Lifting equipment design consultancy.

Somers Handling’s design consultancy is the front-door for clients who need engineering thinking before they commit to hardware. Our consulting engineers work with clients on feasibility, concept design, FEA, specification writing and independent design review — as a standalone engagement or as the first phase of a broader design-and-manufacture project.

When design consultancy is the right call

The typical client engaging us for consultancy is facing a question that doesn’t have an obvious off-the-shelf answer:

• “Can we retrofit this?” — a legacy building or production line where the load path, headroom or structural capacity isn’t straightforward. We assess what’s feasible, what it would cost, and what the risks are before design goes any further.
• “Is the incumbent design good enough?” — a third-party design document or vendor proposal where the client wants an independent engineering review before procurement.
• “How do we write this into a tender?” — a customer who knows they need a lifter, crane or handling line but needs a technical specification that will attract comparable bids from a competitive set of suppliers.
• “We’re changing process — what lifting equipment do we need?” — broader strategic questions about how a site’s handling capability should evolve, usually tied to a capex programme.

What you get for your money

Every consultancy engagement is fixed-price. We write the proposal against a specific scope, deliverable set and timeline — so the cost is predictable and the work lands where you expect it. Typical deliverables include CAD models and drawings, stress calculations, standards-compliance summaries, FEA reports where required, written specifications, and a short written report that you can circulate internally.

Independence matters

Somers Handling designs and manufactures lifting equipment in-house — which means when a consultancy engagement concludes that we’re the right party to build what’s been designed, we can do that seamlessly. But it also means the consultancy work itself has to be genuinely independent: we’ll recommend a competitor where a competitor is the right fit, we’ll identify issues with our own standard product range where they apply, and we’ll write specifications that invite real competition. Long-term credibility depends on it.