ISIS Case Study: The Paper Cup Company
The Paper Cup Company have become the only paper cup company to offer the customer the facility to design their own paper cup online through a business support project with InfoLab21.
A North West company has boosted turnover by 42% and almost doubled the number of staff thanks to an InfoLab21 project which is the only one of its kind in the UK.
The Paper Cup Company in Clitheroe is among 100 North West businesses whose fortunes have been transformed through the InfoLab21 Strategic Innovation Support Programme (ISIS).
ISIS provides objective advice, guidance and appropriate ICT solutions to Northwest SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises) that do not have the resources to invest in bespoke solutions or need to raise their confidence in the benefits of adopting/developing advanced ICT. All support is undertaken with a view to increasing engagement with the Northwest's Digital Industries supply chain and raising levels of research and development in the region.
The aim is to help companies use technology to develop new products and services. Three of the companies assisted have been interviewed on a new film, which also demonstrates new technology developed through ISIS, such as the 3D model of a paper cup which customers can design online at www.designacup.com.
Mark Woodward, the Paper Cup Company's Sales Director, said: "When we started the project, we employed 4 people and today we employ 7. Our turnover is up 42% year on year and we're the only company in the world to allow you to design a paper cup online."
The project is delivered by teams of technology consultants at the InfoLab21 Graduate Academy and InfoLab21 Student Academy. Many of them have since gone on to work for multinationals such as Hewlett Packard and IBM.
Dr Paul Okanda, Head of the Student Academy at InfoLab21, said: "The Student Academy has benefited businesses round the Northwest through the access that they have had to the extensive knowledge base that we offer them here. We give businesses around the North West the opportunity to tap into the broad range of experience that we've got here, to get some cost savings and to be able to introduce new products into the market."