Strategy for growth and innovation
Paving market
Joint-It is a ready mixed jointing compound for a maintenance-free, long-lasting professional finish for all things paving. Perfect for patios, driveways, gardens and commercial areas, the company is experiencing a fast growth phase. The business is now seeking to identify new opportunities for innovation and sustained development and to devise a strategic roadmap to manage this growth. A series of workshops took place with the Joint-It Managing Director and Marketing Manager, facilitated by the design strategist. The aim was to scope and frame the existing product, key activities and users. The stakeholders were identified and visually mapped along with global market territories currently supported and those for future development.
Developing roles
The analysis and findings showed that the company had a strong team with diverse skill set but that a roles review and evaluation was required to support the current growth trends. All of this was captured in a strategic roadmap designed to address each area within a recognised timeframe with the appropriate steps to implementation. New product development (NPD) areas were identified and research initiated around this potential. The role evaluation identified the need for a number of new staff members. The attributes required for each of these roles was considered to ensure addition to the company knowledge pool. Enterprise Ireland is supporting the development of these roles. The key aim was to remove some of the operational daily activities from key managerial roles to allow for more time dedicated to R&D, regular evaluation and strategic planning.
11
employees
5
countries exported to
7
years in business
“The Design+ Gateway has a real world understanding and I think that is important. I found it great. We know that the Gateway is not just telling us what we want to hear, it was about asking the right questions in terms of challenging us, the right question plays a huge part in moving the thinking forward.”
Joint-It
The Joint-It & Design+ partnership
Another key area to address was identified in relation to manufacturing/stock level prediction. This was identified as particularly difficult given the nature of the different market territories with regard to language and legislative requirements. The traditional high stock levels required to meet these demands – multiple varieties of product packaging/labelling – resulted in complex production/packaging/distribution logistics. The facilitated ideation with the company identified the need for a universal packaging design which will result in a decrease in stock hold, which equates to a significant financial cash flow release and more streamlined operations. This phase of design is currently underway supported by a second innovation voucher.
The company has evaluated and revised roles to support current growth trends. The design of a universal bucket/packaging is underway which will result in a significant reduction in stock levels and increase the production capacity to meet future growth needs. A strategic roadmap has been formulated which provides steps of implementation, time frames, supports required, key decisions and milestones for the overall future growth and NPD for Joint-It.