Diversified Metal Engineering Ltd. - Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
www.dmeinternational.com
In 10 short years, Diversified Metal Engineering Ltd. (DME) of Charlottetown, has grown into an international business with annual revenues of $5 to $8 million, 60 employees and sales offices around the world.
Launched in 1991, the company got in on the ground floor of the micro-brewing industry, designing and developing custom-built equipment that allowed small brewers to perform like the "big guys" but at an affordable price. DME expanded into the bio-pharmaceutical industry, and is currently in the process of designing and developing value-priced pressure filters for small to medium-sized pharmaceutical companies.
More recently still, DME has partnered in the development of the Marine Exhaust Systems Eco-Silencer, a unique product that installs in an engine exhaust stack, and uses seawater to remove soot, reduce airborne noise, and greatly reduce harmful emissions. The result of three years of research and development (R & D) work, including sea trials aboard the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the Louis St. Laurent, the product is being marketed to the cruise ship and mega yacht industry around the world.
The key to company growth has been innovation. "We're designing unique, high-value items that have a typical lifespan of 15 to 50 years," says president Peter Toombs. "If we don't continue to develop new products and new markets, growth will just not happen."
DME's innovation strategy includes a number of critical elements. Integrated design teams involve engineers and R & D specialists with people in marketing, purchasing, production and at least one end-user. DME has implemented a comprehensive project management process that includes an extensive quality control program and supports on-going staff training. It forms strategic alliances with companies that offer complementary products and services to the existing customer base.
An element that nourishes the innovation culture within the company is a profit-sharing plan for all employees plus other reward systems (such as royalties or commissions on eventual sales of a new product) for key contributors of ideas. "Such systems have provided strong motivation," says Toombs. "People commit themselves to resolving their design ideas into something that will sell."
That, for Toombs, is key. "The biggest challenge in innovation is not coming up with ideas," he says, "it's funneling those ideas into ones that will work, being sure that there is a market, and finallyÑ perhaps the greatest challenge - facilitating a process to bring the product to ultimate commercialization."
DME has installed equipment around the world, in countries as diverse as the United States, England, Ireland, Bermuda, China and Japan. The company has sales offices in Australia, the United States, Denmark and Japan.
Toombs, a professional engineer, won the Ernst and Young "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" award for Atlantic Canada in 1997.
His advice to other companies? "Any idea can be developed," he says. "The question is, at what cost? The important thing is to have a practical understanding of whether the idea can be sold, in what market, at what margin, and how many. That really dictates whether a development process should begin."
