Get It Made has
supported the
manufacture of this
sample of parts –
www.get-it-made.co.uk
Manufacturing
as a service
Machinery has written about a number of online-focused subcontractors, individual fi rms with varying
levels of ambition, as well as platforms that offer buyers access to a range of services and companies in
one place, not bounded by geography. Andrew Allcock spoke to yet another subcontracting operation that
sits within this world, but which is very fi rmly focused on providing good service to a manageable client
base and which eschews the all-conquering global ambitions expressed by others
Get It Made is the answer to one
man’s experience when he wanted to,
well, get something made. That man
is 30-year-old Luke Smoothy. “I was a
designer working for a small of ce furniture
designing company in West London, using
Solidworks day after day. I learnt how to
design and engineer something and realised
that is a hard skill to acquire. But getting
something into production was harder, so
realising it, getting it made – you see where
the name came from.
“Anyway, I learnt two things: that I was
quite good at getting things made, helping
clients get products into production,
prototyping, that sort of thing; and, most
importantly, I learnt the difference between a
great supplier and an average supplier, with
that ignoring the many bad suppliers out
there.”
Around 2014 Smoothy, set about using
his skills in the manner of a second, part-job
in preparation for a full-time change.
“I thought a couple of hundred pounds on
the side would be good. But it quickly took
off, which meant I was working evenings and
weekends for a couple of years, discovering
a few of those great suppliers.”
At that time, there were no online-focused
subcontracting operations with any pro le,
bar one major one. Since then, the company
has grown to around £2 million turnover,
with 24-year-old Fin Brown joining the
operation in recent months. His experience
is also on the design side, taking in a period
at a well-known UK-headquartered appliance
maker.
Continues Smoothy: “We don’t have any
in-house machinery; we add a slick layer of
service on top of others’ manufacturing
capability. For example, when we
occasionally go out for quotes to new
suppliers, we are often amazed at the
welcome we get, which is to say not much of
one. Manufacturing companies sometimes
forget that they are service companies, too.
We always try and offer a great service, and
even if we can’t provide what is needed, we
will always point them in the right direction.
We give everyone this same level of
attention, whether it’s an individual looking
14 July/August 2020 | www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets
/www.get-it-made.co.uk
/www.machinery.co.uk