PARC KTP recognised by Innovate UK

PARC's successful Qioptic KTP has been celebrated by Innovate UK with a video and a news story on gov.uk.

Qioptiq, a photonic supplier secured its largest ever contract worth £82 million thanks to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between the company, Cardiff Business School and research associate Thanos Goltsos.

Qioptiq also opened a £3.7 million warehouse in North Wales to support the contract and increased its staff numbers.

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A better way to forecast

Prior to the KTP, Qioptiq, which supplies photonic devices to the medicine, manufacturing and defence industries, was unable to predict how many items would be ordered and how many returned.

This problem affected its ability to set prices, meet demand, and plan operations.

When Thanos began working with the company, his first priority was understanding how Qioptiq’s operations worked.

Thanos said:

“I audited the processes to see how they forecast demand and planned ahead. Qioptiq needed to predict what would be returned in the next few months, as well as seeing the demand patterns of its customers.

I proposed moving to a more agile way of doing things to improve service level and pricing.”

As a result, Qioptiq reduced its inventory by 25%, leading to major cost savings for the firm.

Securing an £82 million contract with the MoD

Thanos’ system not only provided major cost benefits, it also landed the firm its biggest ever contract.

The contract will ensure that UK armed forces around the world have access to essential night vision equipment. It’s predicted that with Qioptiq’s support, the MoD will save £47 million.

Read the full story here.