This small business is forged for the future with AI

What does it take to modernise a legacy manufacturer?

Neil and Gareth became the new co-owners in 2024, taking on the company’s legacy with equal parts reverence and restless energy.

They plan on moving into bigger premises, adding newer equipment, and winning larger contracts.

Watsons is a business of positive paradoxes: old equipment kept alive through careful maintenance meets a hunger for the latest kit. Chemical baths that date back to industrial tradition, next to digital printers that place high-res logos on metal in seconds.

Like the metals they treat, Watsons has been toughened by pressure. A legacy business, recharged with new blood. Leaders who mix decades of experience with the hungry drive of a new generation. Proof that craft can survive change—and even be remade by it.

That same outlook shapes how they see technology. Where some see AI as disruption, Watsons see it as evolution—another tool in a long line they love, built to make good work even better.

How does early AI experimentation help entrepreneurs prepare for the future?

Gareth lights up when he talks about it. “I became an early adopter of Sage Copilot because I love utilising tools and being a beta tester for new processes. Getting those quicker helps you get ahead of the game.”

Curiosity is part of the company’s DNA—from experimenting with new finishes to fine-tuning process flow—and that same curiosity extends to other kinds of tech.

“Whenever there’s a new Sage Copilot feature, I’m all over it,” Gareth tells us. “What excites me is how this AI will keep developing—I’ve already seen the new things Sage has introduced over time.”

Gareth and Neil enjoy experimenting. Like many small business owners, they’ve never stopped asking how things work, and how they could work better.

The hidden power of small automations

“Sage Copilot increases my workflow productivity,” Gareth continues with enthusiasm.

“I can pull up insights for my purchase invoices and instantly see what’s due in the next seven days.”

A quiet adjustment with a big ripple, creating what every business owner craves: free time, the most elusive resource of all.

The repetitive admin that used to break up a day in boredom now happens almost invisibly in the background.

“You upload them onto the system,” Gareth says. “It’ll look at the supplier, match it to your system, fill in the amount, date, net and VAT, and keep that copy of the invoice. Then you can just quickly check and submit—which is brilliant.”

He’s seen how these little automations can build trust in the process and the confidence to let things run without you for a moment, so you can finally breathe.

What happens when your to-do list starts doing itself

The noise of chasing payments fades, leaving space for clearer thinking—and bigger ideas.

“The Sage Copilot payment reminder system sends out a reminder when each invoice is overdue,” he says, relieved.

“You can also set a second reminder, and then just leave it to do its thing in the background. You’ll get a notification saying, ‘Three reminders sent today’—so you can keep an eye on it as well.”

It’s automation that works in rhythm with you. Automation that keeps things flowing, so you can focus on leading.

For Gareth and Neil, the priority isn’t racing ahead, but moving forward with purpose, and saving time always helps with that.

“We’ve learned that you can’t rush quality,” Neil says. “But you also can’t stand still. The trick is to move forward without losing what makes you good.”

How Watsons Anodising keeps its edge

Running a manufacturing firm today means constant adjustment—to markets, prices, and people.

“You have to stay calm under pressure,” Gareth says. It’s how you keep adapting. “If your team see you adapt, they believe they can too.”

That sense of balanced leadership—meeting the future with intrigue, not fear—is what keeps the business calm when conditions aren’t.

In an industry built on precision, calm is a competitive edge.

“We’re building on what’s been done before us,” Neil says. “That’s the motivation—to hand over something even stronger.” It’s a legacy built not just in metal, but in mindset.

Steady change creates sustainable success

If there’s one thing they’ve learned, it’s that small shifts stack up.

“You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight,” Gareth reminds us. “You just need to keep looking for better ways—one process, one person, one idea at a time.”

It seems that the idea that incremental progress becomes lasting performance applies to just about everything in life.

This is an innovation story every growing business can relate to—no single grand overhaul, but a series of smart shifts that compound into significance. Watsons Anodising may have started in a single workshop in 1957, but it’s this same willingness to test, tweak, and adopt early that keeps them ticking today.

For Neil and Gareth, it’s about refining, rather than replacing, what works. They see themselves as custodial caretakers of an ancient art and mentors to a new generation, keeping an old trade alive in a fast-moving world.

People keep progress human

Ask either of them what makes it worth it, and they’ll tell you about the people. “It’s seeing the lads on the shop floor proud of what they’ve made,” Neil beams. “That’s what keeps you going.”

For all the talk of innovation and AI, it’s still those everyday wins—the shared satisfaction of success—that make a business feel alive.

The patience and precision that make this crew good at working with metal also make them thoughtful about how they use other tools—and they’re using Sage Copilot insights to work smarter, faster, and with more freedom to focus on what matters most.

It’s proof that tradition and technology don’t compete. In the right hands, they collaborate—one strengthening the other, just as Watsons Anodising has always done in the workshop.

The best technology keeps the human touch

While the industry ebbs and flows — with energy bills spiking, metal prices doubling, margins tightening — these leaders stay composed. They’re a formidable firm with fingerprints everywhere — on systems, structures, and everyday things built to last. Chances are, you’ve walked past their work more times than you know.Top of Form

AI will keep reshaping how businesses run, but these leaders don’t flinch from it. They see it as the next evolution of the same skill Watsons Anodising has always practised — using new tools to make their work stronger, smarter, and built to last.Bottom of Form

With Sage Copilot, they have more resources at the ready to create with. They’re proving that the best technology doesn’t remove the human touch; it amplifies it.