AI-assisted work
Copilots & chat tools
Helps your people draft, summarise and search faster. Handy, but it sits beside your process, not inside it.
Best for: individual productivity.
Human Led Delivery. AI Accelerated Outcomes.
Software & AI agents for UK engineering and manufacturing.
We build software and AI agents around the way your business already works, and you own them outright: less re-keying, faster quotes and clearer numbers.
We're engineers too. We just work with different materials.
Certified & trusted
Crown Commercial Service Supplier
Crown Commercial Service Supplier
Problems we solve
The problems we see most often. They are a starting point, not a menu.
- RFQ to quote Drawings wait for a free estimator, so quotes go out late or not at all.
- Supplier invoice matching Every invoice checked against the PO and delivery note by hand, then re-keyed.
- Scheduling and job visibility Schedules in spreadsheets, and no live view of where a job stands.
- Systems that don't talk to each other ERP, CAD and finance held together by people re-keying between them.
Across the whole business
Sales and estimating
- RFQs buried in email and PDFs
- Quotes that depend on one person's memory
- Slow follow-up on open quotes
Engineering and design
- Finding the right drawing or past job
- Revision control across CAD, PDM and email
- Turning specs into BOMs
Production and planning
- Schedules rebuilt by hand every morning
- No live view of where a job is
- Capacity guesswork
Quality and compliance
- Certificate and CoC packs assembled by hand
- NCR trends nobody has time to analyse
- Audit prep that takes weeks
Supply chain and purchasing
- Supplier invoices and POs matched line by line
- Chasing late deliveries
- Stock that lives in spreadsheets
Finance and reporting
- Job costing done after the fact
- Month-end pulled from five systems
- Margin you can't see by customer or part
Customer service
- “Where's my order?” calls and emails
- Manual order-status updates
- Aftersales and spares requests
People and knowledge
- Know-how leaving with retiring staff
- Onboarding new starters
- Answers locked in old manuals and inboxes
Something else?
Most of our best work started with a problem that wasn't on anyone's list. Specify it, and we'll design, build and test the fix around your systems, from Sage and Excel to the ERP you've had for twenty years.
Selected clients
Most of our work is with UK businesses. We have also worked with public-facing brands including Unilever, Google, Chanel, Hitachi, Nationwide, Compare the Market, TRESemmé and Contentsquare.
The opportunity
Most of the sector has tried AI. Very few have built it in.
Tech and professional services firms already use AI to cut admin, answer customers sooner and report in real time. Engineering and manufacturing sit below the UK average. For most firms, the first gains are in the back office, where the work is repetitive and well understood.
UK businesses using AI, by sector, June 2026
1 in 5
UK manufacturers haven't adopted AI at all.
Last updated October 2026. Sources: ONS, Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026 (BICS, June 2026); Make UK, AI, Skills and the Future of the UK Manufacturing Sector (June 2026).
AI, demystified
Three ways AI shows up, in plain English.
Bespoke software
Built around your process
Repeatable workflows on a solid data backbone: jobs, quotes, schedules, stock, quality. AI now makes it much quicker to build.
Best for: the core of how you operate.
Agentic AI
Digital colleagues
Handles the messy stuff, where inputs vary and judgement is needed: emails, PDFs, drawings, exceptions.
Best for: the legwork between systems.
The best results come from the last two together: bespoke software as the backbone, agents handling the messy work around it. That's where we focus.
AI agents
Agents that do the legwork between your systems.
How an agent works, in four steps. Then two examples, one from each side: a manufacturer buried in supplier paperwork, and an engineering firm quoting from drawings.
Reads
Emails, PDFs, drawings, spreadsheets and system data.
Decides
Works out what's needed from your rules and job history.
Acts
Updates the ERP, drafts the reply, raises the PO.
Checks
Checks its own work and flags anything odd to a person.
Manufacturing · Purchasing
Supplier paperwork agent
Before
- Each invoice opened and checked against the PO and delivery note by hand
- Details re-keyed into finance or ERP
- Price or quantity mismatches found late, or not at all
- Month-end held up chasing paperwork
After
- Reads every PDF and email the moment it lands
- Three-way matches invoice, PO and goods received
- Posts clean invoices straight into your ERP
- Flags mismatches to a person, with the reason
Engineering · Estimating
RFQ-to-quote agent
“In engineering, the first credible quote often wins.”
Before
- RFQs, tender packs and drawings sit in an inbox until an estimator is free
- Specs, materials and tolerances pulled out by hand
- Similar past jobs hard to find, so costs start from scratch
- Days to respond, some RFQs never quoted
After
- Reads the RFQ email, drawings and specs on arrival
- Extracts material, quantity, tolerances and finish
- Finds similar past jobs and their actual costs
- Drafts the quote for your estimator to check and send
Humans in the loop
People approve anything that matters, like payments or customer quotes.
Running cost sized up front
You know what an agent costs to run before we build it.
Fully auditable
Every action logged. Built with human sign-off and audit trails as standard.
Built for you, owned by you
Built to your spec. Owned outright.
AI has rewritten the build-versus-rent maths. We engineer bespoke software built around your process, owned by you, then test, commission and maintain it like any other kit on your site: fit for purpose, right first time.
Rent today
- Subscription, integration and maintenance fees, forever
- Nothing to show for it at the end
- You bend your process to fit off-the-shelf software
- Features arrive on the vendor's roadmap, not yours
Own with Tribes
- Fixed spec and fixed price, board-ready before we start
- Full IP and source code: an asset on your balance sheet
- Software shaped around how your business actually works
- Built at AI speed, tested and commissioned by senior engineers
Replace a system outright, or keep what works and bolt new modules onto it.
Popular modules to start with, or bolt on
- Works orders & job management
- Estimating, quoting & order processing
- Production & resource scheduling
- Stock & materials visibility
- Quality & compliance control
- Supplier & purchasing portal
- Customer self-service portal
- Maintenance & asset tracking
- Shop-floor capture & executive dashboards
Systems we replace or connect to
| Area | Typical tools |
|---|---|
| ERP & operations | Sage 200, Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics NAV / Business Central, SAP Business One, Infor |
| Engineering data | SolidWorks PDM / CAD |
| Planning & job tracking | Excel workbooks and spreadsheets |
| Reporting | Tableau, Power BI, manual spreadsheets |
| Finance integration | Xero / QuickBooksWe connect, not replace |
We'll tell you straight which tools to replace and which to keep.
Finance systems usually stay. We connect to them so invoices and orders flow through without re-keying.
Weeks
not months to deliver
100% IP
owned by you
No licence fees
You own the code; hosting and support are optional and priced openly.
Shop-floor AI
Back office first. Shop floor too.
The back office is our focus, but we deliver shop-floor AI as well. On repeat production, that means live OEE, less scrap and less downtime from the kit you already own. On project and one-off work, it means schedules that hold when a design change lands.
- Machine data & OEE dashboards
- Predictive maintenance
- AI vision quality inspection
- Production scheduling optimisation
The workshop
The Value AI Workshop. Where AI earns its place.
A working session on your site, with your department heads in the room. We find where bespoke systems and AI agents would earn their keep, and put an indicative cost and return against each one.
Led by our CTO, Steven Wright, and CCO, Paul Green.
2.5 hours
On your site, or online
5 working days
To your written report
No fee
No obligation and no follow-up chasing
The agenda
- 0:00
Welcome, objectives and ways of working
10 minTribes - 0:10
Your business context and priorities
What good looks like in 12-24 months, where you're constrained.
15 minYou - 0:25
Business process walkthrough
Bid to delivery: where the re-keying, delays and rework hide.
45 minJoint - 1:10
Break
10 min - 1:20
Technology, data and systems landscape
ERP, CAD, finance, spreadsheets, subscriptions.
25 minJoint - 1:45
Opportunity mapping
Against four levers: efficiency, insight, integration, commercial.
30 minJoint - 2:15
Prioritisation, indicative value and next steps
15 minTribes
What we're not doing
- Selling a platform. There's nothing to buy at the end.
- Recommending AI for its own sake. Some of the best answers won't involve it.
- Choosing tools. That comes later, based on evidence.
- Chasing you afterwards. “Interesting, but not now” is a perfectly good outcome.
Who should be in the room
- Sales & commercial / estimating
- Operations & production
- Finance
- IT or systems
Someone who can sign off a change, and someone who runs the process week to week. The second one usually knows where the time really goes.
What you walk away with
A shared process map
Your core processes end to end, marked where time, cost or accuracy leaks out.
A systems picture
Your systems, data and subscriptions, with integration gaps and end-of-life risks flagged.
A prioritised shortlist
Each opportunity with an indicative cost and return.
An agreed sequence
Quick wins split from bigger bets, each with a named owner.
What your report contains
The Value AI Workshop ends in a written report you keep. On the left, what's in it. On the right, pages from a real (anonymised) report we prepared for an engineering group with five operating businesses.
Value AI Workshop report
Your company · delivered within 5 working daysAI readiness score
••
Where you sit today, and what's holding you back.
Process map
- Enquiry
- Quote
- Order
- Make
- Deliver
- Invoice
Bid to delivery, marked where time, cost or accuracy leaks out.
Costed opportunity shortlist
| Opportunity | Cost | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier invoice matching agent | — | — |
| RFQ-to-quote drafting | — | — |
| Live job profitability view | — | — |
Each with an indicative cost and return.
One quick win
Something you can start straight away, with a named owner.
Recommended next step
Where one makes sense. "Not now" is a valid answer.
Layout only. Figures are left blank; yours come from your session.
The cover Welcome, objectives and ways of working Commercial upside is built on the first three What the client has by the end of the session
Tap a page to enlarge it. Scroll sideways for more.
How we work
Call. Workshop. First build. Each step agreed before the next.
A 30-minute call
A video call with Steven or Paul to see whether the workshop is a fit.
Value AI Workshop
2.5 hours on your site with your team. We map your systems and software spend, and work out the five-year own-versus-rent case. Your report lands within 5 working days, board-ready before you commit to anything.
A fixed-price first build, if it makes sense
Fixed scope and fixed price, agreed before any work starts. Delivered by senior DevCheck®-vetted engineers, AI-accelerated, with security and testing at every layer. You own it outright, full IP and source, and add modules as you grow.
No obligation at any step.
Bigger builds are phased, so an MVP is live and earning while we build the rest.
After launch
- Maintenance and updates
- Training and handover
- Feature enhancements
- Optional hosting (platform agnostic)
- Optional 24/7 support
Arrange a conversation
A 30-minute call with one of our engineers. No obligation.
Evidence
The evidence
Digital engineering pays back in manufacturing when it's done properly. The numbers are clear.
- 97%
of manufacturing SMEs that adopted digital technologies through Made Smarter reported benefits such as improved production and planning efficiency and reduced costs.
Source: University of Cambridge IfM for the Department for Business and Trade, 2024 - 10%
higher turnover growth among Made Smarter participants than comparable non-participants.
Source: Ipsos interim evaluation, 2024 - 2%
of UK manufacturers have AI widely embedded in the business.
Source: Make UK, June 2026 - 44%
cite complexity and integration with existing systems as the main barrier to AI.
Source: Make UK / Autodesk, 2024 - 76%
of engineering employers struggle to recruit for key roles.
Source: IET Skills Survey, 2025 - 57%
say they transfer knowledge well from retiring staff, against 80% between current colleagues.
Source: IET Skills Survey, 2025
That gap between what's possible and what's in place is where we work: carefully specified, properly integrated, and built to last.
Arrange a conversation
A 30-minute call with one of our engineers. No obligation.
Why Tribes
Senior engineers. AI-accelerated. Governed at every stage.
Human Led Delivery. AI Accelerated Outcomes.
We're Tribes Engineering: engineers in code and outcomes. AI lets us move faster and see further. The standard stays an engineer's. Measured, tested, and right before it ships.
We're engineers too. We just work with different materials.
200+
Products delivered
100+
Projects across industries
ISO 27001
Certified
DevCheck®
Every engineer, every project
Every engineer vetted
DevCheck®, our proprietary vetting platform developed with the University of Salford, scores developers 1-1000 across technical ability, communication and real-world experience.
Governed and secure
ISO 27001 certified, with AI-assisted code review and testing at every layer.
B Corp certified
One of a small number of B Corp tech businesses in the UK. Our AI work is built with human sign-off and audit trails as standard.
Built in Manchester
Our founder has been part of Manchester's digital scene for 30+ years, including the Manchester Digital steering committee. We're a Crown Commercial Service supplier.
Meet the people you'll work with
Steven Wright
CTO
Runs the process and systems review in the workshop, and owns the technical architecture.
Paul Green
CCO
Makes sure every opportunity stacks up commercially, with a cost and a return.
What clients say
Four clients, in their own words.
Tribes is truly a world-class development company. We came to them with the impossible and they delivered, on time, on budget, something that is now the cornerstone of our offering.
The team at Tribes are proving to be a fantastic technology partner, helping us design and build proofs of concept at speed, with superior talent in both thought leadership and delivery.
Your team is brilliant, great at interpreting and anticipating our needs. If I have any digital build projects in the future, you'll be the first call I make.
Tribes are true thought leaders and global professionals in development and creative engineering.
FAQs
Straight answers to fair questions.
Is there a fee for the workshop?
No. There's no fee and no obligation. You keep the written report whatever you decide.
Is it a sales pitch?
No. It's a discovery and advisory session. If it leads to a project, that's a separate conversation, and we won't chase you.
What happens on the 30-minute call?
A short conversation with Steven or Paul to see whether the Value AI Workshop is a fit. Bring one example: a tender you struggled to quote in time, or a production week that went sideways. No other prep needed.
Do we need to prepare anything?
A little helps: a list of your core systems and subscriptions with rough annual cost, the two or three reports you lean on most, and each attendee's top three frustrations. We send a short guide beforehand.
Who should attend?
Ideally 4-8 people across sales/estimating, operations/production, finance and IT, including someone who runs the process week to week.
What happens afterwards?
Within 5 working days you get the process map, systems findings and a prioritised shortlist with indicative cost and return, plus a recommended next step where one makes sense.
Do we have to replace our ERP?
No. Often the best answer is to keep what works and add modules or agents around it: for a manufacturer, an agent matching purchase orders to goods received; for an engineering firm, a quoting tool that reads drawings and pulls through the BOM. We'll tell you straight which bits to keep.
Who owns the software you build?
You do: full IP, source code and data. No per-seat licences, no lock-in, documented so any competent partner could maintain it.
Is our data safe?
We're ISO 27001 certified, every engineer is DevCheck® vetted, people approve anything that matters, and every agent action is logged.
How quickly can you build?
Typically weeks, not months, at fixed scope and fixed price, phased so an MVP is earning early.
Can a project be part-funded?
Manufacturers in England may be eligible for Made Smarter support, including match-funded grants of up to £20,000 for digital projects. Eligibility is decided by Made Smarter; we're happy to talk it through.
Where are you based?
Manchester, with a second engineering hub in Bucharest, Romania. We come to you anywhere in the UK.
Another question? Email bruce@tribes.tech.
Contact
Arrange a conversation with one of our engineers.
You make the product. We engineer the systems that run your business. A 30-minute call tells us both whether the Value AI Workshop is a good use of your team's morning. No fee, no obligation, no chasing.
- ISO 27001 certified. Every engineer is DevCheck® vetted.
- Human sign-off and audit trails as standard. People approve anything that matters, and every agent action is logged.
- Full IP and source code. No per-seat licences, documented so any competent partner could maintain it.
You own the code and the data. We work with your existing ERP and machines, and nothing stops production while we build.