AI CONSULTING · MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING

The model isn't your problem.
The deployment is.

Nine in ten companies have deployed AI. Almost none have anything to show for it. The difference isn't better software — it's engineers who stand on your floor, learn how your operation actually runs, and build for it. That's us.

94%

of companies that deployed AI report no significant benefit from it.

MCKINSEY · APR 2026
01 / THE PROBLEM

Everyone bought the tools. The results didn't come with them.

88%

of companies had deployed AI in at least one business function by the end of 2025.

MCKINSEY · DEC 2025
94%

of them report no significant benefit. Handing employees AI tools was not enough.

MCKINSEY · APR 2026
95%

of enterprise generative-AI pilots showed no measurable P&L impact.

MIT · 2025
$9.75B
OPENAI · MICROSOFT · ANTHROPIC · AWS · GOOGLE, 2026

That's what the AI labs committed — in about two months — to forward-deployed engineering: sending engineers into businesses because the software alone doesn't land. They're right about the fix. But their $450K generalists have never stood on a factory floor. We have. It's where we started.

02 / HOW IT WORKS

We don't do discovery calls. We do discovery visits.

STEP 01

We show up

On-site, at your facility. We walk the line, sit with your team, and learn the operation the way it actually runs — not the way the org chart says it does.

STEP 02

We find the leak

The manual re-entry, the spreadsheet handoffs, the ERP gaps, the twenty-year-old system nobody documented. Where the money leaks is rarely where anyone thinks.

STEP 03

We build the fix

Custom software and AI, tailored to your process — not a platform you bend around. Working prototype in weeks, not a roadmap in quarters.

STEP 04

We stay until it works

Deployed into live operations, your team trained, and measured against numbers you can take to the CFO. We're done when it pays, not when it demos.

03 / WHAT WE BUILD

Built around your operation. Not the other way around.

AI that ships

Models wired into your actual workflow — quoting, scheduling, quality, documentation — not a chatbot bolted on the side.

Process automation

The re-keying, the handoffs, the tribal-knowledge steps that quietly cost you hours every shift — automated, with your team's sign-off.

Operational software

Dashboards, order tracking, inventory, scheduling — custom, because your operation isn't off-the-shelf and never was.

Legacy integration

We work with the twenty-year-old ERP and the undocumented MES. No rip-and-replace, no two-year migration.

04 / PROOF

We've made this climb before.

MANUFACTURING · VISIBILITY

Real-time operations dashboards

Executive visibility across departments and locations — pulled live from systems that had never talked to each other.

MANUFACTURING · THROUGHPUT

Order tracking through the factory

Every order checkpointed through every department, floor to ship. The bottleneck showed up in the data within weeks.

MANUFACTURING · INVENTORY

Inventory the ERP couldn't count

Reconciliation the legacy ERP couldn't produce — built alongside it, without replacing it.

Delivered by our founding team through Red Beard Technology — on-site, in live operations.

05 / WHO SHOWS UP

Partners on your floor. Not juniors on a bench.

Daniel Mahoney

Daniel Mahoney

FOUNDING PARTNER · CEO

Veteran Silicon Valley tech CEO; teaches business to MBA students. Keeps every engagement tied to the P&L, not the demo.

Nick Lungu

Nick Lungu

FOUNDING PARTNER · GROWTH

Runs sales and client relationships. Your first call, and the straightest answer you'll get about whether we're the right fit.

Hans Hauge

Hans Hauge

FOUNDING PARTNER · ENGINEERING

Founder of Red Beard Technology. Has spent years shipping AI and custom software into live manufacturing operations — and writes the code that ships.

06 / QUESTIONS

Fair questions.

We're not a tech company. Does this work for us?

That's exactly who this works for. Our clients are manufacturers and engineering firms, not startups. You don't need a data science team or a 'digital transformation office' — you need one problem solved well, and we start there.

What does 'on-site' actually mean?

Days at your facility, not a kickoff call. We walk the floor, sit with the people who run the process, and look at the actual systems — the ERP, the spreadsheets, the whiteboard. The real problem is almost never in the RFP.

How fast do we see something real?

A working prototype in weeks, in front of the people who'll use it. We measure against numbers your CFO cares about — hours saved, throughput, scrap, on-time delivery — not demo applause.

Do we have to replace our ERP or MES?

No. We build alongside what you already run, including the twenty-year-old system nobody documented. Rip-and-replace is a two-year project that usually fails; integration is our specialty. But when you see what we can do — and how quickly we turn your grievances into wins — you'll want us to build your new ERP!

What does it cost?

Engagements are scoped and fixed after an on-site assessment, so you know the price and the outcome before we build. If we don't think we can pay for ourselves, we'll tell you and leave. Schedule a call and we'll give you a straight answer.

07 / SCHEDULE A CALL

Tell us what's slowing you down. We'll come see it.

A 30-minute call to hear the problem. If it sounds like our kind of climb, the next step is us at your facility — not another deck.

HELLO@SHERPACONSULTING.AI