The Winning by Design Awards were created to recognise companies that have used innovative design to enhance business performance.  Azteck did exactly that when their Manufacturing Improvement division scoped the Innovation Award and were runners up in the Designer’s Award.

 

 

Entries comprised a ‘Business Impact’ report and working prototypes.  The judging panel, made up of leading industrialists and innovators, under the chair of Brian Lever of AstraZenica, reviewed entries and asked further questions.

Bob Dow, Prosper’s chief executive said:
“The diversity and calibre of the entries has been quite outstanding”.

The awards were presented at a televised gala dinner for 400 guests.

Azteck’s Winning by Design Entry

Azteck worked as a facilitator within the client’s own team to stimulate new ways of thinking and working.  ‘Destroy & Rebuild’, creative thinking techniques, Continuous Improvement, and the Lean philosophies were used to great effect.

Our clients have been manufacturers of lubricators for 60 years.  These lubricators are used on very large engines, and machinery such as compressors for trans-continental gas pipelines.  Their market position was being challenged by cheaper, less accurate and shorter-lived units from overseas.

The lubricator had to be dramatically reduced in price, while retaining the high performance, precision accuracy, exceptional long life.

Azteck’s design succeeded in cutting the assembly time for each unit from 139 minutes to 51 minutes.  This and new manufacturing techniques lowered the cost by 35%, increasing product profitability by 500%.  The new design uses half as many components as its predecessor and takes advantage of modern manufacturing processes.  The new lubricator is fully interchangeable with the existing design and can even be exchanged without stopping the machinery, (both unexpected achievements).

The judge’s commendation read: 
“... (the) judges wanted to acknowledge how much Azteck had achieved in so little time in modifying the design and manufacture of the pump system.  We were impressed by the design of the new model especially as it has already demonstrated enormous cost savings.”

Azteck achieved this in 6 days and a prototype was running on a test rig within a week.

The aspect we find most exciting about this process and the results is that the same design team designed the new lubricator - the difference was Azteck and the guidance we gave.

We are most grateful to our clients for permission to publish this article.