We work in partnership with many different organisations. Our case studies will help you understand our vast range of expertise and collaborative way of working.

Fosters Bakery
Family-owned business Fosters Bakery in Barnsley wanted to find out how they could reduce waste in their production system. Work on tracking the waste had already been carried out, but the figures were inconsistent and showed no obvious trends to help explain the causes of the waste generated.

Cannon Electrical
Electrical contracting company Cannon Electrical Services install “smart” electricity meters. The company approached us to help them produce software capable of reading this electricity consuption data in real time and displaying it to their customers – so they can see exactly how much electricity they are using at any given time.

Wasp Hockey
Wasp Hockey wanted to prove that their sticks perform better than their competitors’ through experimental testing. They approached the University due to our expertise and facilities for measuring and analysing the performance characteristics of sports equipment.

Newburgh Pelleting, now Sizer Ltd
Newburgh Pelleting approached the Materials and Engineering Research Centre who conducted a project providing a qualitative understanding of raw material preconditioning. The aim was to reduce the production cost and improve the quality of wood pellets for use in combustion.

Natural Sports Nutrition
Natural Sports Nutrition approached Innovation Futures to help develop their range of Performance Meals – convenient ready prepared meals that support active lifestyles, with the emphasis on muscle development and body fat minimisation.

Martek Marine Ltd
Rotherham-based marine company Martek Marine has experienced massive expansion since its inception in 2000. Now overseeing nearly 50 staff, founder and CEO Paul Luen approached the University to help enhance leadership capability in his management team. This will enable him to shift his focus to a more outward-looking role to develop the business.

Anglo Beef Processors
Doncaster-based meat company Anglo Beef Processors came to us with a problem that needed to be resolved immediately. Their major retail customer had decided that they wanted their range of meat products to be delivered in a new, smaller crate size which would incur costly changes to production with no increase in revenue. Innovation Futures produced an independent report to identify the true cost to the company, which they could show their customer to enable them to re-negotiate to reflect the true commercial value of these new products.

AI Materials Ltd
Steel company AI Materials needed to meet a new requirement to improve the mechanical strength and toughness properties of the super duplex stainless steel used in industrial fasteners at low temperatures. The company wanted to do this using an optimised cold-drawing process, and chose the University’s Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) to access the materials knowledge and experimental capabilities they required.