Massey University has launched an Innovation Strategy to encourage staff and students across its disciplines in successfully transferring their knowledge and ideas for the benefit of the society in general and the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular.
As a part of the strategy, the University has appointed an in-house expert to assist companies to become more innovative and overcome challenges relating to design and development.
Former Fisher & Paykel Appliances General Manager (Quality) Colin Gilchrist will work as a part-time Innovator-in Residence at the Albany Campus of the University along with School of Engineering and Advanced Technology Senior Lecturer Dr Aruna Shekar and her students.
Following his retirement from F&P last year, Mr Gilchrist established Set Based Solutions Limited to provide Learning First Product Development (LFPD) education and consultancy in association with the US based Targeted Convergence Corporation.
A University communiqué said there was a need to assist New Zealand companies in their quest for innovation and improved quality and productivity.
“Mr Gilchrist is a champion of the LFPD model based on the Toyota manufacturing approach, emphasising thorough research and knowledge capture at the development stage in product design.
“He will conduct workshops to help students and companies adapt the method and boost their productivity,” the communiqué said.
Visiting American Product Design Educator Kent Harmon is assisting him and Dr Shekar in achieving their goal and in conducting workshops.
Inadequate investment
According to Mr Gilchrist, many companies do not invest appropriately in planning and research of their product in the early stage of establishment.
“Most manufacturing companies have two issues in common that plague their innovation processes: the loss of knowledge across projects and the continual loopbacks to fix problems caused by design decisions made with incorrect knowledge. Engineers spend much of their time fire-fighting problems that could have been solved earlier in the development process,” he said.
He said these problems could result in delayed schedules, cost overruns, lost engineering productivity, poor quality products and subsequent lost profits.
Dr Shekar is keen to assist SMEs to become effective partners in innovation and product development.
Seven years ago, we reported the launch of her ‘Product Development Benchmark Study’ to survey 1000 companies to offer new methods of assessing their strengths and weaknesses (Indian Newslink, August 1, 2004).
Her expertise will be useful in the new initiative of the University.
“We will monitor and enhance industrial innovation practices to world-class standards in partnership with engineering firms Gallagher and Tait, electronics company Aucom and food manufacturer Hansells. Other companies will be coming on board later in the year,” Dr Shekar said.
The research programme underway includes an assessment tool to gauge current performance of product innovation, a new product development model with a focus on the front-end (the foundation and critical stage) of development, and set-based (creating multiple design variations simultaneously) thinking and methods.
“LFPD methods are being integrated into product design teaching and research at Massey to equip a new generation of engineers for future challenges.
“Our aim is to adapt the successful new product development model in New Zealand to suit the company context and culture, and validate it through industrial case studies and propose a map for the sustainability of learning within companies,” Dr Shekar said.
