Kraken Business

Manufacturing innovation

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Businesses and retail customers have an ever-increasing range of products to choose from, so manufacturing businesses face constant competition in order to retain or increase their market share.

Manufacturers therefore need to be flexible and to consider new ways of working as well as new technologies that will allow them to respond rapidly and cost-effectively to customer demand.

Businesses can introduce innovation in manufacturing to a wide range of areas, including new processes, new materials and the use of new equipment. It can improve the quality of your output and the health of your business.

This guide explains how manufacturing businesses can benefit from innovation and outlines the different areas in which it can be introduced. It covers important new manufacturing technologies, shows you how to protect your innovations and identifies sources of help and advice in this area.

Table of Contents

The benefits of manufacturing innovation

In the manufacturing sector, innovation usually refers to:

  • product innovation
  • the introduction of innovative processes and equipment, often IT driven
  • green technologies which reduce waste and use consumables more efficiently

The benefits of innovation can include:

Did you know?

There are several Government or affiliated organisations who offer a range of products and services that can help your business with design, innovation, intellectual property, measurement and standards needs.

Download a full list of services provided by these organisations for more information [opens in a new window].

  • greater responsiveness to customer demands
  • faster turnaround times
  • reduced waste levels and downtime
  • improved product design and quality
  • greater potential for a wider product range
  • streamlined relationships with suppliers and customers

Introducing innovation to your business requires time and money. You can introduce innovation either gradually or in one go – the timeframe will depend upon a range of factors including:

  • the specific changes you want to introduce
  • the availability of resources to complete them speedily
  • whether you might need to stagger disruptions to your production capacity while the transition is being made

You can find out about innovation on the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) website- Opens in a new window.

For more information on the benefits of designing sustainability into your business, see our guide on ecodesign for goods and services.

Designing Demand is a practical mentoring programme developed to help small to medium-sized businesses and technology start-ups use design to improve performance.

It helps businesses embed effective processes for the management of design and innovation and gives managers the skills to exploit design by spotting opportunities, briefing designers and running projects that deliver.

Designing Demand is part of a range of support offered to businesses in England through the government’s Solutions for Business portfolio.

Find out about Designing Demand on the Designing Demand website- Opens in a new window.

Find out about the range of support for business included in the government’s Solutions for Business portfolio.

How manufacturers can innovate

Innovation is crucial to the competitive position of manufacturing businesses.

The key to innovation in manufacturing is to make sure that it’s driven by your business needs, not by the attraction of change for its own sake.

Therefore you should:

  • consider what areas of your business would most benefit from a new approach
  • consider all the different areas of your business where manufacturing innovation could be implemented
  • innovate in those areas which drive the performance of your business

There are many areas with opportunities for manufacturers to innovate, including:

  • Component sourcing – new components, new suppliers or an improved deal with your existing suppliers could improve your products and your profits.
  • Materials technology – new materials could improve your products or their packaging and presentation.
  • Factory process control – you could automate process control, including quality control, to give better efficiency and products.
  • Equipment maintenance – automatic scheduling of maintenance will ensure that equipment is kept running smoothly and that you build downtime into the least busy part of the production cycle. This will also enable you to comply with health and safety regulations.
  • Stock control and order processing – constantly look for better ways to streamline your order processing and stock control to ensure that you have the right amount of stock.
  • Logistics and warehousing – rethink how you deliver your products to your customers so that you take advantage of new transport opportunities and keep warehousing costs to a minimum.
  • IT systems – keep up to date with developments in the IT systems you use.
  • Accounting procedures – your accounting, invoicing and payments procedures should be streamlined with your stock control and order processing and updated regularly.
  • Customer and supplier relationship management – you can gain valuable insights into how to improve your products and their delivery from your customers and your suppliers.
  • Marketing – innovative marketing strategies are an important way to set the products you manufacture apart from those produced by competitors.
  • Design – designers can help you develop new products and services, or redesign your existing products to improve their functionality and client appeal.

Just-in-time production

Just-in-time (JIT) production, sometimes called lean production, turns traditional manufacturing thinking on its head.

Rather than producing goods and supplying customers from stock, JIT processes focus on producing exactly the amount you require at exactly the time your customers require it.

The advantages of JIT

The main benefit of JIT is that it can improve production efficiency and therefore competitiveness.

It does this by:

  • preventing over-production
  • minimising waiting times and transport costs
  • saving resources by streamlining your production systems
  • reducing the capital you have tied up in stock
  • dispensing with the need for inventory operations
  • decreasing product defects

It can also bring many of these advantages to your customers, so if you have a JIT approach it can win you new business.

The disadvantages of JIT

Implementing thorough JIT procedures can involve a major overhaul of your business systems – it may be difficult and expensive to introduce.

JIT manufacturing also opens businesses to a number of risks, notably those associated with your supply chain. With no stocks to fall back on, a minor disruption in supplies to your business from just one supplier could force production to cease at very short notice.

To find out about lean manufacturing, see our guide on Six Sigma and Lean-related methodologies.

E-business and manufacturing

E-business is the use of IT and particularly the internet to improve the way businesses operate.

These technologies can:

  • increase the efficiency of your business systems
  • streamline your relationships with suppliers and customers
  • increase the speed, flexibility and efficiency of the production process
  • expand the range of what can be produced 

IT solutions can also be applied in other areas of manufacturing businesses:

  • intranets and resource management software improve the co-ordination of the production process
  • extranets and accounting systems can be used to link your order book with production, dispatch, invoice generation and stock replenishment systems
  • warehousing and stock control systems can be streamlined
  • online procurement and supply chain management software can lower costs and facilitate a just-in-time approach to production – see the page in this guide on just-in-time production

Find information and support on the Manufacturing Advisory service (MAS) website- Opens in a new window.

Key manufacturing technologies

An increasing number of manufacturers are using software packages and other technologies to improve their business performance. Key IT solutions for manufacturing businesses include the following:

  • Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – this provides a bird’s-eye view of a manufacturing business, using a single piece of software to connect operations across the business and to take account of each area’s position when allocating resources and planning production schedules. Read how ERP can benefit your business on the CIO website- Opens in a new window.
  • Computerised maintenance management systems – these use electronic systems to monitor assets, plant and equipment in manufacturing, primarily to identify maintenance requirements but also for accounting purposes.
  • Supply chain management – this uses software tools to manage the flow of materials and products from your supplier to you, within your business and from your business to your customers. See our guide on supply chain software.
  • Manufacturing execution systems – these use software designed to run factories more efficiently and effectively, collating many factors, such as downtime and wastage.
  • Product data management – this is the use of electronic systems designed to help cut the time and costs of bringing products to market.
  • Manufacturing process simulation – this is the use of software models to study and improve manufacturing processes.

Clusters as drivers of innovation

Collaboration in ‘clusters’ between businesses and associated institutions with common interests – such as universities, trade associations and public authorities – can result in a more competitive, productive and innovative environment.

The grouped businesses start to build a strong knowledge base. Educational institutions begin to specialise in the cluster’s activity, which brings in and produces more skilled workers. This level of expertise encourages innovation and new start-up businesses, and also draws venture capital into the cluster – encouraging further growth.

Clusters can contribute to the foundation of knowledge and help stimulate technological innovation, as is seen in the technology clusters in California’s Silicon Valley and Bangalore in India. They may also spur creative innovation, as in the fashion designing clusters in Paris and Mumbai.

Clusters can facilitate commercialisation and new business formation through spin-offs and start-ups. One cluster often seeds or enhances other clusters as it disperses activities in the value chain to reduce risk, access cheaper inputs or better serve particular regional markets. A good example of this ‘domino’ effect is the optics cluster in Arizona, which gave rise to further clusters in plastics, aerospace, environment technologies, information technologies and biosciences.

Helping clusters to maximise their potential

To help clusters maximise their potential, there are a number of cluster initiatives that aim to tackle barriers to growth. Support for clusters includes helping companies access a skilled workforce, quality universities, good sites and investment capital. Growth in these clusters also attracts suitable suppliers and customers to the area.

The government’s ‘Cluster Mark’ aims “to identify, share and celebrate the best in the UK’s manufacturing cluster activity”. You can read about the Cluster Mark on the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) website- Opens in a new window.

Where to get help with manufacturing innovation

If you think that manufacturing innovation might allow you to improve your business performance, there are many sources of help and advice in the public and commercial sectors.

The following organisations offer a range of support in this area, from financial advice to technological assistance and resource-sharing with other businesses undertaking innovation initiatives:

Also, see the page on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships in our guide on how to work with UK universities and colleges.

Protecting innovative ideas and practices

Your manufacturing innovations are a valuable asset. They can make your business more efficient or set it apart from your competitors.

Therefore, it is essential for your business’ success to ensure that you:

  • promote innovation across your business
  • protect any innovative ideas and practices you develop

The main tools with which businesses can protect original and innovative ideas and practices are intellectual property (IP) rights. For further information on IP rights, see our guide on protecting intellectual property.

The main type of protection for a manufactured product, or part of a product is the patent. Patents allow you to protect the functional and technical aspects of original products you develop. You can also patent original innovative manufacturing processes. See our guide on how to get patent protection for your business.

Another way to protect your IP is through copyright, which can be applied to computer software, literary and artistic work. See our guide on copyright for your business.

Design rights automatically apply to any new appearance for a three-dimensional object you design – you don’t have to register them. However, you can also apply for design registration which gives you extra legal protection. See our guide on design right and registration.

You can find out about IP rights on the Intellectual Property Office website- Opens in a new window. You can also download a leaflet on using patents to protect your ideas [opens in a new window].

CASE STUDY

Here’s how lean manufacturing systems increased our productivity

Autoglym Ltd produces a range of vehicle care products at its factory in Letchworth. The company has implemented a number of lean manufacturing techniques in recent years, including a complete overhaul of its product assembly area. Manufacturing manager Mark Evans explains the benefits.

What I did

Get advice

“We became interested in lean manufacturing via a Department for Business, Innovation & Skills sponsored scheme with Cranfield University’s School of Industrial and Manufacturing Sciences (SIMS). Senior managers attended a series of workshops while SIMS did an audit of our factory and provided consultancy support to get us started. We made successful improvements to workplace organisation, production processes and material planning systems.

“However, rapid growth and increasing demand prompted us to revisit our lean manufacturing systems last year. To get a fresh perspective on our processes, we contacted the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) for the East of England. Two MAS consultants conducted an initial review and together we identified our product assembly area as a particular area for improvement.”

Involve the team

“MAS worked with me and a team of assembly line workers to look at changing our processes. It was important that the people actually doing the job understood the benefits. We focused on our key product, Life Shine, which is a vehicle care kit comprising 24 components.

“Initially MAS guided us through several simulations to get us thinking about a ‘just-in-time’ approach, where the right quantity of the right component moves through each stage of the assembly process as needed.

“They then helped us to design a new flexible manpower line. Our team tested different versions before picking the best solution. The solution still had glitches, so MAS then worked with us on the factory floor to trial the new system and make modifications.”

Put new processes into practice

“We implemented the new system immediately. The Life Shine kits are now assembled in half the time, using the same number of people. We estimate we’ll make an annual cost saving of over £100,000. Customers benefit as well because lead times are shorter and delivery dates are more accurate.

“We’ve since rolled out the new processes in other parts of the factory to great effect. What’s more, our employees have since identified a string of additional improvements that we’ve put into practice.”

What I’d do differently

Involve the whole workforce

“Although we’ve communicated the new approach throughout the company, we should have involved the whole workforce earlier. At the time, it seemed impossible because we couldn’t shut down production, but in retrospect we could have found other ways to get them involved.”

Read more case studies that describe first hand how people tackle real-life challenges and opportunities.

CASE STUDY

Here’s how I use innovation in my manufacturing business

Gripple is a Sheffield-based manufacturer of joining and tensioning devices that was set up by entrepreneur Hugh Facey in 1989.

Here, Special Projects Manager Gordon Macrae talks about the importance of design and innovation in developing new Gripple products.

This video was developed in partnership with the Design Council. Read about the work of the Design Council on the Design Council website- Opens in a new window.

Transcript

Gordon Macrae: “I’m Gordon Macrae – I’m the Special Projects Manager at Gripple. Gripple’s a 25 million Sheffield-based manufacturer of wide joining and tensioning devices, we have two key markets – agriculture and industrial. (Close-ups of machinery and employees at work in the factory) Despite all the doom and gloom about the worldwide economic recession, we’re one of the few companies – we believe – that can actually demonstrate that we’ve actually been growing at some 20 per cent per annum over the last two to three years, so business is challenging, but we’re really excited for the future.

“For many industrial businesses, I think perceived wisdom is that design isn’t actually that important, that what you need to do is produce a functional product. I think what we’ve learnt over the last three years is that design is increasingly important – the tactile feel of a product, the shape of the product are equally important to its functionality. (Shots of employees at work in the Gripple offices, talking on phones and working at computers) We’re an innovative business – we try to get people to come up with innovative ideas, but we weren’t generating the right number.

“Design for us, perhaps is a slightly difficult term. What we know is that we’re out to solve a customer problem, so design is an integral part of actually the solution to it. What’s increasingly important is the design that you put in actually has a tactile feel to it, and it’s one that the customer actually buys into. You may not think it’s actually important in industrial products but increasingly it’s something that the customer is actually asking for, so for us in summary, it’s a combination of aesthetics and actually solving a customer problem.

“For us, one of the key requirements of the ideas/innovations team is to generate 25 per cent of our turnover from products that we’ve actually launched in the last three years. That’s probably the key KPI for this business – it’s not about profit – it’s actually about continuously developing new products and I think if you look at what we’ve achieved today, we have a very simple process and that process enables us to bring products to market – typically in three to six months, which we believe is probably faster than the vast majority of businesses.

“We’ve now got a structure in place, which enables us very simply to manage projects, and we do it more efficiently and again, it does two things – it means that we bring products to market quicker, we’ve got a design team that are much more motivated in terms of doing projects that add value and I think also it gives them the time to be more creative, to perhaps focus on the products which will take us to the next level.”

Disclaimer: The material in this audio/video may include the views or recommendations of third parties, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Kraken, or indicate its commitment to a particular course of action. We assume no responsibility or liability arising in respect of any such third party material.

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