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Case Studies
This page contains a selection of the case study material that we have available for both past and current projects. These, and other case study material are also available for download in Adobe PDF format from our downloads page. If you cannot see the case study that you require then please Contact Us. This page currently features Invensys Rail Group, Espartec and Selther Manufacturing.
Espartec
| Espartec is a systems integrator, specialising in control and monitoring for the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical industries. They are based in San Luis Potosi, Mexico but are looking for global opportunities. Espartec solutions are recognised as being excellent quality and value for money with good customer service | ||
Challenge To create strategies that would allow Espartec to realise its ambition to be an innovative company and to kick start the innovation process. |
Solution To conduct an Innovation Audit in order to assess the current position of the company and to run Idea Generation and Creativity Awareness workshops. |
Benefit Clarification of a number of ideas for senior management and creation of strategies that would address some of the major challenges currently facing the company. |
The Brief
“To assess the current capacity of the company to innovate and identify areas for development as well as areas of strength. To introduce alternative methods of thinking that will allow employees to create new and innovative solutions for customers and new ways of managing the company.”The company recognised that although it was successful, its sales had leveled out and that something needed to change in order to take Espartec forward into the future. The company’s current mission statement referred to Innovation but this was an aspiration not reality. The problem was to determine how well equipped the company was to innovate, to provide some of the tools required to start the Innovation process and to address some of the problem areas likely to be identified by the Innovation Audit.
The Audit
The Innovation Audit revealed that there were no significant weaknesses within the company but it highlighted several areas for improvement which could have a significant impact on the performance of the company. After the Audit Report was presented to senior management, the top five problem areas were identified and used as inputs for the workshops.The Workshop
The workshop was run over a period of one and a half days and was a combination of a Creating The Difference workshop and an Idea Generation workshop. Around 20 employees were introduced to creative problem solving and idea generation techniques and then given the problem areas from the Audit Report to investigate. The objective was for each team to generate and test ideas before creating a short presentation at the end of the workshop.
The Results
The 20 attendees organised themselves into 4 groups and then selected which of the problem areas they wished to investigate. This in itself tested their decision making since those who reacted slowest were left with the topics that no one else wanted. Each group used a variety of techniques to explore options and then focus on one solution to their ‘problem’. Everyone entered into the spirit of the occasion and the General Director was given four detailed presentations regarding strategies for Team Working, acquiring and using Market Intelligence, creating and communicating a new company vision and creating an Innovation process.Apart from the immediately useful outputs regarding strategy, the attendees were introduced to a toolbox of techniques for use throughout the company and shown that it is relatively simple to generate 50 or so ideas in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.
Selther Manufacturing
| Selther Manufacturing Selther is a major manufacturer of mattresses, based in three locations within Mexico – Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. The company has expertise in fabrics and furniture construction and faces a dilemma regarding its future. Would it be possible to move into international markets or different sectors and if so how? What were the core capabilities on which to build a profitable future? | ||
Challenge To take stock of the company’s current position, set in motion a programme to generate new product ideas and structures to move forwards into the future. |
Solution To use the Innovation Toolkit to assess the innovation capacity of the company and to gain an understanding of possible ‘quick wins’, areas for development and to target scarce resources. This was undertaken in conjunction with creativity training for innovation team members. |
Benefit A comprehensive report covered the key drivers for innovation, highlighting that the company already possessed a number of core capabilities and that for very little effort, a great deal of progress could be made. A number of new products were developed and brought to market. |
The Brief
“To reinvent the company in order for the customer to recognise us as an organisation where ideas and imagination flow.”The company recognised that its own future lay beyond the current boundaries of its industrial sector and national frontier. The programme needed to examine what was possible and then generate concrete results, laying foundations for the future.
Kickstarting The Innovation Programme
Initially, two activities were carried out in parallel. The first was an appraisal of the company’s ability to innovate using The Innovation Toolkit. Secondly, a group of individuals from across the organisation were released from their everyday jobs and moved to ‘The House of Ideas’. Here they were introduced to new ways of thinking and given time and resources to carry out research and prototyping. The whole programme was constrained within strict timescales – within 8 weeks from the start there were to be at least 2 product prototypes that were capable of being manufactured.The Results
The plot to the left shows the overall ability of the company to innovate. The results were compiled into a comprehensive
report showing areas of strength, possible ‘quick wins’ and areas for development. This was used as a basis to create an
action plan for ongoing development work.
At the end of the 8 week period, around 1500 or so ideas had been generated and evaluated, with 150 being thought worthwhile to record in detail. There were a total of 14 concrete product ideas, and over 20 ideas for marketing and services. Prototypes were produced and less than 6 months after the programme began 4 new products were revealed to customers and distributors.
Two years later, Selther has opened a new manufacturing facility, two new Sales offices in Madrid and Houston and increased their workforce from 800 to 1100 employees. In addition they have collaborated with two Swedish designers to create VUJJ, a design house that creates contemporary furniture designs. The Innovation programme is still ongoing.
Invensys Rail Group
| Invensys Rail Group is an international provider of railway control systems. Our value proposition includes the provision of signaling design. The supply of competent signaling designers is a constraint on our growth, we are keen to understand the potential for acquiring these skills in target markets. One market of interest is Russia, and her neighbours outside the European Union. | ||
Challenge Invensys want to grow internationally using existing products and there is a shortage of signaling engineers in the UK who can service this growth. Invensys also want to produce their new range of signaling solutions as a collaboration. |
Solution Investigate the structure of the Russian railway market and search for partner companies who are capable, willing and able to contract with Invensys. Desk based research was used to give a background. This was followed up with formal approaches to a select number of companies and relationships developed. A visit to 5 organisations in Russia followed. |
Benefit Following the visit to Russia, 2 of the organisations look to have a fit, and Invensys wish to move forward with them. They have had permission to engage with Invensys and take part in future collaboration. |
The brief
To understand how signaling design services are delivered to Russian railways and answer the following questions: who performs signaling design, who they work for, what qualifications are required in order to undertake this work, where training is provided, the potential sources of signaling design services to IRG. IRG also wished to establish whether any of these factors were sensitive to change e.g. as a result of privatisation or reorganisation. IRG also wished to identify prospects, organisations and individuals who might be interested in contact by IRG.Deliverables
PRD produced a narrative description of the structure of the industry together with a list of targets (including contact details)
for prospecting by IRG. The success of the engagement was to be judged on the quality of these contacts.
Russian railways has, gone through many improvements over the last 10-15 years and many are ongoing. Finding key
people in a very large country is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Our starting point was to examine the railway companies who are regionally based. Many of these have some capabilities, and each can operate with some degree of independence from the main organisation.
Each company is regional, and supported by either institutes or Universities for training. Some Universities and Institutes are
more involved than others in new projects. For instance, St Petersburg University has been instrumental in designing and implementing the new metro In St Petersburg.
At the end of our first stage of research we had a map, institutions and companies. Along with this we had compiled a database of potential contacts. This we used to answer the questions about education and training, but not about where the work took place. The second stage was to target individuals and companies. We employed a native Russian, Olga, who advised us on how to approach, customs and culture, and provide translation. We then approached our contacts by letter, fax, and e-mail and after many exchanges of information a visit to Russia was organised. In May 2007, Roger and Olga accompanied Ceri Gosling (IRG) spent a week visiting 5 organisations in 3 different locations. During August 2007, 2 organisations expressed an intention to work with Invensys.
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