Impact case study database

The VFC has used £100k of competitively won research grant funding to leverage just under £32 million in economic benefit within UK aerospace, architectural, automotive, food and medical manufacturing businesses - a return on investment to the taxpayer of just under 32,000%. The impact of VFC research is two-fold: firstly, it improved the effectiveness of the support provided by Make UK (Wales) – shortened henceforth to ‘Make UK’ - for manufacturing and production businesses; and secondly, it directly increased supply chain development and innovation-driven cost-savings, both for individual companies and entire supply chains.

1. COMPS in Manufacturing & Production Industry – Make UK

Make UK is a registered Employers’ Association with national reach through their corporate and regional advisory boards. They provide their members with advice, guidance and support on manufacturing and business improvement and lobby Government on manufacturing issues, particularly the repositioning of manufacturing as a leader in skills development and a driver of competitive advantage for the UK. Prior to the collaboration with the VFC, Make UK had focused their business performance improvement intervention strategies around short course delivery in Health & Safety and Financial Management. They initiated collaboration with the VFC in January 2015 because they recognized that the VFC’s COMPs framework afforded them the opportunity to modify and redesign their client business performance improvement intervention strategy. The COMPS approach discards traditional single-loop learning approaches in preference for a double-loop learning approach which requires a deeper examination of organisational policies and objectives. The VFC’s previous successes, including their successful application of the Drum-Buffer-Rope methodology, a ‘pull system’ for scheduling and managing operations in a manufacturing plant [R4] and introduction of Lean Six Sigma to an aerospace supplier [R5] gave Make UK confidence that the COMPS framework would deliver significant business performance improvement.

The VFC subsequently equipped Make UK consultants to deploy the COMPS business performance improvement strategy with their clients. Using the double-loop approach, Make UK developed senior company management capabilities around business performance, enabling companies to reduce manufacturing costs through increased product and process innovation, allowing the more rapid introduction of new and innovative products. They eventually used the method to develop company-specific business performance improvement strategies with 319 companies. The gross value-added outputs of these in-company interventions were measured by applying the Department of Trade and Industry’s ‘Seven Measures of Quality, Cost and Delivery’ (QCD). Each company was benchmarked against the seven QCD measures at the start and end of the business performance improvement strategy and, where possible, up to one year after the business performance improvement strategy ended. Business performance improvement in each QCD measure was given a financial value by the CEO of each company and verified by their accountants. Using this method, Make UK calculated a gross value-added contribution by the VFC to the UK manufacturing industry of over £30m (E1).

2. COMPS in Supplier Development and Innovation

VFC research (E2) for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (a) made a significant impact on supply chain development and enhancement. For example it was used to create a four-tier supply chain network of medical manufacturing businesses which had never previously worked together (E3). The businesses cooperated as an innovation-focused, self-learning partnership by developing core competencies and aligning capabilities and knowledge. They used these new capabilities to design and develop a new product concept for a configurable sling and a product service system for medical hoists. At the same time they also piloted the Unified Innovation Model as a blueprint for collaborative working across supply chains and new product development (E4). The model demonstrates how to manage this collaborative innovation process and measure organisational learning.

Meanwhile, VFC work on Welsh food supply chains commissioned by Welsh Government (b) provided the evidence base (E5) for additional Welsh Government funding of £500k to Make UK, targeted at transforming the productive performance of food businesses in Wales. This project again applied the COMPS paradigm to increase the level of product and process innovation, this time within 41 food companies. Work is ongoing but initial productivity improvements to April 2019, from 27 of the 41 companies involved show savings of £1.634 million (E6), in relation to scrap reduction, space utilization, stock turnover, reduced energy costs and reduced time to market.

In summary, the VFC research has had a significant impact on the efficiency of manufacturing businesses, supplier development and innovation across Wales.