Engineering expertise, from problem to practical solution.
Van Driel combines engineering consultancy with
real manufacturing, fabrication and site capability. We can help you
understand the problem, develop the solution, turn it into a practical design and then
manufacture and install the finished article, rather than hand over a drawing and
move on.
Problem · Engineering · Design · Manufacture · InstallationNorfolk · East Anglia · UK-wide
The starting point
Engineering problems rarely arrive as perfect drawings.
They arrive as a concept, an existing component, a part that has
failed, a sketch on the back of something, an operational problem nobody has yet
written down, or a requirement with no design attached to it at all.
What we need to start is whatever you already have. What we produce first is a clear
statement of what the problem actually is, which is frequently not the problem as
originally described.
A part that failed
Send it, or photograph it. The failure mode is the single most useful piece of
evidence available, and it routinely contradicts the assumed cause. Reverse engineering
from a worn or broken original is ordinary work.
A concept with no drawing
An idea, a requirement, a sketch, a photograph of something similar. We develop it
in CAD to manufacturing intent and agree it with you before any material is committed.
A design that will not make
A drawing that is easy to draw and expensive to manufacture. Design for manufacture
review against a real cutting, forming, welding and inspection route, with the
cost of each decision attached.
Who you are dealing with
Mark Van DrielCEng MIET
Engineering & Technical Lead
Consultancy work here is led by a Chartered Engineer. Requirement
review, technical assessment, design development and design for manufacture are his
work, and the first free conversation is with him rather than with a salesperson.
Chartered status is an assessed standard of engineering competence and
personal accountability for the judgements that follow from it, a
registration held by the individual engineer rather than by the company.
When people actually ring an engineering consultancy
Rarely because they woke up wanting consultancy. Usually because one of these four
things has happened, and each needs a different first move.
01
The part no longer exists
A component has failed, the machine it belongs to is twenty years
old, the original manufacturer has gone, and there are no drawings. Most firms
offering reverse engineering sell it as a scanning service, and
measure the part very precisely.
Typical outputDrawings, a manufacturing route and a
replacement part, usually improved rather than copied.
02
It is designed, but it will not make economically
A drawing exists and the quotations coming back are higher than the
budget, or nobody will commit to a lead time. That is usually not a supplier
problem. It is a design for manufacture problem: a detail that is
straightforward to draw and awkward to cut, form, fixture or inspect.
Typical outputA revised design that can be made, with
the cost of each change stated.
03
Something keeps failing and nobody knows why
A bracket that cracks, a guard that will not stay aligned, an
assembly that comes back from site every time. Technical problem
solving here starts with the failure itself rather than with a redesign:
the fracture surface, the wear pattern, the loading the thing actually sees as
opposed to the loading it was designed for.
Typical outputFindings, root cause where it can be
established, and the options that follow from it.
04
There is a requirement and no design at all
A process has changed, a machine has moved, a new product needs
handling equipment that does not exist. This is project engineering
and engineering design support: developing a requirement into a
concept, a concept into manufacturing-intent CAD, and CAD into something installed
and working.
Typical outputA requirement, a design, and a working
installation, or an honest view that it should not be built.
All four can stop at any stage. What changes is where the effort sits: on an obsolete part in establishing the duty, on a cost problem in the manufacturing review, on a repeated failure in the assessment. Recognising which of the four you have is most of the first conversation.
The difference
From advice to a working installation
Most engineering consultancies stop at the drawing. The drawing is where the risk starts. You can stop after any stage below and still hold something useful.
01
Problem
What it actually has to do, what it has to fit, what it has to survive and who has
to sign it off. Established before anything is drawn.
02
Engineering
Assessment, root cause where there is one, and the options that follow. The point at
which a bad idea is cheapest to abandon.
03
Design
CAD development to manufacturing intent, reviewed against how it will actually be
cut, formed, welded, machined and inspected, and what each costs.
04 · Our own shop
Manufacture
We make it, in-house, with the same engineers accountable throughout. No handover to
a supplier who was not in the room when the decisions were made.
05 · Our own team
Installation
Fitted at your premises, UK-wide, by people who know why it was detailed that way.
The stage where most engineering advice has long since stopped.
The commercial argument is a narrow one: when the organisation that gives the advice also carries
the manufacturing and installation risk, the advice is about what can actually be built and
fitted. You are not tied to us for the manufacture unless that is what we agree.
Capability
What we are asked to do.
Ten things, and the list is
deliberately finite. Where a problem sits outside it we will say so at the first
conversation rather than at the third invoice.
Who does the work
Engineering consultancy at Van Driel is delivered by Mark. Enquiries go
to him directly.
01
Technical problem solving
A component that keeps failing, a process that will not hold tolerance, an assembly that fits on the drawing and not in the building.
02
CAD and drawing development
A concept, sketch or marked-up photograph developed into drawings a shop can work from.
03
Reverse engineering
Drawings and a manufacturing route from a worn, broken or obsolete part where none survives.
04
Design for manufacture
A design reviewed against how it will be cut, formed, welded and inspected, and what each costs.
05
Project engineering
An engineering scope held together from requirement to installed solution, including the interfaces with other trades.
06
Engineering improvement projects
Throughput, quality and cost work on existing plant where the constraint is an engineering one.
07
Site engineering support
Attendance, survey and assessment at your premises, UK-wide, where a drawing is not enough.
08
Manufacturing and fabrication advice
Material, section, joint design, weld access, finish and inspection, from people who will make it.
09
Supplier and manufacturing support
Specification review and manufacturing readiness for your existing supply chain, including where the work is not ours.
10
Engineering design support
Working alongside your own engineers where you need capacity or a second opinion, not a replacement.
Talk to an engineer
Describe the problem. We will tell you whether we are the right people for it.
The first technical conversation is with an engineer rather than a salesperson, and it is free. If what you need is a structural engineer, a metallurgist or a different supplier entirely, you will be told that.
–What problem are you trying to solve?
–What stage is it at: concept, existing part, failure, or a live requirement?
–What outcome do you actually need?
–By when, and is site attendance required?
How it is charged
The initial technical discussion is free. Once we both understand the requirement,
any defined engineering, design, drawing or project work is scoped and quoted
separately before it starts, so you know what you are committing to, and there
is no open-ended time-and-materials arrangement running in the background.
Consultancy enquiries go directly to the engineers who deliver the work. Drawings, photographs, CAD models and supporting documents can be attached.
And then
The workshop behind the advice
Consultancy at Van Driel is not a separate business with a shared logo. It is the front
end of a works that cuts, folds, machines, welds, finishes and installs, which is
what makes it worth buying.
The ones that stop an engineering enquiry being sent at all, answered here so they do not have to be asked.
You do, for work you have paid us to design. Intellectual property in information you send us stays yours. The ownership position is set out in writing before chargeable work starts.
Yes. Send yours with the enquiry. Files uploaded through this site are stored outside the public web root under randomised names and are never shared outside the group.
Yes, UK-wide. Some problems cannot be understood from a drawing, and a plant manager describing a fault over the phone is describing the symptom rather than the cause. Site attendance is part of the service. See site and project support.
You will be told. If what you need is a structural engineer, a metallurgist, a controls specialist or a coded welding shop, saying so in the first conversation costs us nothing and saves you a great deal. A consultancy that finds a way to be the answer to every question is not giving advice.
Bring us the problem, not the specification
If you already have a drawing we will quote it. If you have a failed part, a sketch or an operational problem nobody has written down yet, that is the work we are actually best at.
