New Products Through Innovation
Thomas Thomson Ltd of Blairgowrie, a family fruit business, was one of four companies to take part in the pilot Supply Chain Innovation project run by C2. The company is rapidly developing a new product as a result of the collaborative process.
The company is a soft fruit grower and packer of raspberries and strawberries, redcurrants, gooseberries and blueberries. The main customers are the large UK supermarkets and the company sells to them through marketing co-operative. They also sell locally, direct to the public, at farmers' markets. The company has a core staff of 15 people, which expands to 450 seasonal workers during the picking season. The company has been trading for 70 years and has a turnover of £4m.
The company was already involved with the Food Processing Faraday project looking at novel processing options for berries, as a way of adding value to the raw product.
Whilst the company was keen to follow up this idea, Melanie Thomson, who took part, found it was helpful to participate in the ideas generation part of the programme - she developed more ideas, which came from members of her own team and from the other companies.
Key Points from this case study:
- Collaboration can often help companies to develop new products more quickly
- An intensive programme can help really help companies to new products and processes which add value quickly to their businesses
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