Idle Systemshello@idlesystems.co.uk

Internal tools for engineering firms

I'm Hugo, a mechanical design engineer in London. I build software that connects your team's engineering work, purchasing and everyday admin.

Explore the assembly, select a component and follow its part number into a purchase request.

Book a free 30-minute callSee prices
R-001 / Rocket assemblyConcept model

MODEL → PART RECORD → PURCHASE REQUEST

Keep the part number with the purchase.

Select a rocket component above and choose “Prepare request”. Its part number and revision follow it into the draft below.

PLM connection concept: example records only, with no live product lifecycle management system connected.

Your selected component will appear here.

Try the separate approval example below to see how requests, budgets and the audit trail work.

Detail B: purchase requests

Interactive example only. All records are fictional. Approvals, orders, emails and notifications are simulated in this browser; nothing is sent or saved.

Approval queue

Audit log
    1. Anything over £1,000 goes to a director for a second sign-off.
    2. Budgets move the moment an order is raised, not at month end.
    3. Every step is logged with who did it and when.

    Detail C: operations platform

    Battery R&D company, name withheld. Not to scale.

    Already running in a working lab. At a battery R&D company I built the operations platform the whole site now uses, and I still run it. Select a part to see what it replaced.

    20staff use it every working day

    NotesWhat I fix

    The jobs that live in spreadsheets, inboxes and paper books because no off-the-shelf product fits a lab or a workshop.

    1. Purchase requests chased by emailPurchasing with approvalsRequests, sign-off limits and project codes that match your accounts, so finance stops guessing.
    2. Risk assessments saved as Word filesControlled documentsVersioned risk assessments and procedures, with review dates and a record of who read what.
    3. Labels typed out one at a timeOne-click printingSample labels, asset tags and forms printed from the record, on the printer they belong on.
    4. A paper visitor book at receptionVisitor check-inAn iPad at the door that signs people in, prints a badge and tells the host they have arrived.
    5. Customer notes in six placesA shared CRMOne list of contacts, quotes and conversations the whole team can see.
    6. The spreadsheet only one person understandsYour own odd processIf your team does it every week and it is slow, it can probably be a screen and a button.

    ScheduleHow it works

    1. Step 1

      Call

      Free

      30 minutes. You tell me what hurts, and I tell you honestly whether software is the answer.

    2. Step 2

      Process review

      £750

      I sit with your team, map how the work really flows and write up what to build. Credited in full against a build.

    3. Step 3

      Build

      Fixed quote

      One agreed price before I start. Working software in your team's hands, and you see it working each week.

      Typically 2 to 4 weeks.

    4. Step 4

      Support

      Monthly

      Fixes, small changes, hosting and keeping it running, for a set monthly fee.

    Prices are agreed before any work starts. You own what gets built.

    Tell me which job your team dreads every week.

    Send a line about it and I will reply within a working day to set up a free call. If I can't help, I'll say so on the call.

    TitleInternal tools for engineering firms
    RevB
    Drawn byHugo, Idle Systems
    LocationLondon
    Scale10 to 100 staff
    Contacthello@idlesystems.co.uk
    Lead time2 to 4 weeks
    Sheet1 of 1
    Book a free 30-minute call hello@idlesystems.co.uk