Presentation by Temitope Akinremi to the Cast Metals Federation (CMF) annual award dinner.

1. Temitope.Akinremi@wbs.ac.uk
Warwick Business School
University of Warwick
Twitter: @Temi_Akinremi
Diffusion of Excellence Across UK
Foundries and Metal Forming Firms
Stephen Roper and Temi Akinremi

2. About The Project & Phase 1 Outcome
• Project Objectives;
• 1st Phase; Research Questions & Interviews
 Industry perception of Innovation Collaboration, Motivation & Current Practice
• Understanding of innovation and its benefits
• Collaboration with SC Partners the most common innovation collaboration
• Inter-firm collaboration non-existent
• Knowledge about capabilities can influence the decision to collaborate
• Assess to information on trustworthiness essential for collaboration
Develop
strategies for
best practice
diffusion
Identify
extent of
adoption of
practices &
barriers
Identify
productivity
improvement
practices
Understand
productivity
distribution in
case-study
sectors

3. Focus in Year 2
• 2nd Phase; Conducted sector survey for generalizable outcomes
 Extent of adoption of innovation practices and barriers to adoption
 Influence of informational market failures on innovation collaboration
• 170 firms across case-study sectors; 75 Foundries , 95 Metal-Forming Firms
33
27
15
64
27
4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0-9 10-49 50-249
NumberofFirms
Firm Size
Number of Firms Interviewed by Firm Size
Casting Industry Metal-Forming Industry

4. Outcome……
• Firms that innovated in the last 3 years
41%
37%
22%
Percentage of Foundry Firms that Introduced
New or Improved Products/Services By Size
Band
0-9 10-49 50-249

5. Outcome……
• Motivation for Innovation
13.98
5.00
8.93
10.61
14.41
13.98
11.60
2.78
0.00
25.80
11.71
21.55
35.93
35.34
51.99
26.86
10.93
11.12
58.54
83.82
69.52
53.45
50.25
31.94
61.54
86.28
88.88
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Process Improvement
Remaining Competitive
Customer Demand
Cost Reduction
Stricter Standards
Improving Time to Market
Increasing Margins
Improving H&S
Improving Quality
Percentage Importance of Innovation Motivation in Foundries
Low Importance (%) Medium Importance (%) High Importance (%)

6. Outcome……
• Collaboration with External Partners

7. Outcome……
• Aim of Collaboration
 Quality Improvement
 Product Development/Improvement
 Business Re-Engineering
6.1
6.1
9.1
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
11.1
14.8
33.3
18.5
25.9
14.8
7.4
7.4
20.0
40.0
33.3
20.0
20.0
26.7
13.3
40.0
9.6
13.7
19.9
10.1
12.3
10.0
5.9
9.8
0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0
Supply Chain Efficiency
Business Re-Engineering
New/Improved Products
Lean Production
Quality Mangement
Robotics/Automation
Data Connectivity
Process/Product Simulation
Aim of Collaboration in SME Foundries
0-9 Firmsize 10-49 Firmsize 50-249 Firmsize Total Industry SMEs

8. Outcome……
• Collaboration Partners
 Most Common Collaboration; Firm-Supplier Collaboration
3.4
3.4
5.1
5.1
3.4
0.0
1.7
0.0
1.7
2.2
7.7
7.7
1.1
9.9
5.5
2.2
1.1
5.5
3.0
4.9
5.9
1.0
3.0
4.9
3.0
1.0
0.0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0 20.0
Firms within Enterprise Group
Customers
Suppliers
Competitors/Firms within Sector
Firms outside Industry Sector
Consultants/R&D Institutes
Universities/Higher Education
Government/Public Research
Trade Associations
Percentage of Collaborating Firm
CollaborationPartner
Percentage of Collaboration In SME Foundries
0-9 Firmsize 10-49 Firmsize 50-249 Firmsize
9%
17%
20%
8%
18%
11%
7%
2%
8%
Total Percentage of Collaboration in SME
Foundries
Firms within Enterprise Group Customers
Suppliers Competitors/Firms within Sector
Firms outside Industry Sector Consultants/R&D Institutes
Universities/Higher Education Government/Public Research
Trade Associations

9. Outcome……
• Barriers to Collaboration
 Most Influential Barriers; Lack of Trust & Openness
Insufficient Knowledge on Capability
12.4
26.0
16.4
10.3
11.1
20.6
13.2
21.0
14.4
18.5
22.3
11.9
16.5
25.8
22.8
13.5
22.9
17.9
21.6
20.6
35.2
18.8
8.2
20.6
20.3
16.8
31.0
20.5
21.5
25.3
42.6
46.4
25.4
40.1
20.9
26.7
11.8
9.5
11.2
11.8
8.4
10.6
12.9
18.3
10.1
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
New Product/Process Risk
Firm Size
Time Constraint
Lack of Funds
Lack of Trust & Openness
IP Ownership/Protection
Insufficienct Knowledge on Capability
Corporate Culture
Competitive Environment
Influence (%)
InnovationCollaborationBarriers
Percentage Influence of Barriers to Innovation Collaboration in Foundries
No Influence (%) Low Influence (%) Medium Influence (%) High Influence (%) Not Applicable (%)

10. Outcome……
• Importance of Trust & Capability Knowledge
6%
10%
13%
22%
49%
Percentage Importance of Capability
Knowledge in Foundries
Very Unimportant (%)
Unimportant (%)
Neither Important nor
Unimportant (%)
Important (%)
Very Important (%)
8%
6%
86%
Percentage Importance of Trust for
Collaboration in Foundries
Very Unimportant
(%)
Unimportant
Neither Important
nor Unimportant
(%)
Important (%)
Very Important (%)

11. Conclusion
• Less than half of foundries introduced new products/services in the last 3
years
• Foundries are motivated to innovate to remain competitive, and for quality
improvements
• Innovation collaboration geared towards quality improvement, product
development and business re-engineering
• Firm-supplier collaboration is the most adopted collaboration type
• Lack of trust and insufficient knowledge about capability are the most
influential barriers to innovation collaboration.

12. Next Steps
• Pilot Innovation Action with Firms
 Working with firms as an ‘innovation agent’ to help firms overcome capability
and trust barriers
 Action Research
• Develop a process model for innovation collaboration across industry sectors

13. February 2018
(6 Months)
Project Plan & Engagement
End of 1st
Phase
(12 Months)
Interviews, Analysis &
Report
August 2019
(18 Months)
Collection & Completion of
Survey
End of 2nd
Phase (24
Months)
February 2020
Analysis & Report
February 2021
(36 Months)
Development of
Practice Model
Timeline