Forward thinking Scottish industrial textiles manufacturer Scott & Fyfe Ltd celebrated the official opening of its new Innovation Space and Museum on 12 November, which the company describes as another important step on the way to a long-term sustainable company based on a partnership business model.

John Swinney, Member of the Scottish Parliament and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth, unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion in a ceremony attended by Scott & Fyfe staff, customers and partners at the company’s Tayport headquarters.  

The custom designed innovation space and museum, set within an old factory area, were developed in conjunction with interior design students from The Glasgow School of Art and a graduate intern from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. 

All of Scott & Fyfe’s staff are now based in one factory at Tayport Works. As well as all production, warehousing and administration, the site now includes the Innovation Space incorporating individual business units known as team pods, a product development tree, product display areas, a cinema/presentation space, flexible meeting areas and also the company Museum recording 148 its years of history.

Novel working environment

According to Scott & Fyfe the development creates a novel working environment that is both inspirational and valuable, developed as a result of the pilot Glasgow School of Art/Institute of Directors project to embed sustainable innovation in Scottish SMEs, financed by the Scottish Funding Council.

Nick Kuenssberg, Scott & Fyfe chairman, said: “The Museum looks back to the company’s heritage on which its ethos of change and customer care is built. The Innovation Space looks forward to a cross-cutting partnership between all staff, customers, suppliers and other technology partners to promote the new innovation-led strategy.”

With an innovation and export led strategy at its core, Scott & Fyfe supplies a wide range of technical textiles to a number of markets worldwide, with new product ideas and markets being the lifeblood of the company. 

Pod based organisation structure

The pod-based organization structure aims to be a novel creative way of working which allows the company to operate with both low overheads and increased speed to market. “It is imagining tomorrow and making it happen today, safe in the knowledge that we are dynamic, empowered and flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing needs of current and new markets,” stated chief executive John Lupton.

One of the few survivors of the Tayside jute industry, Scott & Fyfe has a staff of 100 and is a profitable company. The company recently announced the move from family to employee ownership, supported by Co-Operative Development Scotland. 

The transformation will be completed by year end with the establishment of an employee benefit trust to buy out the existing Tough family shareholders. Thereafter two of the family (executive directors Richard and David Tough) will re-invest in redeemable preference shares and all employees will receive an initial tranche of ordinary shares from a share investment plan which, together with a profit shares scheme, an annual opportunity to buy shares and an enterprise management scheme, will facilitate the direct ownership of ordinary shares by the staff.

Following the global recession which led to radical reorganisation and restructuring, Scott & Fyfe has developed its new innovation-led strategy in conjunction with a number of partners including Scottish Enterprise, BMC Global Services and The Glasgow School of Art.

www.scott-fyfe.com