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Practical AI for industrial companies

Take the admin drag out of enquiries, quotes and orders.

We build practical automation and AI-assisted workflows for industrial companies: anywhere the main job isn't done at a computer, but the computer is often the bottleneck. The tools you already use stay. The chasing, re-keying and waiting go.

See the proof
WHO IT IS FOR

Built for firms where the work is not at a desk.

We've built for businesses that make, fix, build, move or supply things. Most of their people are on the shop floor, on site or on the road. Perhaps one in five works at a computer, and that small office team carries the enquiries, the quotes, the orders and the paperwork for everyone else. That is where the friction builds up, and that is where we work.

Typical sectors: manufacturing, engineering, construction and civil engineering, wholesale and distribution, builders' merchants, fabrication and machining, plastics, electrical equipment, food and drink, marine, haulage and logistics, and the trades and services that keep them running.

HOW IT WORKS

One starting point, whatever your size.

The first conversation is the same whether you have no IT function at all or a well-staffed one. Where is work getting stuck? What would it be worth to unstick it? And which decisions must stay with a person?

01

Find the friction

We sit with the people who do the work and follow one process from the moment an enquiry lands to the moment the job is invoiced. We write down where it waits, where it is copied, and where it is checked twice.

02

Design the change

You get a short, plain-English description of what would change, what would not, and which approvals stay with a named person in your team. No jargon and no product pitch.

03

Build, test and hand over

We build inside the systems you already use, run it on real jobs alongside the old way, and hand it over to someone in your business who owns it from then on.

PROOF

Measured, not asserted.

LCI is a new firm, founded in September 2026, so we will not show you client logos we do not have or savings we have not measured. What we can show you is the system we run our own business on, and the record of the person who built it.

Our own back office, run the way we would run yours

Lawton Consulting's prospect research, CRM, compliance screening, diary and reporting are handled by 27 specialist AI agents that James built and governs himself. Three examples from one week in October 2026, each taken from the system's own logs:

  • 2,989phone numbers screened against the TPS and CTPS registers in 75 minutes. 302 flagged. Every check logged, and not one CRM record changed until James had reviewed the list himself.
  • 54members of a business networking group researched, profiled and loaded into the CRM in under an hour, each with a note on fit, before his first visit.
  • 2times a new click-to-call feature was stopped by the system's own review gates before it was allowed to go live. The controls are real, and they bite.
Source: LCI operating logs, 6 to 13 October 2026. Happy to walk you through them.

Fifteen years of implementations before AI

Before LCI Ltd, James spent more than 20 years in sales and 15 in digital and SaaS, much of it implementing software on the Salesforce platform for organisations with thousands of employees.

Companies often paid six figures just to implement these solutions. Below is a video interview with one of those clients. You don't see or hear James, but he is the one asking Vanessa the questions.

The lesson from those years is the one LCI Ltd is built on: the technology is rarely the hard part. Getting a process to work for the people who actually run it is, and that is a people job before it is a software job.

Every LCI engagement starts with a measured baseline, so the gain at the end is a number you can check rather than a claim we make.

Vanessa McKenna, Director of Business Systems, MCR Group, Dublin. From James's implementation work before Lawton Consulting International Ltd.

Client case studies will appear here as engagements complete, with the figures measured before and after. We will not publish one before it has been.

PRICES

What it costs.

Two ways to start are free. After that, clear starting figures so you can judge fit before you commit. All prices exclude VAT and are confirmed in writing before any work starts.

AI Readiness Scorecard

Eight quick questions with the Bee, about two minutes, no call needed. You get your score out of 40, what it means and a practical first step in each of four areas, as a PDF by email.

Free

AI Report

After a free one-hour call with James: a short written report on where AI would pay back in your business, the opportunities ranked, and the first move he would make. Within two working days of the call.

Book your free call
Free

Research Brief

For one opportunity from your AI Report: the ways it could be done (off-the-shelf tools, a bespoke build or open source) compared side by side, with a recommendation.

£500

Scoping & Statement of Work

Fixed scope, acceptance criteria and a clear implementation price. If you go ahead with a build or programme, this fee comes off the final invoice.

£1,500 – £3,000

Build project

Implementation of the scoped solution, from a focused first workflow to a full build.

£5,000 – £30,000

Programme

Ongoing, multi-workstream delivery across the business.

From £30,000

Ongoing support

Optional monthly care and change, scoped to what you need. If you have an IT team or someone who would rather look after it, we hand everything over.

From £500 a month
James Lawton, founder of Lawton Consulting International
James LawtonFounder · Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
Email James
MEET THE FOUNDER

I'm James, and you'll be dealing with me.

I founded Lawton Consulting International in Burnham-on-Crouch in September 2026, after more than 20 years in sales and 15 in digital and SaaS, most of it spent helping large organisations get software into the hands of the people who actually use it. Today LCI is a systems integrator run by one person and 27 AI agents: we join up the software you already use, with AI doing the routine work in between.

In January 2026 I started building with AI, first for my employer at the time and then for myself, and I did not stop. The system that now runs LCI's day to day, from research and CRM to compliance screening and my own diary, is one I built myself: 27 specialist agents with review gates, audit trails and a person in the loop wherever it matters. It is the approach I bring to your business, tested first on my own.

Outside work I am married with two daughters, we have a black Labrador called Pepper, and I spend as much time on the water as I can. I volunteer with the RNLI, helm a cadet safety boat at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club, and am Secretary of a long-established local society. Most Wednesday mornings you will find me at BNI Central in Witham.

ASK THE BEE

What is the Bee?

The Bee is our website assistant. Ask it how we work, or describe where work is sticking in your operation: it will ask a few questions, write you a short brief and, if you want one, offer a first call with James. It also runs the free AI Readiness Scorecard: eight quick questions, with your score and a PDF report by email. It is built the way we build for clients. One narrow job, clear limits, and a person at the end of it.

Why a bee? Steady, useful work, done quietly and well. The honeycomb is capacity, built one cell at a time.

COMMON QUESTIONS

How can I implement AI in my business?

Straight answers to the questions owners and operations managers ask us first.

01

How can I implement AI in my business?

Start with the work, not the technology, and measure the gain on one process before you expand.

  1. List the tasks your office team repeats every week that involve waiting on someone, copying information from one place to another, or checking the same thing twice.
  2. Go for the biggest time-waster first. It is where the gain is obvious and easiest to measure.
  3. Decide which decisions must stay with a person, and who that person is.
  4. Build the workflow inside the tools you already use, run it on real jobs, then hand it to the person who will own it.
02

Do I need an IT department to use AI?

No. Most of what we build sits on top of the email, spreadsheets, CRM and document tools a business already has. What you need is someone in your team who owns the process, and someone to build and test the workflow carefully. If you do have an IT function, we work alongside it.

03

How long does a first AI implementation take?

A focused first workflow usually takes a few weeks from the first conversation to hand-over. The build is scoped and priced before any work starts.

04

Will AI replace my staff?

No. We remove repetitive steps so capable people have more capacity. Judgement, relationships and responsibility stay with people, and we will not sell you a plan built on cutting them.

05

How do I keep AI workflows safe and under control?

Give every AI-assisted process clear review points, a named owner, and limits on what it may do without a person checking. Keep it inside your existing controls, log what it does, and test it on real cases before it touches a customer or a payment. This is how we run our own system, and its review gates have stopped our own features going live before they were right.

06

What does it cost?

The AI Readiness Scorecard is free, and so is a first one-hour call with James and the AI Report that follows it. A research brief is £500, scoping and a statement of work £1,500 to £3,000 (taken off the final invoice if a build or programme follows), and builds start at £5,000. The full list is in the prices section.

07

What is the Bee?

Our website assistant, built on the same approach we use for clients. Ask it anything about how we work, or describe where work is sticking and it will size it up and offer a first call with James.

Tell us where work is sticking.

[email protected]Email +44 20 4584 2868Call