‘Factory’ where ideas are manufactured

Press, 29 October 1981, Page 21

‘Factory’ where ideas are manufactured

By

STAN DARLING

A British county council has started an “idea factory” as part of its strategy to attack severe unemployment. The idea might catch on here.

The new Innovation Centre in Tyneside was seen by the Christchurch City Council’s top executive, Mr John Gray, on his recent study trip. “I was quite impressed by what they are trying to do,” Mr Gray says of the Tyne and Wear County Council project. “New Zealanders are a very inventive people. There are a lot of people with ideas, and no idea how to get them past that stage.” In some ways, the project parallels what the City. Council is getting ready to do with its small business advisory service.

The Innovation centre’s job is to produce prototypes of good light engineering ideas. So far. there have been about 300 ideas from 150 people, and some of them might have a future.

At the centre’s factory, an idea can become an invention. From there,, it might become a product; even the centre of a new business.

The factory had only one member when Mr Gray was there. He was its manager.

He was a metallurgist who had been the technical director of a manufacturing company.

Craftsmen will join him — tool-room hands and fitters and turners, who can build prototypes. There will also be a draughtsman.

When a good idea comes in. the library is checked first to see if it has already been patented. If not, the centre can patent it, partly by using a Polytechnic lecturer to help applicants write specifications.

The Polytechnic will also help evaluate the future product’s market. Then if it all seems feasible, a design drawing can be done.

A prototype can be made within the Innovation Centre’s small factory, or the applicant can do it. The applicants will only be required to pay for materials, but funds can be found from somewhere else if the person lacks the money.

From there, a special Enterprise Trust — also set up by the county — can help arrange financial assistance and business advice to take the idea on to production. At first, production could be done in a small way, in one of the county’s breeder factories. Some of those factories are not much larger than a double garage, but they are at least places to start. Many of the county's breeder . factory tenants move into larger factories,

also run by the council, or on to private industrial estates. They can also buy their own buildings. About 75 per cent of the Innovation Centre’s financing comes from Government urban programme grants. Applicants pay no fees, but someday the successful ones may reimburse the centre through something like royalty payments, Mr Gray says. Innovation Centre machinery has largely been given by local industry.

Some people with ideas that work may not want to go into business for themselves, and their prototypes can be referred to existing manufacturers on some payment basis. Mr Gray says the Enterprise Trust was one way of co-ordinating all the Tyne and Wear organisations — about 46 of them — that have been giving advice to potential businessmen.

(He says there are also “too many strands” in Canterbury, and the United Council should probably be the body to co-ordinate them). The Tyne and Wear County Council started its main industrial development programme in 1975, shortly after it was created under 1974 local government restructuring. By the end of this financial

year, the county will have developed about 32,0005 q. m of industrial floorspace, representing 173 factory units in 32 schemes. Some of the projects have been done jointly with borough councils. Since 1979, the county has concentrated on small factories, and they are now 70 per cent of the" total number started. When in full production, the factories could employ 1370 workers, with an average of 11 workers per factory. Of those jobs, 80 per

cent will be new; the other 20 per cent will have been transferred from other areas.

The county has declared five Industrial Improvement Areas since 1975, covering about 94ha. Others are being considered. “In real terms, they are getting potential businessmen into small businesses, retaining the businesses they fee might be threatened, and getting small businesses to grow to medium-sized ones,” Mr Gray says. “And that's the side of things that appeals to New Zealanders.” In Tyneside, the small business training plan probably comes closest to the City Council advisory service that will start here by the end of the year.

Redundant Tyneside business executives with management skills not being used because they are on the unemployment benefit can steer perhaps four small businesses each through the complications of finance,

production, and marketing that face anyone starting up. If the out-of-work executives are successful enough, they might be absorbed within the new or expanding businesses. Christchurch business counsellors will not be redundant, though some may be semi-retired, but they will perform much the same task. Applicants who file promising small business plans will be referred to the counsellors for confidential advice. Counsellors will assess the plans, and help the appliant decide where to go from there.

“It’s a pretty searching document,” the council’s job creation co-ordinator, Mr Geoff Stevenson, says of the application form, “but it’s pretty easy to fill in. It gives the council an idea of their capabilities. It’s not. designed to trap them.”

One thing it will determine is how familiar applicants are with basic accounting

procedures, and how well they can fill in a cash flow statement.

A business counsellor may decide that an applicant needs more training after he reads the form.

Applicants will be asked to make a personal assessment of themselves. Are they stable, enterprising, able to work alone, and prepared to work long hours, with no holidays for two years?

Would they be at ease asking people for money that was owed? Could they accept change readily, and live with an uncertain future?

Would they be supported emotionally and financially by their families, who might have to go without holidays and luxuries for some time?

Have they analysed the possible market for their product or service, and are they familiar with legal requirements of their proposal? The City Council’s two employment promotion officers will also chaperon applicants through council departments to make their trip easier through a sometimes-confus-ing set of requirements.

w cmr ©swat HELP CANTERBURY GROW

Part of the City Council’s promotion of its small business advisory service.