About us

Simportal builds and runs operational control systems for growing manufacturers: MRP, MES, QMS and WMS, developed on one platform and shaped around how each client’s business actually works.

We are a family firm. The Simportal platform is designed, built and developed in-house by a small, focused team, and that is deliberate. Four of the team build systems hands-on, so development capacity never rests on one person. The people who build your system are the people you speak to, and the people who keep developing it as your operation grows.

The people behind Simportal

Tom Harvey, Managing Director
Leads the business and sets the direction of the Simportal platform. A computers and mathematics graduate, he has been building engineering-focused software since 2018.

Alex Harvey, Operations Director
Oversees the commercial side of the business and leads delivery for key client accounts. A first-class Civil Engineering graduate who still works hands-on in client operations, including estimating.

Thomas Robson, Customer Solutions Director
Works with clients to shape their systems around how their operation actually runs, from first build through continuous development.

Peter McChesney, Platform Development Manager
Leads development of the Simportal platform itself, the foundation every client system is built on.

Anton Kobotaev, Platform Developer
Develops the Simportal platform, building the core capabilities every client system draws on.

Julie Harvey, Office Manager
Keeps the business running day to day: the administration, invoicing and coordination behind both the team and its clients.

Brian Harvey, Founder and Business Development
Six Sigma Black Belt with a background in engineering, software and operations management in aerospace manufacturing. Works with prospective clients to understand where control is slipping and what to build first.

Peter Swanborough, Business Development
An engineer by background, from designing luxury boats to building them, with many years in software delivery, sales and support. Works alongside Brian helping manufacturers find the right starting point with Simportal.

Why we started

We started Simportal because we kept seeing the same problem from inside manufacturing operations: not a lack of software, but systems that stopped fitting the business years ago, held together by spreadsheets, workarounds and key individuals. The software industry’s answer, rigid systems that businesses must bend around, seemed backwards to us. So we built the opposite: a platform that lets us develop the system around the operation, and keep developing it, delivered as a service for one fixed monthly fee.

We do not impose generic workflows, and we do not deliver one off projects and walk away. Simportal starts alongside whatever you run today, whether that is spreadsheets, a legacy ERP or nothing at all, and only takes over what it has earned through evidence.

Our background is operational, not just technical. Between us: engineering, software development, Six Sigma and operations management in aerospace manufacturing, where process discipline and traceability are non-negotiable. That experience shapes everything we build, from mistake-proofed data capture on the shop floor to traceability that stands up in an audit.

Where Simportal runs today

Today Simportal runs live operations across manufacturing and beyond: food grade packaging, plastic film, pet food, and stock control across more than 1,000 veterinary sites. Some clients run their entire business on Simportal. Others use it alongside systems they need to keep. Every deployment starts the same way: one focused area, proven in parallel, expanded on evidence.

Hosted on Microsoft Azure. Your data always remains yours.

If your systems no longer reflect your operation, start with the five-minute Operational Control Assessment.