AJM Hunter

Company Description

Novelty window covering co. selling primarily to the hospitality and motor branded trade. AJM Consulting----Innovative In-sAJM Huntercing Press Release Recently formed AJM Consulting is set to launch its new approach consulting services aimed at helping textiles and related companies get the most from their R&D operations. Seeking to enable its customers to maximize the value of their R&D investments, AJM r&xxxxx recently unveiled a consulting program designed to help its customers gain a competitive edge through innovation; The key to success, according to the program. The novel premise and approach is that innovation can be broken down into a definable process referred to as Innovation In-sourcing. As the group puts it: “ AJM contends that innovation can and should be structured and managed, which in turn will allow your companies to keep costs in line while systematically tapping into new sources of ideas from employees, business partners, suppliers and distributors that are available to your business on a day to day basis. As part of this new R&D consulting firm, unveiled recently, AJM will analyze companies&＃039; R&D operations, create streamlined textile business processes designed to shorten product development lifecycles, and create R&D roadmaps. In a recent study that polled 750 CEOs, respondents ranked R&D as their eighth source for new ideas. “Many companies are struggling to align their R&D investments with business objectives and drive innovation and growth”, cites Jim Miller leader for the newly formed R&D consulting group. "R&D managers who are down in the trenches struggling appreciate sitting across the table collaborating with a peer, someone who has dealt with the same issues on a day-to-day basis as they do," he says. Clients will have opportunities to choose from a wide range of service offerings, including R&D efficiency transformation and optimization services. R&D business models from various areas of businesses will be presented to help executives identify which areas R&D should focus on to improve profitability and strategic differentiation. “R&D - as just another cost of running the business is no longer immune to the cost pressures that other line items are," says Miller. "It&＃039;s important that R&D be more efficient and creative simultaneously. Our ideation services will be designed to enhance clients’ opportunities to put processes in place to feed a continuous flow of new ideas, while the collaborative services are aimed at determining where it makes sense for companies to seek R&D input from AJM as a partner. AJM will also offer services geared toward R&D strategy, product innovation management, and portfolio management. Whether you need help assessing the market potential of a new product, evaluating the strength of your R&D portfolio, or surveying R&D licensing opportunities, AJM Consulting can provide you with clear and in-depth answers because a successful venture in the shrinking textile industry requires both a strong technology platform and financial strength. The R&D decisions made today will affect the overall outcome of your business strategies and should be carefully evaluated by an objective third party. All salt-worthy executives know that the name of the game is reinvention, and those who play best win. What many don’t realize is that they can play the game a lot better, and improve their company’s performance by growing a culture of innovators from within, not by continuing to acquire innovation resources from without. If pervasive innovation is what you want, the only way to have it is to in-source it, and make it part of everyone’s job. AJM’s consultants from the textile industry provide strategic, analytical and operational enhancement services. We have a thorough understanding of the textile discovery and product development process and the risks associated with old school textile R&D. Our staff has extensive textile industry experience in basic and applied textile research and in R&D planning and management. AJM Consulting can conduct complex R&D analyses and evaluations. Our textile experts work closely with other network groups to bring you solid R&D advice with strong business support; a combination not commonly found in other consulting organizations. Spiraling R&D costs and competition for scarce resources within the domestic textile industry have created a tremendous need for efficiency and cost-effectiveness at every step of the fabric development and marketing process; in turn, textile executives have begun to rely increasingly on the use of cost-effective, objective analysis in textile product selection and in the development of marketing strategies to ensure return on investment. AJM, s R&D consulting activities include: &＃9679; Innovative In-sourcing program training. &＃9679; Strategic research planning &＃9679; Technical feasibility studies &＃9679; Technology and market assessments &＃9679; Application area evaluations &＃9679; Competitive analysis &＃9679; R&D portfolio assessments &＃9679; In-and-out licensing opportunities &＃9679; Product planning &＃9679; Market research studies &＃9679; Specific market enhancing opportunities: 1- Window treatment and home furnishings applications – out of the box, specific and unique development opportunities. 2- Functional, performance fabrics 3- Intimate apparel 4- Automotive 5- Bio- medical 6- One piece products 7- Fabric quality analysis- complete laboratory physical testing capability. 8- Fabric design from concept and re-engineering. 9- Equipment evaluation, technical capability analysis and scope enhancement of your mothballed equipment. 10- Developing a domestic advantage- (cheaper, better faster) 11- Out of the box, specific and unique development opportunities. These analyses and enhancements will strengthen strategic decision-making regarding the development of new textile applications and help determine effective positioning and marketing of both new and existing products. AJM has over 30 years of experience in life sciences R&D and business practices. We welcome your challenges and invite you to discuss your R&D consulting needs with us. You Make the Call For further information, contact our Client Services Team: Toll Free: Phone: Fax: Email: IBM is set to launch new consulting services aimed at helping companies get the most from their R&D operations. As part of its new R&D consulting practice, unveiled Wednesday, IBM will analyze companies&＃039; R&D operations, create streamlined business processes designed to shorten product development lifecycles, and create R&D roadmaps. In IBM&＃039;s latest CEO study, which polled 750 CEOs, respondents ranked R&D as their eighth source for new ideas. Many companies are struggling to align their R&D investments with business objectives and drive innovation and growth, says Melvin Weems, IBM&＃039;s global leader for R&D management. The new management consulting practice falls under IBM&＃039;s Global Business Services division. Staff from IBM&＃039;s internal research division will collaborate with business consultants for each engagement and share their experience operating IBM&＃039;s own R&D organization, Weems says. "We find that R&D managers who are down in the trenches really like sitting across the table from a peer, someone who is dealing with the same issues on a day-to-day basis as they are," he says. Customers can choose from among a range of service offerings, including R&D transformation and optimization services. For those engagements, IBM consultants assess a company&＃039;s R&D business model to help executives identify which areas R&D should focus on to improve profitability and strategic differentiation. "R&D -- as another cost of running the business -- is no longer immune to the cost pressures that other line items are," Weems says. "It&＃039;s important that R&D be efficient." Ideation services are designed to help clients put processes in place to feed a continuous flow of new ideas, while collaboration services are aimed at determining where it makes sense for companies to seek R&D input from external partners. IBM also offers services geared toward R&D strategy, product innovation management, and portfolio management. Seeking to enable its customers to maximize the value of their R&D investments, IBM recently unveiled what it calls its R&D Management Service, a consulting program to designed to help its customers gain a competitive edge through innovation. The key to success, according to the program? The premise that innovation can be broken down into a definable process. As the company puts it: “ IBM contends that innovation can be structured and managed, allowing companies to keep costs in line while systematically tapping into new sources of ideas from employees, business partners, suppliers and distributors.” Sound familiar? It should. Just last week, Innovate Forum posted an interview with David Silverstein, an ardent believer in structured innovation and co-author of the book, INSourcing Innovation. We’re hearing more and more about this notion of applying disciplined thinking to innovation – a process which has historically been viewed as a bit of a haphazard, trial-and-error type endeavor. Not any more, suggests “Big Blue.” Armed with a bevy of consultants from its PriceWaterhouseCoopers acquisition several years ago, IBM is committed to sharing its expertise in this growing field. According to the company, IBM&＃039;s R&D Management consultants will focus specifically on the following solutions for clients: 1. R&D Transformation and Optimization -- IBM consultants will help R&D executives identify which areas to focus on from both an effectiveness and efficiency standpoint that will enable the most impact to profitability and strategic differentiation. 2. R&D Strategy – IBM consultants will develop product/services strategies, business models and operating models that best link R&D strategy with overall strategy. 3. Product Innovation Management -- IBM consultants will perform a strategic assessment on the lifecycle of product innovation and provide a roadmap to efficiency and effectiveness. 4. Portfolio Management -- IBM consultants will provide strategies and management systems to create the correct balance and trade-off within a company&＃039;s product portfolio. 5. Collaboration -- IBM consultants will help clients identify what types of collaboration are beneficial and help create the structure needed to support collaboration efforts within the enterprise and across innovation networks. 6. Ideation -- IBM consultants will assist clients with the strategies and management systems designed to create and sustain the flow of innovative ideas and to manage these ideas as a portfolio of assets. 7. Impact of Future Technology -- IBM consultants will utilize a scientific methodology to understand what future technologies may have an impact on a company&＃039;s product portfolio and provide guidance for how to incorporate future technologies into future products. IBM also advocates open innovation – and as part of this new R&D consulting program, emphasizes that “R&D can be extended beyond a company’s four walls to involve partners in multiple geographies and sometimes even other industries, with new options for sharing, trading or selling intellectual property to maximize returns on invested capital.” As a recent article on this subject suggests, the jury is still out on this one. But if there’s one company that knows what it takes to put structure behind a process to achieve results – it’s “Big Blue.” At the very What R&D strategies will help your organization? What competitive R&D strategies will help you move your organization to develop successful products? This depends on the type and size of your organization. Our experienced creative R&D services can help you get to your market sooner. Even successful organizations often face considerable difficulty in maintaining their core strengths, technological edge, and consumer demand over time. Factors that lead to initial success can also play a significant role in decline. For example relying on a single technology may not be the best long term R&D strategy. Also, vision, policies, leadership, strategic R&D focus, competencies, structures, and corporate culture are also critical in building the company. As we all know, initial competitive advantage during one period can change with market conditions over time. One can try to control IP or other knowledge so well that no one else can take it away. If you can&＃039;t control the core technology you might benefit from a strategic partner who has well-protected technology. The process of deciding on new R&D strategies and projects can benefit from objective Market Research. The following article deals with R&D strategy. The research was done about 1989, but many of the same results would be true today. One difference is the amount of R&D and production outsourced Internationally. Even though significant R&D related to production processes has gone off shore, our primary focus still needs to be creation of competitive new products that meet real market needs. Management Strategy for Technological Development By Curt Deckert, PhD, CMC. Adapted from the following reference: OE REPORTS, October 1990 During the past decade, the efficiency of research and development has become a significant issue because of international competition, shorter product life cycles, and increasing R&D cost. Prior to U.S. and international accelerated technology development during the 1940s, technical developments were relatively slow. There has traditionally been little tough, critical, systematic analysis and comparison of R&D strategy, policy, and implementation. Many R&D managers are unable to select from alternative strategies that have been thought out, experienced, articulated, analyzed, or debated clearly. In general, values, facts, and predictions are often not complete, and optimum R&D strategies have not been implemented or even clearly identified. The increasing importance of future U.S. research and development for international markets drove my study on R&D management strategies. I received well over 100 significant responses to the "R&D Strategy Questionnaire" sent to 680 key people having R&D responsibilities. The primary research questionnaire results reflect the diversity of present strategic thought about technological development. The results of the primary research survey are shown in the following table. All respondents were asked to evaluate each strategy and rate its effectiveness on a -10 to +10 basis where +10 is the most effective strategy. The summary results indicate clearly that some strategies are much better than others. Respondents were also asked what strategies they use in their R&D. That data is presented by percent of respondents using the strategy. Then each strategy is ranked by frequency of use. The high frequency of use correlated with the higher ratings for most strategies, but those with high frequency of use, but low ratings indicate considerable dissatisfaction with that strategy. (See table for these evaluations and rankings.)