Entry offer
Two days in your company to find out exactly where the time goes
An on-site automation audit, in Wallonia and Brussels, ending in a costed map and a fixed-price plan of work.
Book the audit, or talk it through first
Thirty minutes is enough to know whether these two days make sense for you. If they don't, I'll say so.
A free audit is not an audit, it is a sales meeting. This one is paid, it lasts two full days on your site, and it produces a document you keep, whether you then work with me or with somebody else.
The price is shown here on purpose. It filters: a company not prepared to invest €1,500 to find out where its time goes will not be prepared to fund the work that follows, and we would both spend weeks discovering that.
How the two days run
Day 1 — morning
In the offices, with the people keying data
I sit next to the people handling orders, supplier invoices, quotes and quality documents. I watch what they actually do, not what the procedure says. I time things, I note the workarounds, and I ask to see the unofficial spreadsheets — those are what tell the truth about an information system.
Day 1 — afternoon
In the workshop, with the team leaders
Following one works order end to end: release, material issue, work centres, inspection, subcontracting, dispatch. I note every point where information is copied, every piece of paper that travels, every question that forces someone to cross the shop. I also survey what your machines already know how to tell you.
Day 2 — morning
Under the bonnet of the ERP and the data
What your ERP actually contains, what it can export, what it accepts as input, which modules were paid for then abandoned and why. The state of the item master, the bills of material, the routings. It is the least spectacular part and the one that decides whether a project takes three weeks or three months.
Day 2 — afternoon
Costing and presentation to management
I quantify each pocket of lost time, convert it into hours per week and euros per year, and rank the possible projects by gain against effort. Presented to you at the end of the day, live, with objections dealt with on the spot rather than in an email two weeks later.
What you receive
A document of around twenty pages, delivered within five working days, written to be read by a managing director and understood by a production manager. No consultancy slides, no four-quadrant matrix.
- A map of the real flows, as observed and not as described in your procedures.
- The cost of the time lost, station by station, in hours per week and euros per year, with the calculation visible so you can challenge it.
- A plan of projects ranked by return on investment, each with a scope, a firm price and a duration.
- An explicit list of what I advise you not to automate, and why. That list is often the most useful part of the document.
- The state of health of your master data — items, bills of material, routings, business partners — because no project holds up without it.
- The human blockers identified, stated frankly, including when they concern someone on your team.
What this audit is not
- It is not a certification audit, a quality audit or a machine safety audit.
- It is not a specification for an ERP tender. If that is your need, the document will say so, but it is not what it produces.
- It is not an audit of your manufacturing processes. I am not there to explain your trade to you.
- No code is written during these two days. It is observation and costing.
- There is no obligation to continue: roughly one company in three needs no project after the audit, because the gain is reachable by recommissioning what they already own.
What comes next
If a project is justified, it is quoted fixed price between €8,000 and €15,000 and delivered in three to four weeks. Here are the problems I handle most often — each page sets out the approach and its limits precisely.
See how a three to four week project runsThe questions I get asked
Why pay for an audit when everyone offers one free?
Because a free audit lasts two hours and exists to sell. This one lasts two days and its purpose is to produce costing solid enough for you to decide — including deciding to do nothing. Those two days are charged because they genuinely cost two days.
What if you find nothing?
It happens, at companies that are already well equipped. In that case the document says so clearly, with the reasons, and you will have paid €1,500 for a certainty — cheaper than a project launched on a false hunch.
Is the fee deducted if we commission a project?
No. If I deducted the audit it would become a disguised sales call and I would have an interest in finding a project at any cost. It stays independent, and that is what makes its conclusions credible, including when they run against my interest.
How much of our time does it take?
Budget roughly half a day in total for your production manager, two hours for whoever keys the orders, an hour for accounts and an hour for management. The rest I observe without taking anyone away from their work.
When can you come?
Usually within three to five weeks. I do not work with more than three clients in parallel, so the diary is real: when I say six weeks, it is six weeks, not a sales technique.
Are there public subsidies for this audit in Wallonia?
The Walloon « chèques-entreprises » scheme provides regional support towards consultancy assignments linked to digital transformation, at a higher rate for micro-enterprises and companies under five years old. Access depends on your NACE code and on using a provider approved for that type of voucher. Ask me directly, and check your eligibility with the Region: I would rather you did not count on a subsidy you will not get.
Do you sign a non-disclosure agreement?
Yes, always, and before the two days. I see your prices, your margins, your customers and your internal difficulties. If you have no template, I provide one.
Do you work across Belgium?
In Wallonia and Brussels at no extra charge. In Flanders, work is possible where the conversation can be held in French or English; travel costs are agreed in advance.
Let's talk for thirty minutes
Before booking two days, we check together that it is worth it. If your problem can be solved without me, I will tell you.