CASE STUDY
Project Title:
ENGAGE - STEM Work Based Learning (WBL) and
Employer Engagement (Design Management).
“THE DESIGN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME”.
Author:
Gavin Cawood, Operations Director.
Date:
August 2012.
Department:
National Centre for Product Design & Development
Research (PDR).
Institution:
Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Contact Details:
gcawood@designwales.org
Office - 029 2041 7043 Mobile - 07810852508
Abstract:
The Design Management Programme recruited three groups of STEM-based SMEs and used a multilayered approach (workshops, one-to-one and the development of a bespoke diagnostic &
implementation plan) to build the confidence and capability held within SMEs (formally or
informally) in how they develop of new products or services.
The core of the programme was the delivery of five key workshops over three to five weeks, during
which participants worked together to explore the issues raised. On returning to their businesses the
participants were required to apply the insight they had gained to their specific circumstances and
ultimately use this as framework to develop a bespoke action plan for the management of design in
their organisation.
The programme was a success in terms of both the twenty individuals attending the programme, all
able to identify changes in their approach to innovation management in the future, but also in
bringing together the three core elements of the PDR research centre (research, knowledge transfer
and commercial services) to better exploit their combined expertise and experience.
The Design Management Programme will be sustained at least until 2015, becoming part of other
knowledge transfer activities and providing a template for the development of further projects.
Background and Rationale:
The institution.
The National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR) is a design and innovation
research institution set up by Cardiff Metropolitan University in 1994. Activities include
doctorate/post-doctorate research, commercial consultancy and the delivery of knowledge transfer
programmes on behalf of regional, national or European government.
With its own modern building PDR works in partnership with most of the academic schools in the
University but maintains a business-facing rather than academic culture in order to attract industry.
In addition to office space facilities include meeting/seminar rooms, a product design studio, usercentric design lab, several rapid prototyping technologies and a production workshop capable of tool
production and batch manufacture.
In summary, between 2001 and 2011:
 6,000 enterprises have been assisted by PDR in addressing design, innovation and
manufacturing issues.
 600 products have been developed by PDR for commercial client companies.
 8,000 delegates have attended seminars, workshops and conference events organised by
PDR.
 350 medical models, implants and devices are developed by PDR for 50 UK hospitals each
year.
The PDR building at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
PDR Workshop.
User-Centric design laboratory (completed 2010).
Why design management?
Design is a practical route for companies to be innovative and provides a bridge between traditional
R&D/invention and the end user / finished product. It is also rapidly emerging as an important
aspect of innovation policies around the World, with Europe making a particular comment to the
potential benefits it can bring to national competitiveness:
“Our strengths in design and creativity must be better exploited”
Innovation Union, European Commission 2011.
“It is the European Commission’s “vision that by 2020, design should be a fully
acknowledged, well-known, well-recognised element of innovation policy across Europe, at
European level, at national level and at regional level”.
Peter Dröll, Head of Innovation Policy Unit, European Commission DG Enterprise and
Industry, 29 March 2011.
Despite maintaining a leading position in terms of the training and availability of design expertise UK
industry fails to exploit this in any significant way, in part because of a lack of experience in justifying
investment and in the management of appropriate expertise. This HE STEM project had the objective
of addressing these shortfalls.
Why this approach?
PDR has been successful in the past in supporting SMEs in their understanding and use of design,
including the delivery of over 40 Knowledge Transfer Programmes (KTPs) and a long-term design
advisory service on behalf of the regional government. In contrast to the KTPs, most of the
engagement with industry has had a short-term impact with businesses making contact with support
programmes because they had immediate issues to address (fire fighting). Even in cases where SMEs
went on to develop new products or services it is difficult to influence how they might manage
innovation more effectively over the long term.
The HE STEM programme enabled the development of a project that was both accessible to SMEs
(with workshops early in the morning and spread over a short period) that focussed on their
immediate need to develop a new product or service but ensured it increased their capacity to
manage innovation over the long term.
Implementation:
Identifying the need and insight from research.
Since 2009 PDR has been working to bring its three core activities (research, commercial
services, knowledge transfer) closer together. In developing the content for the Design
Management Programme insight gained from a particular PhD research project was used to
address a need identified during the delivery of knowledge transfer programmes.
PDR helped to establish the Design Management Europe Award (DME), an annual
competition that rewards organisations for how they manage design. Based on the
completion of a comprehensive questionnaire by each entrant, this has provided a
significant and unique source of data since 2007 on how organisations can manage design
effectively.
Through discussions with staff working in business advisory/support roles the five core
topics that would be basis for the five workshops in the programme were identified:
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The competitive advantage of design
Managing design in SMEs (the design process).
The technology of design and product & service prototypes.
Understanding your end users.
Managing external design expertise
Over several days the content of the DME questionnaire and the insight gained from the
analysis from the data gathered since 2007 was cross-referenced with these five core topics
to build an initial comprehensive and inclusive programme that could underpin effective
design management.
Mapping the customer journey.
PDR currently deliver a service design programme for SMEs in Wales and made use of this
expertise to map out a complete customer service journey for potential participants, taking
into account how they would hear about the programme, make initial contact, formally
become participants, work with each other and ultimately gain insight from the programme
and develop an action plan for their own business. During this process much significance
was given to how the programme would be pitched to appeal to busy SMEs and the most
appropriate methods to both maintaining their interest over the programme and ensure
their commitment to potential change.
Delivery format.
The Design Management Programme was led by an experienced business advisor with the
support of a researcher. These two members of staff were present at all of the workshops
and were the key contacts for the participants. In addition five other staff with a range of
specific expertise delivered the different workshops. As the participants met the wider team
it was made clear that all of the staff were available to provide one-to-one support upon
their request at any point during the programme.
Once the workshop outline and content had been developed three cohort groups (of up to a
maximum of eight participants each) were recruited via established business support
networks and e-mail to current PDR client databases.
As potential participants made enquiries about the programme they were asked to
complete a simple questionnaire about their current approach to design management and
what they wanted to achieve in attending the programme.
The three workshop groups were delivered over between three and five weeks each.
Between each workshop the participants were required to undertake tasks to explore the
topics discussed in the previous workshop in their own business, this was then discussed
upon their return to the following workshop.
Between each workshop participants were allowed to ask for one to one advisory support
from the programme team for up to a total of two working days each.
Workshop content.
In order to develop and ultimately deliver the workshop content staff from the commercial
services, knowledge transfer and research aspects of PDR were commissioned to develop
the following material.
Workshop 1. The competitive advantage of design
Provided an overview of how the effective use of design can help companies maintain a competitive
advantage in the market and facilitate them taking an innovative approach to business. Activities
balanced between general interactive seminar sessions and individual exercises to measure each
delegates current commitment to and capability for design. Workshop 1 was intended to illustrate
the potential advantages that can be found through a commitment to design and inspire the
individuals to champion the development of the use of design in their companies.
Workshop 2. Managing design in SMEs.
Provided practical guidance on how design can be effectively managed and championed by nondesigners in small and medium sized companies by addressing process and cultural aspects of the
business. The businesses were introduced to a well established product development process and
facilitated in realising how this can be integrated into their current business processes along with a
potential shift in their cultural approach to design.
Workshop 2 is intended to ensure SMEs take a formal approach to new product & service
development process in order to reduce both risk and lead times.
Workshop 3 -The technology of design and product & service prototypes.
Product development technologies are a key factor in the rapid design, development and
manufacture of new products. Workshop 3 provided a detailed introduction to the key issues
associated with managing rapid product development (RPD) and introduce the STEM SMEs to the
‘best practice’ theory of RPD and the technology available to drive RPD. Case studies on the
introduction of product development technology were presented and discussed, considering the
difficulties and barriers that these companies faced; how they overcame them; and how many
negative impacts can be avoided if the correct factors are considered during the planning and
implementation stages. This workshop was based in the prototyping workshop of PDR and included
the practical demonstration of numerous advanced manufacturing technologies.
Workshop 4 – Understanding your end users.
The first half of the Workshop 4 provided practical guidance on how businesses can understand their
market position and define their brand values in order to match their business objectives. The
second half illustrates how taking a customer-led approach can drive new product development &
service innovation. This included demonstrations of how the latest developments in rapid and
virtual prototyping can reduce product development time.
Workshop 5 - Managing external design expertise
Workshop 5 helped businesses to effectively manage the use of external design expertise in order to
achieve their design / innovation objectives. Key points will be how STEM-based SMEs can
understand how to define their needs in terms of a design brief & specification, identify appropriate
expertise, manage project progression and protect intellectual property.
The second half of Workshop 5 required participants to present their final design management
action plans to their colleagues.
Workshop participants in the seminar room and advanced manufacturing workshop.
Evaluation:
Overall the Design Management Programme was a success in terms of the impacts
identified by the participant SMEs (see below) and in providing a framework for the
development of future projects in PDR.
Fit for purpose.
To ensure the programme met the expectations of the participants both a flexible approach
was combined with the use of an Expert Advisory Group.
In recognising the differing needs and experience of the participant SMEs a flexible
approach to content and format was taken. The dates and time of the first workshops in
each group were always fixed but open for discussion once the group had met. As each
workshop group met for the first time the content of the workshops was reviewed and any
requests for change taken into account, this resulted in several changes to the content that
were specific to each group.
The Expert Advisory Group was consulted twice during the development of the programme
content and are scheduled to meet again in the Autumn to review sustainability of the
programme.
The Expert Group consisted of representatives from the Welsh Government department for
Business Enterprise and Transport, the design sector and manufacturing industry.
At the end of the programme each participant was required to complete a post-programme
evaluation questionnaire.
Discussion, Learning and Impact (Success):
Changes to the original proposal.
It was originally intended that each participant SME would be required to complete a
diagnostic questionnaire (based on that used in the Design Management Europe Award) to
provide insight for the delivery team. After initial consultation with potential participants
this was rejected as a significant barrier to initial engagement and replaced with a very short
questionnaire that asked about their objectives in attending the programme. Once a
relationship was developed with the participants they were given the opportunity to
complete the more comprehensive diagnostic – eight SMEs chose to do so.
Plotting the customer journey.
A key aspect to the success of this programme was the ability to plot and discuss the
potential journey that programme participants would take. This provided great insight in
how to most effectively engage with participants and ensure their commitment to future
change.
Impact as a result of the programme highlighted by participant SMEs.
All of the participants said they would recommend the programme to colleagues. In addition
the following comments on impact were captured:
“Our new product development process will now be much more structured because of this
new learning.”
“We will now look at strengthening our idea generation process.”
We will be setting up a new cross-functional team to support new product and service
development.”
“I will now take a more structured approach to product development”.
“I’ve already implemented a new traffic-light approach to my new product development
process. I had some of this knowledge but these workshops reminded me of the value of
good process.”
“We will now define our team roles more clearly and hold more structured meetings. To
encourage more innovation we will set-up cross-team communications and build better
business cases for projects.”
“With a better process and improved management I know I will be working more
efficiently.”
“The technical information was my weak point and now I know the right questions to ask.”
“We were working tactically on different bits and pieces. Now we will develop a proper
process.”
“I now know that design effects our business in many more ways than I realised. I’ll go back
and teach the rest of my team about the importance across the whole company and how to
join that up.”
Further Development and Sustainability:
The HE STEM programme has enabled PDR to develop material for a Design Management
programme that will be applied and further developed at least until September 2015.
This is possible through funding from the Institute for Sustainable Design (ISD). ISD is a project run in
partnership between the Swansea Metropolitan and Cardiff Metropolitan Universities until 2015 and
made possible by Structural funds administered by the Welsh European Funding Office.
In addition, the development of the HE STEM Design Management Programme has provided a
format for future cross-department programmes within PDR and the wider University that will be
applied to deliver programmes including those for Service Innovation in both the private and public
sectors.
Replicating the programme in other regions – off-site.
PDR offers an excellent environment for the delivery of design and innovation programmes, the
building being modern, light and full of the latest technology to capture the participant’s interest. In
delivering the programme off-site in the future some consideration will be needed to establish how
the creative commercial environment and technology might be replicated.
Outputs:
Worksheets developed for the delivery of the workshops and for use by participant
businesses.