Morley Electronic Fire Systems Ltd, based in North Shields, Tyne & Wear, manufacture fire detection systems.
Although Morley had been manufacturing fire control panels since 1992, by 1996 much of the manpower that might otherwise have been available for new product development was being used to amend and develop existing products in an incremental, unstructured way.
Feedback from existing and potential customers suggested that Morley's products could be both cheaper and more attractive, these suggestions acted as the catalyst for action and kick started the new product development process.
The first step was to develop a definitive product specification, which would hopefully remove any future need for constant updating and iterative development. This was given a great deal of thought both internally and via potential customers, and following the definition of a product specification, Morley contacted Business Link Tyneside for advice on the best way to proceed with its development.
Business Link helped initially with the selection of design consultants to assist with the project, and also offered a grant towards the cost. Working as a team, Morley, Business Link, and the chosen design consultants defined the most appropriate and cost effective development process, and agreed all relevant criteria and specifications, including an ambitious target manufacturing cost.
During the early stages of development, a wide range of possible production processes were investigated and roughly costed. These valuable 'ballpark' costs indicated that the sheet steel front door of the unit should be replaced with an injection moulded plastic one, reducing production costs, and giving additional aesthetic opportunities.
The resulting design process was fluid with, on occasion, key personnel from Morley sitting with the consultants in front of a computer, working together as a team to contribute their own specialisms and knowledge to the process.
A range of functional and aesthetic solutions both for the casework and the user interface were developed and evaluated through illustration and model-making. Innovation was added to the product where possible, in this case leading to the addition of a movable 'flap' which covered those buttons rarely used, leaving the main control panel clear and uncluttered.
The main selling forum for Morley's product is an industry trade show held annually at the NEC. The use of plastic moulded components in the new product meant that full production parts would not be available until after the trade show and so an alternative was needed.
In this instance, a fully functional appearance model was manufactured, to demonstrate the product to potential customers once inside the boundary of the trade stand. In addition to this, a computer animation of the product in action was produced, and presented on a high mounted monitor, visible to potential customers both inside the trade stand and passing by it - in order to entice them onto the stand.
In order to achieve manufacturing budgets, the tooling and moulding of the plastic parts was undertaken in China. There are definite pros and cons to this approach and careful consideration was given to proposed production volumes, the relative quality of components and tooling, communication during the tooling processes and planning during manufacture. Any savings made in the tooling and moulding processes could soon have been eroded if the tools had to be remade due to inferior quality or if during manufacturing, as a consequence of bad planning, small quantities had to be shipped to fulfil orders.
All these issues were successfully overcome by Morley, and during the first 18 months of sales the product achieved the ambitious targets set at the beginning of the development process.
Ask yourself !
Since this case study was written, Morley Electronic Fire Systems has been involved in a series of corporate takeovers. It is now part of Morley-IAS Fire Systems - a company formed by an amalgamation with IAS Electronics Ltd and Ancon.
Morley-IAS Fire Systems UK, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, is part of the Honeywell group of companies.
Morley-IAS Fire Systems UK website
