At TOBIN, we love the creativity that delivers a clever design or a new way of meeting a challenge. We have succeeded in building an environment where innovation is an integral part of the way we do business. This essentially means that anyone, at any level, within TOBIN is allowed the time and space to be creative, to initiate any innovation and to test their ideas. We believe the constant search to develop new ways of providing an improved, high quality service is the pulse of a vibrant international company.
At its simplest, innovation has been described as the act of creating something new. A slightly more complex definition describes innovation as the exploitation of new ideas to gain a competitive advantage.
In TOBIN we apply innovation both to our operational projects, through design solutions or project management techniques, and to the operation of the company as a whole, through continuous improvement of our business management processes and procedures, in expanding our services and operational areas and introducing new organisational structures or work practices.
Creativity and innovation are essential components of the design process. TOBIN has a culture of encouraging new ideas and fresh thinking in project design and delivery and in the way in which we run our business. We recognise that there is a close link between innovation and sustainability, two of the company’s core values, and therefore the two are inextricably linked in the TOBIN design process. Sustainable and innovative design solutions can lead to savings in capital costs, through imaginative use or re-use of materials, or lead to lower energy and therefore lower operational costs for any facility.
We use an Innovation Process to help us identify and explore new and creative ways to conduct our business, from novel applications of existing expertise or knowledge, to new synergies with our partners, or inventive ways to meet project or business management challenges. In this way we are always willing to question and review our internal business processes and our designs and services in ever more creative ways.
We try to capture all sources of innovation and ideas, from listening to our own staff and clients, to consulting with suppliers and researching publications and literature. The process allows any member of staff across the organisation to contribute an idea, and lightbulb moments are brought forward for evaluation and development. However, we also appreciate that innovation can be realised not only through the application or development of new solutions or techniques but also by integrating existing know-how to produce innovative design solutions or approaches to specific problems.