I work out what your business actually needs. Then I build it.
I'm Tom Darcy. I help manufacturing and industrial SMEs turn messy operations and half-formed AI ambitions into software, automations and AI applications that actually work in the business.
My background spans BCG, Rolls-Royce, Atlas Copco and a venture-backed manufacturing startup. Ten years of building internal tools from the inside taught me one thing: most software projects fail before anyone writes code, because nobody has understood the work clearly enough.
BCG · Rolls-Royce · Atlas Copco
People ask for the solution they can imagine, not the solution they actually need. A pure consultant can diagnose but not ship. A pure developer can ship the wrong thing very efficiently. I do both — understand the business deeply enough to challenge the brief, then build the thing that should exist.
## Who I work with
Businesses of roughly 20 to 100+ people in manufacturing first, with logistics, distribution and industrial operations as natural neighbours. Enough complexity to feel real systems pain, but not always the in-house capacity to solve it well.
You probably feel operational drag every week: quotes, jobs, inventory, scheduling, compliance, handoffs, spreadsheets that have quietly become infrastructure, and process knowledge living in one person's head. You can sense the better version of the business — you just can't yet describe the technical path to it. That's the gap I fill.
WordPress websites, mobile apps, ecommerce storefronts, marketing sites, or "AI strategy" with no implementation path. If your project needs something I can't deliver well, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
## What I build
AI is a core capability here, not a gimmick — but it only matters when it's connected to the actual workflow. Mostly I build the boring parts that make the clever parts useful:
## Problems I'm good at
- →The spreadsheet that should have become an app six months ago, and everyone knows it.
- →A process that only works because one person remembers the magic steps.
- →"We should be using AI somewhere" — with no clear path from the idea to a working system.
- →Two systems that hold the same data and quietly disagree about it.
- →A brief for the wrong tool, written in good faith, about to cost real money.
- →Knowing where you want the business to go, but not what should be built first to get there.
## How we'd work together
AI & Systems Discovery
from £2,500 · 1–2 weeksA short, practical engagement for businesses that know something needs to change but aren't sure what to build. I sit with your workflows, tools and bottlenecks, separate symptoms from root causes, and turn an unclear vision into a ranked list of things worth building.
You leave with a workflow and pain-point map, an opportunity list, risk and readiness notes, a recommended first build, and a roadmap. Discovery is credited into your first retainer month if we keep working together.
Build Sprint
from £5,000 · 2–4 weeksA focused sprint to build one useful thing: an internal tool, an AI workflow, an automation, a prototype, an integration. Working software, connected to your real data and tools, with human review flows where they're needed.
Includes documentation and a proper handoff or support plan. A demo is not a system — you get the system.
Embedded Builder Retainer
from £5,000/month · 3-month startOngoing access to me as your practical technical partner. Someone close to the team over an extended period, doing the things you can't do internally — discovery, building and improving tools, AI development, integration, backlog shaping, build-vs-buy advice.
Like having a senior builder inside the business, without hiring a full internal technical function. The systems improve as the business learns.
## How I work
I'll tell you what I think will and won't work, even when it's not what you wanted to hear — including where AI is genuinely useful and where normal software is simply better. I can talk about technical work without burying you in jargon, and I'll happily go deep with your team when that's what's needed.
## Build notes
Anonymised notes from systems I've built, plus small demos on manufacturing workflows: what the first request missed, what changed in the build, and where AI was actually useful. No hand waving.
// original artefacts stay private; diagrams and screenshots are recreated where needed
Get in touch
Based in the UK, working closely with manufacturing and industrial SMEs. A couple of plain sentences about what you're working on is plenty — you don't need a spec, that's the point.