Industries · Manufacturing
Websites and internal systems for South African manufacturers
A buyer should find the spec and the certificate without phoning you, and the call they do make should reach the right desk.
01Proof
Already live
Sites and systems we run for businesses in this sector.
vandanengineering.com
Vandan Engineering
ISO-certified die manufacturing and cutting company in Pinetown, since 1967.
Live site
Site for an ISO-certified die manufacturing and cutting company in Pinetown, in business since 1967.
alpinecement.co.za
Alpine Cement
Cement manufacturer and supplier, operating since 2004.
Live site
Site for a cement manufacturer and supplier operating since 2004.
mpi-mining.com
MPI Mining
Mining-safety technology company: Level 9 collision-avoidance systems, staff details and articles managed through the website.
Live site
Site for a mining-safety technology company with Level 9 collision-avoidance systems. Staff details and articles are managed through the website.
A normal week
Most manufacturing work comes through referrals and tenders, or from accounts you already hold. Few buyers search for a die maker or a cement supplier the way a homeowner searches for a plumber. The buyer who visits your site already has your name and is checking you before a meeting or a purchase order.
That buyer wants facts: what you make, to which standard, and who to speak to. A site that reads like a brochure, with a stock photo of a factory and a phone number, sends them back to email. It can also make a business with decades behind it look like it opened last year.
Past the website, the bigger gains are usually inside the business. Orders go from the office to the floor on paper, or staff records live in a spreadsheet only one person understands. A small custom system often pays for itself there first.
02Problems we hear
What goes wrong
- Buyers ask for our ISO certificate every time because it isn't on the site.
- The spec sheets are PDFs on one engineer's laptop.
- Sales enquiries, supplier approaches and CVs all land in one inbox.
- The website doesn't say how long we've been doing this.
- We dropped a product line two years ago and it's still on the site.
- Changing a staff profile means emailing a developer and waiting a week.
- Job cards move from the office to the floor on paper and go missing between shifts.
03Build
What we'd set up
Product pages with spec sheets
Each product or product family on its own page, with sizes and a PDF spec sheet a buyer can forward to purchasing. Your team replaces a sheet from the admin when it's revised.
Websites →Certificates with dates
ISO and industry certificates shown with their issue and expiry dates, so a buyer can see they're current before asking.
Websites →One form, the right desk
The enquiry form asks what the message is about, then sends sales enquiries to sales and supplier approaches to purchasing.
Websites →Team and articles you publish yourself
A team section and an articles section your own people keep up to date. MPI Mining manages its staff details and articles this way.
Websites →Internal systems
Orders, job cards or stock tracked in a system your staff sign into from a browser, built around how the floor already works. It's a fixed price once scoped.
Web apps & systems →04AI
Tasks AI can take over
- Reading incoming requests for quotes and copying part numbers, quantities and delivery dates into a draft quote sheet. An estimator checks every line before anything is priced.
- Answering routine buyer questions, such as a request for a certificate copy, from your own documents. Anything those documents don't cover goes to a person.
- Drafting product descriptions from spec sheets for new catalogue pages. An engineer signs each one off, because a wrong tolerance on a website turns into a wrong order.
- Flagging certificates that expire within 60 days. Someone renews them before the site shows an out-of-date one.
05Steps
From first call to launch
A call with whoever answers buyers
Twenty minutes, ideally with the person who fields enquiries today. A fixed quote follows within two working days.
Collect the documents
Spec sheets and certificates, in whatever state they're in, plus a product list. We organise them so your team can keep them current.
Checked on a private link
Working pages go up from week one. Your technical people check every figure before anything is public.
Hand over the admin
Staff get logins for the sections they own. Ask us for a change and you'll hear back by the next working day.
Questions
What people ask on the first call
If yours isn't here, WhatsApp it and you'll have an answer within one working day.
Referred buyers still look you up before they call. A Profile site, from R5 000, says who you are, what you make and how to reach you, and that's enough for some manufacturers. If you want a page per product line and an enquiry inbox, the Business site starts at R12 000.
Yes. Custom software is a fixed price, agreed before we start. Simple systems run R50 000 to R120 000, and a business system R120 000 to R250 000. If an off-the-shelf product would do the job for less, we'll say so on the call.
Yes. The admin is covered by the website subscription, which is R1 500 a year for Profile and Business sites. Your team uploads the new PDF and the page shows it straight away.
Only if someone on your team checks the output. We won't let a model put a rating or a tolerance on a public page unchecked. Each workflow costs R15 000 to R60 000.
The domain is registered in your name, and your content and data can be exported any time. We keep the platform and code, licensed while you're subscribed. If you leave, on 30 days' notice, you get a static copy of the site's pages that any host can serve.
Keep technical claims traceable
A spec on your website gets downloaded, printed and quoted back to you months later. Put a revision date on every spec sheet, date every certificate, and remove superseded versions instead of leaving them beside the new ones. When a buyer queries a figure, you'll know which version they were reading.
Tell us what you need
Answer a few questions and the estimate shows on screen. The fixed quote follows within two working days of a short call.