Panaz to team up with Edge Hill to improve productivity

Burnley-based fabric designer and manufacturer Panaz is collaborating with Edge Hill University on a programme to improve its productivity and increase its competitiveness on a global scale.

The university’s SME Productivity & Innovation Centre has received a grant of more than £100,000 from Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme to fund the two-year project.

The goal is to help Panaz transform and expand its management capabilities to maximise new and existing business opportunities in the UK and Internationally.

A high-calibre business management graduate will be employed to work on the project full-time, ensuring the project’s successful implementation.

Professor Simon Bolton, Professor of Innovation and director of the SME PIC, will take on the role as knowledge base lead for the duration of the partnership.

He said: "We first worked with Panaz in 2019 through our Rapid Innovation Sprint Programme and we have established a great understanding of their strategic objectives and the complex environment in which they operate.

"The KTP provides a great opportunity to continue to improve the strategic and operational capabilities of the organisation through the analysis of their sales and performance data, to ultimately stimulate further growth.

"The new project is a great addition to Edge Hill’s growing KTP portfolio and valuable learnings from the project will inform the research and teaching of our academic business experts.”

Rollie Attard, chief operating officer at Panaz, said: "This is a fantastic collaboration allowing the business to further innovate through the exploration of white space and data connectivity within the area of textiles. This will go a long way in helping us understand our customers better so that we can serve them better."