Built by someone who has carried the margin.
Zach Johnson, MEng MIET — programme and project manager across aerospace test equipment, waste-to-energy installations, rotating-equipment MRO and military aftermarket, and founder of AutoDrive/Z. AutoDrive/Z is built on hands-on experience across project management, engineering operations, process improvement and commercial delivery. The systems are designed around how work actually moves through an organisation — not around a generic software product.
How we work
Every engagement follows the same three-stage model — scoped to the size of the problem, not a predetermined package.
Assess
Map one decision-critical information flow. Find where data breaks, duplicates or arrives too late to act on. Deliver improvement options with indicative costs in writing.
Build
Design the improved process, control model and measures. Build the integrations, workflows, dashboards or application around your existing systems.
Embed
Deploy into the real operating environment. Measure adoption and decision quality. Extend only where the value is clear.
Background
The conversation starts with your process, not a product demo — and holds up with programme managers, operations leads, commercial teams and the board.
- Programme and commercial ownership on complex engineering and operational deliveries
- Cross-functional team leadership across ten-function IPTs
- Process improvement across engineering, commercial, procurement, production, quality and commissioning
- Reporting and control systems built because the existing ones didn't answer the question
Sectors
Project-driven businesses where delivery, cost and quality must hold at once.
Approach
Nothing here was designed until someone had spent a fortnight on a shop floor with a notebook. The process comes before the software — every engagement starts with understanding how information actually moves through the business, where it breaks, and what it costs when it arrives too late.
AutoDrive/Z exists because the systems these programmes needed didn't exist — and the ones that did were designed for a different problem. Every solution is shaped around one organisation's operating model, not adapted from a template.
Project portfolio
21 projects across multiple sectors
Live demos, project documentation, before-and-after comparisons and measured outcomes from previous engagements. Access is shared during or after an initial conversation, subject to client confidentiality.
Company information
AutoDrive/Z is a trading name of Zach Johnson, a sole trader. Correspondence address and professional indemnity details available on request.