Talking Innovation
By Caliber Design
Talking InnovationFeb 08, 2023
MARK PENNINGTON – Shaping Innovation & Sustainable Design in New Zealand
For over four decades, Mark Pennington has been a driving force in New Zealand's design industry. Talking Innovation with Mark covers iconic chairs to groundbreaking partnerships, education to Grand Designs … we explore his early influences, career highlights, and vision for the future of design and innovation. Discover how his strategic thinking and commitment to sustainability have shaped not only his own success but also the trajectory of design in New Zealand.
DESIGN ENERGY – Robotic solutions for better productivity, profitability, reliability, and quality.
15 years ago Mike Shatford saw a gap in the market for product design, production engineering and industrial automation using robotics, mechanics, and mechatronics. He founded Design Energy and, over that time, has found a sweet spot in the use of industrial robots to solve complex production automation problems. They’ve now designed and built more than 100 unique robotic solutions for Kiwi businesses, including the likes of Facteon, Fisher & Paykel, Gallagher, Hamilton Jet, Rio Tinto, Synlait, and Thermo Fisher.
TIMOTHY ALLAN – Design-driven leader, innovator, and mentor. Sustainability champion. Proudly Tauranga-based.
Timothy Allan is a bit of a guru on multiple levels … product design, branding, sustainability, leadership. He’s recently handed over the CEO reigns of UBCO electric bikes and is enjoying a bit more time to explore the outdoors with his family. Meanwhile, he’s a Strategic Mentor for Cucumber, a Tauranga-based tech company; a Startup Mentor for business development service Soda; a Fellow of the Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship; and remains director of Locus Research, a product development and innovation company that supported the development and launch of UBCO, Inverse hair conditioning system, Delloch Hip Protection, and multiple other products … all from the sunny Bay of Plenty. He’s presented around the world, consulted on product commercialisation and applied business development a wide range of businesses … and consulted to the NZ Government on innovation, life cycle thinking, sustainability, and design. Tim has been an icon nationally and within the Bay of Plenty – establishing the Young Innovator Awards, Fieldays Innovation competition, and co-founding the WNT Technology incubator.
BRAD HURNDELL – Academy award winner, ex RNZAF, honours degree in mechanical engineering who’s creating world class camera systems for the film industry
Brad Hurndell has amassed a wealth of experience in the last 20 years … taking him to the cutting edge of camera technology. One of the highlights: seeing his product strapped to a jet in the latest Top Gun movie (Maverick) … withstanding the insane forces of 700kph, barrel rolls, and flips … capturing footage that will be enjoyed by millions around the world.
After 20 years and extreme success, Brad has recently left Shotover Camera Systems and setup IMMORTAL Camera—offering a bespoke design and build service for extreme stabilisation challenges in the motion picture and television industry. He also offers a brokering service for those looking to buy or sell any stabilized camera system.
In this podcast, Jonathan and Brad discuss his career to date … starting out, developing product, financing, manufacturing … managing cashflow … reaching international markets. Managing remote international teams and developing transparent systems for working collaboratively. Building a deep understanding of customer need. Understanding and managing innovation—step change vs incremental progress. Perfection and competing against “good enough” products. The intricacies of camera technology. Developing products with the entire eco-system in mind. They discuss what’s worked, what didn’t, and why … and how problems were resolved.
Brad is an absolute powerhouse of knowledge and an inspiration to talk to. Not one to rest on his laurels, he’s now a Chartered Director and was recently awarded the Southland Emerging Director award … he’s also completing a Post Grad Diploma in Accounting.
Watch behind the scenes Top Gun Maverick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAAhff3bxw
WYMA SOLUTIONS – Post-harvest vegetable & fruit handling equipment, $2M to $50M in 20 years
From humble Canterbury beginnings to a $50M operation in 20 years, Andrew Barclay has led WYMA Solutions to become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of post-harvest vegetable and fruit handling equipment. They design, manufacture, install, and service post-harvest equipment for pack houses around the world.
WYMA’s mainstay product is the Vege-Polisher They’re so good that, in some parts of the world, people talk about “owning a WYMA”. (Like how someone refers to an adjustable spanner as a Crescent). You know you’re onto something great when your company name becomes a generic term!
In this podcast, Caliber Design’s Jonathan Prince talks innovation with Andrew: how they started, how they went international, what drives innovation, what WYMA's values mean to the business and how they help drive innovation, how they really get to know their customer's latent/unmet needs, what differentiates WYMA in the marketplace, the impact of 'the Kiwi attitude', how cross functional teams drive innovation, biggest challenges, biggest achievements, biggest buzz ... and lastly, advice to anyone who's thinking about getting into business.
This is a cracker of a first episode! We hope you enjoy it. If you do, please share it with your colleagues, leave us a review, and subscribe. We'll be Talking Innovation with more business leaders in the product design/mechanical engineering/innovation/sustainability-space over coming months.
www.wymasolutions.com | www.caliberdesign.co.nz