NYMAS

Recruiting talent

Billingham-based company NYMAS manufactures bathroom and toilet equipment for elderly and disabled people for customers including care homes, hospitals and the hospitality industry.

Challenge

Recognising a gap in the market for specialist ‘luxury’ products NYMAS approached us to help them look at whether it was cost effective to bring their product design and development in-house, as well update their internal processes to support the company’s future growth.

Solution

We worked with NYMAS to complete an initial diagnostic and explore their objectives. By identifying that fundamental changes to their processes would need to be implemented without compromising on the day-to-day running of the organisation, we were able to advise the company to pursue two internships. This is where a graduate is embedded in an organisation for 6 – 12 months to work on a specific project. This also includes the support of academics from Teesside University who will be able to direct and advise the graduates.

The two interns researched ways in which NYMAS can streamline its systems and processes as well as developing new product designs and implementing new design processes.

Impact

NYMAS is already seen extensive cost savings by bringing product design and development in-house as well as a greater degree of innovation and flexibility in its designs.

The new ERP system will streamline the company's processes to save staff time and to be more aware of issues relating to quality, design and delivery so that they can be resolved before and during manufacture.

We are seeing a lot more multi-generational homes because of the increased drive to care for elderly and disabled persons in their own home. This all means that there is an increased need for non-institutional, inclusive design washroom facilities.

To meet the growing demands of this market we need to function as efficiently as we can and we need our product to be more than purely functional but also have a quality design aesthetic.

Working with Teesside University and Thanos and Lawrence is helping us to achieve this and we’re looking forward to the benefits it will bring.

Craig Anderson, Managing Director, NYMAS

The experience and knowledge that we glean from working on KEI projects is passed back to our students and at the same time we’re able to help companies like NYMAS grow and flourish.

Peter Reid, Enterprise Fellow in the School of Design, Culture & the Arts

This project is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government, securing £300m investment.

The project will make a major contribution to the ambition of the ERDF Competitive Programme 2007-13 and by increasing the numbers and survival of business start ups in the region and increasing business productivity.