Illustrative example. Today: An aged debt report printed on [date]. [Customer]’s remittance for PO [n] doesn’t match any invoice. The person who chases is on the shop floor until [time]. After the fix: “Morning, [Name]. Owed: £[x] across [n] customers. Matched: [Customer] paid invoices [n] and [n]. Promised: [Customer], £[x] by [date]. Needs you: [Customer] says delivery note [n] was short by [quantity]. Reply drafted. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
01 · Getting paid on time
Customers pay late, and you spend hours chasing.
‘We deliver on time. Our customers don’t pay on time.’
What It Costs You
63% of manufacturers that give credit say late payment is a problem, and large manufacturers paid 21% of their suppliers’ invoices late in 2025.
Source: DBT LSBS 2024; DBT payment practices statistics 2025
Illustrative example. Today: Enquiry for [part], [quantity], received [date]. Quote typed from last year’s spreadsheet and sent [n] days later. A price change agreed by phone, not recorded. After the fix: “Quote [n]: [part], [quantity] at £[x] each, lead time [n] weeks. Accepted by [Customer] on [date].” “Change: quantity [n] to [n], £[x]. Accepted [date].” “Invoice matches the accepted order.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
04 · Agreeing the work and the price
Customers dispute what was agreed and what it cost.
‘Quotes take days, and nobody can find what we agreed when the order changes.’
What It Costs You
In the government’s Made Smarter evaluation, small manufacturers describe quoting, delivery notes and invoicing run on hard-copy paperwork.
Source: DBT/Ipsos
Illustrative example. Today: A customer order arrives as a PDF. [Name] types it into [system], then again into the production sheet. After the fix: “Order [n] from [Customer] read from the PDF: [n] lines, delivery [date]. Entered in [system] and the production plan. Check: [line] price differs from the price list. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
07 · Taking repeat work off the team
Your team is stretched, and you’re covering the gaps.
‘Every order gets typed in twice.’
What It Costs You
Recruitment is a major obstacle for 46% of manufacturers.
Source: DBT LSBS 2024
Illustrative example. Today: A stock sheet last updated [date]. Reorders happen when [Name] notices. [Name] is off until [date]. After the fix: “[Material]: [n] left, reorder point [n]. Alert sent [date].” “Delivery note [n] read in: [n] units added.” “How to set up [machine]: written from [Name]’s walkthrough on [date].”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
08 · Records out of paper and heads
Everything lives on paper, in spreadsheets or in one person’s head.
‘Stock lives on a clipboard, and the rest lives in [Name]’s head.’
What It Costs You
In the government’s Made Smarter evaluation, small manufacturers describe paper processes and poor stock control, and one lost 4 to 5% of its barrels each year to manual tracking.
Source: DBT/Ipsos
Your Problem Isn’t Here?
The problems on this page are the ones we see most often in manufacturing. Yours may be different, and that’s fine. Most fixes are found when an owner and someone who builds them sit down and go through how the work actually gets done. Tell us what’s costing you, and we’ll tell you straight whether we can fix it.
Read next
- Late payment: what you can claim and how to work it outIf another business pays you late, the law lets you add interest at 11.75% a year and a fixed sum of up to £100. Here is how to work it out.
- AI is not a chat windowWhat the research says about AI in UK small businesses, why a chat window isn’t the answer and a one-line test for where AI pays.
Pick One Problem
Tell us which one. We’ll tell you whether we can fix it and how long it takes.