Designed to improve safety and efficiency, reduce environmental impact and enhance customer experience, our innovative programme is driven by staff.
“Maple has always been an innovative company; it’s in our culture,” said Shmail Shahid, who spearheads the programme.
“Typically, it’s been seen in our design department but people throughout the company have ideas on how to make products and processes better, and how to transform the customer experience.”
Shmail acknowledges that ideas forums and suggestion boxes can be viewed with scepticism by employees. “In all sorts of businesses, you hear people say that ‘nothing ever gets done’. We have a six-step approach to ensure nobody’s voice goes unheard.”
All innovative ideas are gathered, logged and assessed every month by a five-strong rotating team of Maple staff, led by Shmail. He explained: “We use a consistent set of principles to assess every idea – it has to be actionable, commercial and has to make a difference.
“If the idea is approved, budget is provided if necessary, and its implemented. Going forward, we collect feedback and review the innovation against the original cost-benefit analysis.”
In time, all members of the Maple team will sit on the innovation panel – a central part of our Diamond Route Approach, which provides exceptional service at every stage of a project.