The CapabilityPage Checklist

In Forrester's 2025 Buyers' Journey Survey, 94% of business buyers said they used AI somewhere in their buying process. When a project engineer asks an assistant for "UK subcontract machinists holding ±0.01 mm in stainless, ISO 9001, batches of 200", the tool builds its answer from what is written on suppliers' websites. It reads ordinary web pages, rarely opens PDF brochures, gives most weight to the opening of a page, and quotes specifications rather than adjectives. Those are the same habits a human buyer has with an approved-supplier form in front of them.

It applies to a single capability page or to a set of pages, one per process. Tick each item off against your own site, and where you cannot tick it, write the missing line using the example as a pattern.

What you make

1. A one-sentence description in the first fifty words that says what you make, for whom, and where.

   Buyers scan the opening and AI tools give it most of the weight.

   Subcontract CNC turning and milling for aerospace, medical and motorsport customers, in batches of 5 to 500, from Norwich.

2. The processes you offer, named as an engineer would name them.

   "Precision engineering solutions" matches nothing a buyer types.

   CNC turning, five-axis milling, cylindrical grinding, wire EDM.

3. The part families or products you are known for.

   Hydraulic manifolds, valve bodies, turned shafts to 1,200 mm, thin-wall aluminium housings.

4. The sectors you supply, with the standards each implies.

   Sector and standard together are what buyers filter on.

   Aerospace (AS9100), medical devices (ISO 13485), food processing (hygienic design).

Machines and capacities

1. A machine list with make, model and axis count.

   A quality manager checks the model number against what the maker says the machine can do, and an AI tool quotes the row it finds; a list that says "a range of modern CNC machines" gives both of them nothing.

   DMG Mori DMU 50, five-axis simultaneous, 500 x 450 x 400 mm.

2. The working envelope for each process, and the smallest features you machine routinely.

   Maximum diameter, length, table size and weight are what a buyer with a 900 mm housing checks first, and a stated limit saves you quoting parts that do not fit. Small-part buyers ask about the smallest features first.

   Turning to 366 mm diameter and 760 mm between centres; milling to 1,000 x 600 mm and 400 kg. Turned pins to 1.5 mm diameter; 0.3 mm cross-holes.

3. Automation and unattended running.

   It tells a buyer you can hold price on repeat batches.

   Two pallet-pool machines run lights-out; bar-fed lathes to 65 mm.

Tolerances and quality

1. Tolerances held in production, by process.

   "Held in production" means the figure you would put on a first article report and hold across a batch of 200, not the best result on a new machine. If you run Cpk studies, give the figure; if you do not, say which tolerance you quote to without a surcharge.

   ±0.01 mm on turned and milled features up to 100 mm, held in production; ±0.003 mm ground.

2. Surface finish achievable, by process.

   Sealing faces and cosmetic parts depend on it.

   0.4 Ra turned, 0.2 Ra ground, 0.1 Ra lapped.

3. Inspection equipment with make, model and measuring volume, and the calibration regime.

   It is what lets a buyer accept your inspection report instead of repeating it.

   Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex S 9106 CMM, 900 x 1,000 x 600 mm, UKAS-traceable annual calibration.

4. The inspection documents you provide.

   Regulated customers need the right format before release.

   AS9102 first article reports, PPAP to level 3, certificates of conformity with every batch.

Materials

1. The materials you machine every week, by grade.

   Difficult alloys are a filter in their own right.

   Aluminium 6082 and 7075; stainless 303, 316 and 17-4PH; titanium 6Al-4V; Inconel 718; PEEK.

2. Whether you supply material or work from free issue, and to what certification.

   It changes the quote and the lead time.

   Material supplied from approved stockholders with EN 10204 3.1 certificates; free issue accepted and checked on receipt.

3. Finishes and treatments, and whether they are in-house or through approved subcontractors.

   Anodising to BS EN ISO 7599 and passivation through Nadcap-approved subcontractors; laser marking in-house.

Approvals

1. Each standard with the certificate number, the certification body and the expiry date, and the certificate itself as a download.

   A buyer can check a standard that comes with a certificate number and cannot check one that does not. Approved-supplier forms ask for a copy of the certificate, and the buyer would rather not email you for it.

   ISO 9001:2015, certificate 12345, LRQA, valid to March 2027. Certificate available for download.

2. Customer or sector approvals you hold.

   Prime-contractor approvals shorten the buyer's own audit. State them where you are permitted to.

Commercial

1. Batch sizes that suit you and any minimum order.

   Batches of 5 to 500; no minimum order; scheduled call-offs against annual orders.

2. Lead times for quotation, first-off and production.

   Lead time is the second question after price, and a stated figure is what a tool quotes back.

   Quotes within two working days; first-offs in five working days; production batches in three to four weeks.

3. What you need to quote, and what a quote includes.

   Send STEP model, PDF drawing, quantity and required date. Quotes are itemised with three price breaks and valid for sixty days.

4. Payment terms and how an account is opened.

   Thirty days on approved account; pro-forma for first orders.

Contact

1. A named technical contact with a direct telephone number and email address.

   The engineer with the drawing wants the person who can read it; a general inbox adds a day to every enquiry.

   Technical enquiries: J. Smith, Engineering Manager, 01603 000000, jsmith@example.co.uk.

2. Your address, site and how you deliver.

   One site in Norwich; own van across East Anglia and the Midlands; next-day courier elsewhere.

Structure and markup

1. All of the above in HTML on the page, not only in a PDF brochure.

   Gorilla76's 2026 audits of manufacturer sites found the specification in PDF brochures and the adjectives in the HTML; the tools read the HTML.

2. Headings phrased as the questions a buyer asks.

   "What tolerances do you hold?" is the question the tool has just been given, word for word. "Quality" as a heading is not a question anyone asks.

3. Organization, Service and FAQ structured data.

   Structured data is a set of labels in the page code that tell a machine what each item is. These three give it the firm's identity, its services and its published answers, and cost nothing to add.

Page skeleton

The order below puts the most-quoted information first and follows the order of an approved-supplier form.

1. A one-sentence description of what you make, for whom and where.
2. Processes and part families.
3. The machine list as a table, with make, model, axes and capacity.
4. Tolerances and surface finish, by process.
5. Materials, by grade.
6. The approvals table, with standard, certificate number, body, expiry and download.
7. Inspection equipment and documents.
8. Batch sizes, lead times, how to get a quote, payment terms.
9. Sectors served and representative parts.
10. Questions buyers ask, each as a heading with a two- or three-sentence answer.
11. Named technical contact, address, delivery.

Questions buyers ask

Eight headings worth having on the page, each followed by a direct answer of two or three sentences.

• What tolerances do you hold in production?
• Which materials do you machine?
• What is the largest part you can handle?
• Which quality standards are you certified to?
• Do you take prototypes and one-offs?
• What are your lead times?
• Do you supply material or work from free issue?
• Can you provide first article inspection reports?

The full list for your sector, with what each question means and an example answer, is in the Buyer Question Bank.

Sources: Forrester, Buyers' Journey Survey, 2025. Gorilla76, AI search audits of manufacturers, 2026. SparkToro, citation position analysis, 2026. Approved-supplier questionnaires in common use in UK engineering. Example figures are illustrative.