Manufacturing Ascent
Product innovation
Stair lights from Miles Nelson Manufacturing
Product innovation that allows a company to offer clients new or improved products can come about in a number of ways. It may come about as the result of new or recent developments in science and technology or result from new combinations of existing technologies. Innovation can also involve the way things are made. In the case of the Lumos Bracket, a combination of these approaches was taken.
Sometimes a project may require outside expertise be called in. Miles Nelson worked with the Light Metals Research Centre at the University of Auckland to develop good casting and coating methods and an efficient production system. The collaboration was supported by research and development investment of almost $150,000 from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology through its Technology for Business Growth (TBG) scheme.
The whole development took about 12 months, Lee says, and was a resource hungry process that had to be fitted around the normal day-to-day operations of the company. Was it worth it? In dollar terms that remains to be seen, but Lee says his company has benefited in intangible terms in that it learnt a lot about the process of innovation, which will stand it in good stead for the future.
"We learnt a lot about adding technical advantages to our products. Innovation results from a marriage of practical skills and the design process. We are not afraid of looking at radical products."
As a sign of its commitment to innovation as a business strategy, Miles Nelson recently hired an engineer to bring technical skills and a fresh perspective to the process.
