A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) co-funded by the Welsh Government, the EPSRC and Innovate UK enabled researchers at Cardiff Business School to spend two years developing a tool-set to improve Denbighshire-based Qioptiq’s inventory forecasting operations, and this has helped the company to secure a six-year contract the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to service night vision equipment.
It has also led Qioptiq to build a new £3.7 million warehouse next to its plant on St Asaph Business Park.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: “Qioptiq is one of our most innovative high-value manufacturing companies, operating in a priority sector, and I have no doubt that the partnership has helped to secure the long-term future of the plant in St Asaph.
"This is turn has had a significant economic impact on the local economy, providing high-quality local employment and benefitting the wider supply chain.”
The KTP enabled Thanos Goltsos, a knowledge transfer associate in ‘lean’ inventory forecasting business operations, to work with Qioptiq under the supervision of two Cardiff Business School professors — Aris Syntetos and Mohamed Naim.
His research showed that the business could reduce its inventory by up to 25%. It provided sound inventory forecasting for sales and returns, supporting Qioptiq’s revamped ‘service and remanufacture’ circular economy model.
Peter White, Qioptiq’s managing director (
www.qioptiq.com), said: “The KTP has produced outstanding results. Historically, we operated a complex supply chain, but Thanos’s expertise developed a tool-set that we could use to support our integrated logistics supply operations.
"The partnership has helped us to secure a contract from the MoD to support equipment that is vital to the safety of British soldiers in front-line operations.”