark, and grant alert flows into SME Growth Team, your single morning brief covering every commercial lever in your manufacturing operation.

Explore SME Growth Team