New patent, improved turnover, reduced losses – are they cable to do it?

A KTP project at cabling and trunking company, Cableduct changes the way the MD views her company.

A former engineer, Caroline Wrinch bought the 57 year old business, Cableduct Ltd in 1997 with plans to make the company grow. Although Cableduct has steadily increased profits over the last 9 years, Caroline knew the company had further potential and wanted to exploit it. She decided new product development was the way forward. "I knew that I wanted to create new cable boxes, but I had no time to do it,” Caroline commented. The company had formerly used outside contractors to design new products but were unhappy with the results. “They copied existing designs and charged us £20,000."

In an attempt to avoid outsourcing additional work, Caroline decided to try a KTP programme through London South Bank University. Caroline hired KTP Associate Alasdair Convery in 2005 and whilst still in his first year on the job Alasdair had developed and patented an entirely new and unique product that Caroline said could more than double the gross profits at Cableduct. “This is the first project that will allow us to compete head on – it will have a huge impact,” confides Caroline.

The new product is a plastic cable box that will have fewer components than traditional boxes, snap on components and most importantly unique features setting it apart from the rest of the field. The new push fit and outlet flaps are good examples of the original ideas developed by Alasdair.

Chris Dowlen is the academic expert on the project and says "Alasdair is involved with a real project – we have someone who is really doing it here. I pick up information from him and am working directly with him. This project will have a real impact at Cableduct," he said.

Alasdair, who is also pursuing a higher degree as part of the project, recently took a course in Intellectual Property at London South bank University, which teaches students about patent applications, just as Cableduct was applying for a patent for their new product. “It is great having to manage the whole project as opposed to being assigned a small area to work on. It provides diversity and a sense of satisfaction seeing your creation come together,” Alasdair remarked. Having a grasp of the commercial aspect of business is also crucial to a KTP Associate and Alasdair will be putting his to the test when it comes the second year of his project and he is tasked with selling the 2000 series to new customers. “He is the best person to sell it because he knows every line and every curve,” Caroline added.

In addition to creating and selling this remarkable new product Alasdair focused his attention on cutting material losses by 20%. "Through the KTP we were asked to carry out a one-week mini project, so I decided to look at our scrap skips," he said. He soon discovered that the company was wasting nearly 20% of their materials and consequently brought the problem to light, Caroline initiated action and the problem was solved.