I own two companies. One builds bespoke factory automation. The other makes security posts. I use AI to make factories more cash. Free AI kit 👇
England, United Kingdom
Joined December 2011
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Nvidia's big Berlin reveal: the quickest way to build an AI factory is to build it in a factory.
Six months on site down to 14 days. Every UK manufacturer reading this is quietly saying "told you so".
AI factory deployment at a prepared site: from six months down to 14 days.
NVIDIA DSX POD brings Vera Rubin AI factories in containers, integrated and validated before delivery.
Announced at GTC Berlin: nvda.ws/4slQvNp
Two critical PHP holes get patched at 3pm today.
Every firm whose website was built by 'a mate of the boss' in 2016 is about to have a very long afternoon.
Cyber agency warns websites may go dark as PHP prepares critical fix reut.rs/4zKqkma reut.rs/4zKqkma
End of a production run of PostSecure AutoRise security posts.
Semi-automatic. Unlock it and it rises by itself, so nobody's on their knees in the rain hauling a post up.
Nobody posts this bit of the business. So here it is.
Japan's sending a probe to a moon of Mars to grab 10g of rock and have it home by 2031.
Still quicker than getting a UK grid connection.
LIVE: Japan launches probe to Martian moon Phobos xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1nxeLMpzk…
China's putting AI on the factory floor.
Europe's putting it on the agenda.
China appears well-placed to lead the deployment of AI on the factory floor, but Europe has other ideas bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Two companies. One builds bespoke, high-value factory automation. The other makes security posts. I post the AI and ops stuff that actually makes factories money, plus the odd joke. Free UK AI starter kit 👇
"It depends" is the most honest answer an AI can give a business owner.
Your scrap rate isn't the demo's. Neither is your shift pattern.
Ask what it assumed. Then check those assumptions on the shop floor.
UK manufacturers, honest answers only.
What's hurting margin most right now?
A) energy
B) labour
C) materials
D) customers paying late
Reply with the letter and one line why. I'll reply with the first lever I'd pull.
UK manufacturing output jumped 1.2% in August, the second strong month on the bounce.
Zoom out to three months and it's up 0.1%.
Classic. Brilliant month on the board, then someone asks for the quarter.
Source: ONS GDP monthly estimate for August, out at 7am. Pharma did the heavy lifting, up 5.1%. Food, drink and tobacco fell 1.0%. The three-month figure compares June to August with March to May, and June fell 0.6%. ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdome…
AI jargon, shop-floor edition, no. 1
"Hallucination" is when the AI says something wrong with total confidence.
Every factory already has one. It's the job card that says "easy, 2 hours".
ASML says its planned output of chip-making machines won't fully meet demand in 2027 or 2028. Some customers are already asking to order for 2029 and even 2030.
Every factory has one machine everything waits on. For the whole AI boom, it's this one, and the queue runs to 2030.
UK factory owners and ops managers:
Reply with one job your team still does by hand every week (quotes, timesheets, stock counts, chasing POs).
I'll reply to every one with a practical way to automate it with AI. Real tools, no pitch.
Q: Where should a small factory start with AI?
A: Wherever work queues longest. Often that's the office. Quotes waiting to go out, orders waiting for the one person who knows the ERP.
Speed anything else up and output doesn't move. Goldratt wrote a whole novel about it in 1984.
I'm Brad. I run VCSP, a process engineering factory in Kidderminster, and PostSecure, security posts across the West Midlands.
I post practical AI, ops fixes and the odd factory joke.
Free: the UK SME AI starter kit. 10 tools, real prices, free UK help. xitter.cf/bradwatton/status/2109…
Found out my factory pays 85p per kWh. Government figures say the average UK business pays 24.5p. So we're paying for electricity and a supplier's holiday.
Check yours:
1. Deemed/out-of-contract rate
2. Standing and capacity charges
3. Contract end and broker commission
Source: DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices, Sept 2026. Average non-domestic electricity Q2 2026 = 24.51p/kWh incl. CCL, excl. VAT. Smallest users average 38.36p.
gov.uk/government/statistics…
