The company brought in industrial design expertise, and started building a design “language” and philosophy, reinforced by research. Walking in the shoes of customers and users is at the heart of the design process, says Moller; while designing the M8 bed, members of Howard Wright’s R&D team spent time in intensive care units, leading not only to a better product but closer relationships with clinicians and customers. As part of the BBD programme, the company’s brand, positioning and communications were also put under the design microscope.

While BBD has helped the company create value, a lean manufacturing programme (LMP) instituted three years ago has also helped reduce waste and boost productivity within the business. BBD has a long gestation, says Moller, while the company was able to make significant productivity gains in the first year of LMP, which are ongoing. “It’s a competitive world and no one is standing still … so you have to have a lot of areas of your business working really well.”

While Moller is not keen to divulge turnover, it is up more than 60% since the company began BBD. The company has just under 40 staff, six of whom are based in Australia. Around 60% of the company’s turnover comes from exports, mainly from across the ditch, although Moller says he has high hopes for the M8 bed’s export potential beyond the South Pacific.

One of the company’s biggest challenges now, he says, is developing channels to market. The company has been in Australia for seven years although it has taken time to get traction there, he says. “I don’t know if there was a shortcut to that. It was just the school of hard knocks a little bit,” he says. But late last year, for example, the company was selected as the sole provider in the Western Australian Public Health Unit’s contract for critical care beds and as preferred supplier for a number of other products — a win that could be worth in excess of $10 million.

Learnings from Australia have included the importance of professional communications, being well connected to remote staff and New Zealand staff spending more time in offshore markets.

While the company is confident its drive for self-improvement is now paying off with new business, efficiencies and accolades, Moller says another consequence has been a change in company culture.

“The process of design is very much about walking in other people’s shoes and trying to really understand, in our case, our customers or users of our product,” he says. “But once you start getting that mindset in the company it starts to work internally. It builds for a really nice feeling amongst people.”

Judith Thompson, director of Better by Design, says Howard Wright’s transformation embodies BBD’s goals. “Our aim is not just to help companies design better products. The aim of Better by Design is to help CEOs design better companies,” she says. “Bruce has approached this in absolutely the right way — open-minded, understanding that it’s long-term, that it’s holistic, that you have to take your whole team with you and be committed. He is doing all those things.”