Three manufacturers have made the BRW “50 Most Innovative Companies 2014” list.
#24 Coca Cola Amatil
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) came in at number 24, with a partnership with Trax Technologies to create a mobile, cloud-based application which uses Trax photo recognition software for data capture of shelf share and category performance.
One of the key measures that Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) uses in outlets is “shelf share” in coolers. The innovation came after CCA identified a need for accurate, real-time data and visuals of the cooler shelves.
The tools used by business development executives (BDEs) to capture this data were outdated, sporadically used and manually inputted. In addition, national customer centre (NCC) consultants did not have visibility of the data and were selling blind to customers over the phone, which meant sales opportunities were being missed
Using the image recognition software, Trax provides a detailed and unbiased view of shelf share to the BDEs, NCCs and other customer-facing staff. When NCC consultants call the customer for their order, pictures of the store coolers pop up on their screens, providing the visual information and analysis needed to tailor an order.
CCA is the first company in the world to have full channel coverage using Trax image recognition technology. And in the first five months, the financial impact of Trax has been substantial additional sales revenue and a 1 per cent increase in shelf share.
#30 Pernod Ricard Winemakers
Pernod Ricard Winemakers was placed at number 30, after the business identified a need to invest in creativity to unlock innovation among employees.
To foster a creative culture, Pernod Ricard Winemakers developed and implemented a creativity leadership program. Th!nk: Creative Leadership Lab was designed to internalise behaviours of creative problem-solving to build a culture of creative leaders within the business.
The program was created in-house, so was specifically tailored to the needs of the business. The sessions used real business challenges, such as how to improve employee engagement. This ensured that the outcome of training could be applied directly to real-time needs.
The direct outcome from Th!nk: Creative Leadership Labs was the transformation of employees into engaged creative leaders. The training modules ensured that key players from across the business had established their own creative confidence and were better equipped to drive creativity and cultural change on a day-to-day basis.
#48 Birch & Waite Foods
Birch & Waite (B&W) secured a spot at number 48 and is the only Aussie owned and run food business on the list.
B&W manufactures a wide range of sauces, dressings and desserts in a variety of package sizes. One of the sizes is a single portion pack (15 grams to 40 grams) which is made for airlines.
BRW recognised B&W for its innovative manufacturing solution to meet the evolving needs of the airline catering industry, which has taken to commissioning famous chefs to improve food presentation. These chefs requested dressings which had separate oil and vinegar-based components in the style of traditional dressings which need to be shaken prior to serving.
To fulfil this requirement, B&W needed production equipment with two independent fillers for two separate ingredient 'shots’. A further requirement was that when running in single shot mode, the second filler could be removed from the production line for cleaning, thus providing a faster changeover from one product to the next.
As no equipment meeting this specification existed in Australia, B&W engaged on a global search and found an overseas manufacturer able to custom-build a machine to meet these demanding requirements.
As a result of this innovation, sales from this pack size have grown an incremental $3.8m (+110 per cent) in less than two years to $7.3m.