How JS Humidifiers grew sales by over £1m just by rethinking its brand.
The issue
Complacency is a cardinal corporate sin. Avoiding it, even if you have been a market leader for 25 years in a specialised field, requires ruthless self-scrutiny and the openness to bring in new thinking. Luckily the UK’s largest humidification specialist, JS Humidifiers, exhibited both these traits when it decided to put design first. And the decision is already delivering a return on investment.
Since 1980, the company, which generates annual sales of £7m, has been providing equipment to control environments ranging from pharmaceutical plants to art galleries. In 2006, technical director Tony Fleming says, the company needed to change to sharpen its competitive edge.
“We’d been making and selling our two flagship products – JetSpray and HumEvap – for many years,” he says. “To ensure their continued success, they needed updating. We were also aware of new competitors, so the time was right for a facelift.”
The solution
Taking advantage of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme – the part-government funded programme that enables businesses to improve their competitiveness by using the knowledge, technology and skills that exist within academic institutions – JS Humidifiers brought in product design graduate Stanislas Brahier to work on its redesign project and inspire the company’s in-house team with fresh ideas.
“We needed help with our corporate design,” Fleming admits. “We needed to create products that looked as if they belonged to the same family, with the logo in the same place and so on. I asked our Business Link advisor if he knew anyone locally who could help us and he recommended the Design Council’s Designing Demand programme.”
Designing Demand helps businesses become more innovative, competitive and profitable by helping managers exploit the power of design.
The designers encouraged us to focus on reducing waste and cost, as well as enhancing the product Tony Fleming, JS Humidifiers
James Duguid and Jonathan Ball were drafted in to help define project objectives and act as design mentors. “We wanted to use our own guys,” Fleming says, “but we needed to make sure they had assistance. James and Jonathan set us on the right track. As well as advising us on enhancing product appearance, they encouraged us to focus on other things such as reducing waste and cost.”
The redesigned JetSprays and HumEvaps were not only better looking and cheaper to make, their improved energy efficiency made them more environmentally friendly.
Fleming adds: “We assessed such factors as supply-chain management, inventory and commonality of components. Our CAD software has been used to its full potential, which has improved efficiency because drawings now go straight to sub-contractors’ machinery rather than having to be re-programmed by them. The software also enables us to prototype much more rapidly.”
The outcome
The redesigned JetSpray proved an immediate hit and attracted orders totalling £1m when it was launched at a major trade show in 2007. HumEvap has sparked a similar buzz. “The redesigns have impressed our customers,” Fleming says. “And without doubt, our competitiveness has increased as a result.”
Designing Demand’s influence has inspired staff at JS Humidifiers. As well as boosting the bottom line and increasing competitive edge, a new zeal for design is evident throughout the company.
Article first published in Design Council Magazine, Issue 5, Winter 2008