For AKW, the UK’s leading inclusive living solutions provider, being a British company which designs and manufactures the vast majority of its ranges in Britain represents one of the company’s core values.
When asked the question why this is so important, the answer invariably comes back that it is the only way the company can really be close to its market and deliver the products that meet market needs and high quality requirements.
It all began 25 years ago in Worcester when businessman Anthony Keith Webb – hence AKW – needed to source a low access shower tray for a member of his family. He took his problem to Graham Lock, who made GRP products, and together they designed the required shower tray. Immediately seeing a potential demand for this tray with the elderly and people with mobility problems, they took the product to market and started promoting it to local authorities. Before long, the shower tray operation became bigger and by the 1990s AKW had moved on to identifying other associated products, first adding shower screens and then the full spectrum of specially designed assistive products for the bathroom and kitchen.
As demand grew, AKW looked to expand its shower tray manufacturing operation but there was no question of looking beyond the UK for cheap manufacturing facilities. Instead, the company looked to the Isle of Man. The island had dual attractions: local government grants designed to attract employment and a workforce with an in-built expertise in glass-fibre technology developed in the marine industry. Today, AKW’s manufacturing arm is the biggest employer on the island, together with the highly skilled design and engineering team.
Asked why keeping manufacturing in Britain rather than outsourcing to lower cost economies was important, Special Projects Director, Bob Simpson, says: “In Britain, we have a heritage of manufacturing excellence and design skills. Our founder’s motto was ‘make it well and make it last’. You can only do that if you are in full control of the design and manufacturing process, with quality control running through every stage. By controlling the way in which we manufacture, we can make sure that all the right processes are in place and that what comes off the end of the line is what we expected.”
AKW also believes that having a UK-based design team enables it to be much closer to its market. Global Product Manager, Stuart Reynolds, says: “Obviously any company has to understand what their customers want, but in our market that is so much more crucial. Our customers can have very specific needs and it is really important to understand those. Our design teams are totally focused on our market and they are experts in what they do – finding solutions around customers’ needs. People rely on our products, day in, day out, and they can make a big difference to the quality of their lives. If you are not in complete empathy with those customers, you can’t deliver the solutions that they need.”
A case in point is the development of AKW’s award-winning Luda® electric care shower. Where other manufacturers used existing designs and applied to them the standards worked out by the industry for electric care showers, AKW’s design team started from square one and looked at the features they believed should be included in an electric shower for the care market. In developing the Luda®, they consulted with a range of experts, from occupational therapists to representatives of a dementia charity and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). Four years of development work resulted in a shower uniquely designed for the care market that carried a full range of approvals, including RNIB accreditation.
Another advantage of having a British-based design team is that the designers themselves have the opportunity to interact with customers. Bob Simpson: “We regularly hold events where we invite customers to product screenings. In this way, our customers, healthcare professionals, architects, installers – everyone who might be involved in the decision-making process – has the opportunity to influence the way in which we design our products. That is why our design capability is so strong – it is based on real market knowledge.”
Another advantage of UK-based design and manufacture is the flexibility it can offer. As Bob Simpson says: “Our minimum batch size is one.” He adds: “While we have a core range of products, there can be huge variations in customer requirements for items like shower trays and enclosures or kitchen units. With a UK-based manufacturing operation that is totally under our management control, we can build in the flexibility to respond to one-off requirements and turn them around within a matter of days.”
Finally, there is the question of market perception and, as Stuart Reynolds says, with a British engineering heritage, there is still a cachet attached to the ‘made in Britain’ label. He says: “We are a main supplier to local authorities and certainly in the public sector having British designed and made products is very important. I think in the market in general, being British goes a long way.”
