Independent consultant, Gordon Macrae, shares his insights from this year’s TMMX judging week.
Back in September, I had the privilege of judging the Product Innovation & Design category at The Manufacturer MX Awards. Four days of factory visits and in-depth discussions provide a rare chance to get under the skin of innovation in UK manufacturing. It is both energising and sobering. Energising to see new ideas and approaches in action, sobering to see the challenges that remain.
Five themes stood out this year, each of which says something important about where innovation is heading.
- Innovation teams are breaking the mould
The traditional stage-gate approach is giving way to something more agile. Companies are creating small, empowered intrapreneurial teams who are free to experiment outside the weight of normal processes. The result? Faster routes to market and, often, products that are better aligned with customer needs. This shift suggests that the cultural side of innovation may be as important as the technical.
- Innovation needs better KPI’s
Almost every business I visited described innovation as “vital”. Yet when I asked what the key performance indicators were for innovation, the measurement systems were generally under developed. If innovation is truly a critical activity, then it must be measured. Innovation needs numbers as well as narratives.
- Don’t skip the sandpit
Ideation and experimentation are not indulgences — they are necessities. With time, cost and resources all being issues it is challenging to play in the “sandpit” before moving into execution. Skipping this stage risks missing the breakthroughs that only emerge through exploration. Businesses must give their teams permission to think, test, and even fail, if they are to create world beating products.
- Technology is a means, not an end
We often hear that new technologies will define the next great products. What I saw instead was a more nuanced reality, Whilst new technologies are crucial, some companies weren’t inventing new technologies; they were applying existing tools and data in smarter ways to generate insights. These insights, in turn, were used to improve products and customer experience. Technology is most powerful when it sharpens the focus on the customer, not when it dazzles in isolation.
- Start with the customer problem
The strongest innovations began with a customer pain point and worked backwards. Solve a real problem, delight the customer, and you create a product that can command a premium. With the rapid pace of innovation, it’s understandable that businesses sometimes look for opportunities to apply a promising new technology. The companies we visited reminded me that problem-solving customer problems, not tech-hunting, is the essence of innovation.
A call to action
What do these lessons mean for the sector? First, manufacturers must continue to evolve their innovation models, empowering teams to move quickly and creatively. Second, we need to hold ourselves accountable by defining and developing clear KPIs. Third, leaders must resist the temptation to rush to execution — the sandpit matters. And finally, we must always keep the customer at the heart of our efforts, using technology as an enabler, not a distraction.
The TMMX Awards are a snapshot of where UK manufacturing is today. They reveal a sector that is full of ideas, experimenting with new ways of working, and seeking to stay competitive in a challenging global market. But they also remind us that innovation is not a slogan. It is a discipline — one that requires clarity, courage, and above all, a relentless focus on the customer.
The companies we visited were all at different stages on their innovation journey, but they all had recognised its importance in creating competitive advantage and delivering commercial success. Without doubt they will all be the winners in their respective markets.
The winners of The Manufacturer MX awards will be announced on Wednesday 12 November at a gala ceremony in Liverpool. Stay tuned to find out who they are!
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