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North East company reaps the benefits of University partnership

A North-East company is being helped to become more efficient and improve its design processes thanks to a partnership with º£½ÇÖ±²¥.

NYMAS, which is based in Billingham, manufactures bathroom and toilet equipment for elderly and disabled people for customers including care homes, hospitals and the hospitality industry. Thanks to Innovate Tees Valley, a major business innovation initiative, NYMAS is working with the University’s Schools of Science & Engineering and Design, Culture & the Arts on two Knowledge Exchange Internships (KEIs) which will research ways in which NYMAS can streamline its systems and processes as well as developing new product designs and implementing new design processes.

The KEIs are part-funded by the innovation exchange strand of Innovate Tees Valley, the innovation supernetwork delivered in partnership with NEPIC, Materials Processing Institute (MPI), DigitalCity and º£½ÇÖ±²¥.

Its aim is to help Tees Valley SMEs achieve growth through service and product innovation. Innovate Tees Valley is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Two º£½ÇÖ±²¥ graduates have been working with NYMAS as part of the KEIs. Dr Thanos Klonis completed his PhD in manufacturing management at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ in 2008, and is looking at how NYMAS can implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software into its business operations.

The project will help the company manage its data across all of its operations and investigate ways in which it can operate more efficiently and improve automation. In addition, Lawrence Stratton, a BA (Hons) Product Design graduate, is working with the company on developing a range of new product designs and improving its design processes.

Dr Ruben Pinedo-Cuenca, Business Innovation Manager in the School of Science & Engineering, is supervising Dr Klonis’ project. He said: 'It's great to work with a company like NYMAS which is willing to explore new ways of doing things and wants to use the University to fill the gaps in its knowledge.

'This KEI will help embed a new culture of greater efficiency within the company and will be of enormous benefit. We’re also about to start doing an IP (intellectual property) review with NYMAS using the Innovate2Succeed programme to help them manage and protect their IP.'

Peter Reid, Enterprise Fellow in the School of Design, Culture & the Arts, who is supervising Lawrence's KEI, added: 'From an academic perspective I feel that it is vital that we engage with business.

'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.'

Craig Anderson, NYMAS’ Managing Director, said: 'We’re seeing a number of underlying trends that are driving the need for our solutions. Firstly, it is widely published that the population is aging at a staggering rate with the number of over people over 85 projected to double by 2035.

'On top of this 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 º£½ÇÖ±²¥ and Thanos and Lawrence is helping us to achieve this and we’re looking forward to the benefits it will bring.'

For more information on how Innovate Tees Valley can help your business visit

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