Turning manufacturing ambition into operational results.
Independent advice for manufacturers navigating digital transformation, smart manufacturing and industrial technology.
We help you identify where digital can genuinely create value, build a pragmatic roadmap, and turn strategy into something that works in the real world — from the boardroom to the shop floor..
Who is Anraed
A small, senior advisory practice for manufacturing and digital transformation.
We exist because manufacturing transformation keeps failing in the same place — not at the pilot, but at the point where it needs to scale across a real plant, a real supply chain, real people on the floor. We bring practitioners who've actually sat inside the ERP go-live, run the MES rollout, and owned the consequences when it didn't work.
Anraed is built around direct, hands-on delivery: enterprise architecture, ERP and PLM strategy, MES/MoM and IIoT implementation, and OT/IT convergence — grounded in ISA-95/Purdue thinking and two decades of doing this inside real manufacturing operations, not just advising on it from the outside.
Practitioner-led
Grounded in two decades of hands-on delivery across OT/IT convergence, IIoT and AI on the shop floor — with ERP, PLM and MES as the operational backbone that has to connect underneath it. Advice shaped by having actually done the work, not just studied it.
Vendor-neutral
Independent of any platform vendor's sales targets — recommendations are built around what a plant actually needs, not what's easiest to sell.
Built to scale beyond pilot
The gap between a successful pilot and an operational rollout is where most transformations die. That's the specific problem this practice is built to solve.
How we work
Small and hands-on by design — the person who scopes the engagement is the person who does the work, and stays with it through to delivery.
What we offer
Engagements are structured around how you actually want to buy advisory — day rate, fixed price, or a single focused session.
Advisory Retainer
Ongoing senior counsel on enterprise architecture, ERP/PLM/MES strategy and OT/IT convergence — a fractional advisor without the fractional handoffs.
Fixed-Price Engagements
Defined-scope projects — architecture reviews, vendor selection, roadmap design — priced upfront, no time-and-materials drift.
Strategy Workshops
Focused sessions to align leadership on digitalisation priorities, using the Manufacturing Hierarchy of Needs to find the real starting point.
Enterprise Architecture Review
TOGAF-based assessment of your current systems landscape — where ERP, PLM, MES and IIoT actually connect, and where they don't.
Vendor & Platform Selection
Independent, vendor-neutral evaluation across the MES/MoM and IIoT landscape, grounded in what we've actually implemented.
Scale-Beyond-Pilot Support
Hands-on support to take a proven pilot to full plant or multi-site rollout — the stage where most transformations stall.
Where this has worked
A mix of engagement outcomes and the thinking behind them.
Scaling an IIoT pilot from one line to a full site
A single-line condition-monitoring pilot had proven value but stalled for eighteen months. Re-scoped the rollout around ISA-95 boundaries and existing SCADA integration points rather than a rip-and-replace.
Vendor-neutral MES selection across three plants
Existing MES landscape had grown inconsistently across sites through separate procurement decisions. Built a single evaluation framework and architecture-first business case ahead of vendor selection.
Articles & Writing
Who we work with
We work as part of an ecosystem, not in competition with it. Most engagements sit alongside your existing systems integrators, technology vendors and internal teams — our job is to make sure the architecture holds together, not to own every part of the delivery.
That means we're comfortable advising independently, plugging into an SI-led programme, or working pre- and post-sale with technology partners on the vendor side. The right structure depends on where you already are.
Systems Integrators
Independent architecture and domain input alongside SI-led delivery teams.
Technology Vendors
Pre- and post-sale advisory support for ERP, PLM, MES and IIoT platform partners.
Internal Teams
Working directly alongside your own IT, OT and engineering functions, not around them.
Let's talk about what's actually stalling.
Whether it's a stalled pilot, a vendor decision, or an architecture that's grown without a plan — start with a conversation, not a proposal.
alan@anraed.co.uk