Product range and developmentPortakabin produces a range of specially tailored products for differentmarkets, including:

• Portakabin WardSpace – hospital wards

• Ultima – office buildings

• Lilliput – nursery schools.

These buildings have attractive layouts, and good aesthetic qualitiesboth internally and externally. They are also highly energy efficient, withpositive impacts on the environment.

The marketing strategist Igor Ansoff identified a range of options facingbusinesses that are seeking to develop a strategy for growth. Heconstructed a matrix that sets out the options. At any one time there areestablished existing markets and new developing markets. At the sametime there are established existing products and new products. Firmshave to decide precisely where to concentrate their efforts.

Learning outcomes:As a result of carefully reading this case study, students shouldbe able to:

• describe the organisational structure of the Portakabin Group

• describe the ownership of a private company

• know that an effective growth strategy is to match acompany’s products to its markets that are growing

• explain new product development as a growth strategy,using the example of the Portakabin WardSpace product

• identify key environmental factors (SLEPT components)that have led to a growing market for healthcare products

• show how the development of the Portakabin WardSpacebuilding was research driven

• give examples of how the Portakabin WardSpace designwas developed to meet the needs of the market

• explain how Portakabin WardSpace accommodationprovides a cost effective solution to healthcare provision

• outline the benefits of batch production.

Ansoff highlighted the importance of product development in situationswhere an organisation is able to develop new products for an existingmarket. This involves a company exploiting the strength of itsrelationship with customers and using its experience and creative abilityto develop new products suited to their needs. Supermarkets are a goodexample of this. They have gradually moved away from selling onlygroceries to offering a wide range of other products includinghousehold goods, clothes, petrol, computers and even cars!

Portakabin’s growth strategy is well illustrated by its PortakabinWardSpace building, that fits neatly within the product development sector.

Portakabin has supplied the healthcare industry with modular buildingsin small numbers for a number of years. Recently, there has been an increasing demand for new high-quality healthcare buildings torelieve severe shortages of space in many hospitals. Portakabin has therefore developed a new product: Portakabin WardSpace. It is designed specifically to supply hospitals with much needed high-quality accommodation. The Portakabin WardSpace concept is a direct response to the National Health Service Plan (NHS), which is designed to improve care and service to patients so that they recovermore quickly.

In setting out its plans for new building construction, the NHS isdemanding a design solution that ‘not only satisfies functionalrequirements but is also economical in both its capital and running costsi.e. cheap to build, use and maintain’.

The Portakabin WardSpace design is modelled on a 32-bed ward, whichis the largest practical size for nurses to supervise and observe. Everypatient has convenient access to toilets and showers, all of which aresingle sex. Every patient has a generous area around the bed for visitorsand personal belongings, a personal locker, a window view and access toentertainment services.

The advantages of modular construction include:

• vastly improved programme times

• significantly improved quality

• reduced costs

• greater ability to customise the building

• minimal disruption during construction

• safer, quieter and cleaner work on-site.

The divisions within the Portakabin Group reflect client’s needs e.g.Portakabin Hire supplies interim accommodation and fittings such asair-conditioning, on hire, whereas Yorkon manufactures complex,architecturally designed permanent buildings.

Developing products and services to meet market demand

IntroductionIntelligent business organisations understand the ‘fit’ between theirproducts and their markets. Over time, companies develop strengthsthat need to be developed in a positive way. They adapt what they dobest to the changing requirements of the market place.

This case study examines how Portakabin has developed new productsin response to growth in its existing markets. In particular, it focuses onPortakabin WardSpace accommodation: an efficient way of meeting theincreasingly demanding and highly specific requirements of thehealthcare industry.

The Portakabin Group is a private company, owned 100% by theShepherd family. This integrated Group is involved in the hire and saleof interim and permanent accommodation.

Portakabin Ltd specialises in producing modular buildings. In modularconstruction, buildings are manufactured and fitted out in a controlledfactory environment whilst the foundations are being prepared on-site.The customer’s modules are then taken to the site, craned into positionand linked together. Architectural features (e.g. external cladding,

glazing, lifts, a stair tower or a pitched roof) are added on-site.

®

Existing products New products

Existing markets Market penetration Product development

Selling more of A new product e.g.the same type of Portakabin WardSpaceproduct to the same accommodationtype of people. tailored to the needs

of a growing market (healthcare).

New markets Market development Diversification

Finding new Developing newcustomers for products and markets.an existing product.M

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P R O D U C T S

The Portakabin Group

European Division Scottish Division Yorkon Limited Hire Division Sales and International Division Foremans Relocatable Building Systems

• Sarl (France) • Portakabin AirCare • Portakabin Total Solutions

• BV (The Netherlands) • Portakabin Interiors • Portakabin Fire & Security Systems

• GmbH (Germany) • Portaloo • Portakabin Access

• Portakabin Limited (Belgian Branch)

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Lilliput nursery

• Economic

The resources available to the NHS are finite. The NHS needs facilitiesthat are:

• technically suitable

• comfortable for all users

• cost-effective to build, maintain and use.

Getting this balance right lies at the heart of all evaluations of hospitaldesigns.

One of the key advantages to planners of a modular system likePortakabin WardSpace is that costs can be kept under control becauseof the certainty of the construction process, with new wards beingconstructed within a factory environment before delivery and assemblyon-site. This contrasts with an outdoor building project based aroundsteel, bricks and mortar, when capital costs can soar as a result of delaysdue to late delivery of materials or poor weather conditions.

• Political

Along with education, health is a key issue for voters, and therefore withpoliticians. The NHS plan (above) is the government’s attempt torevolutionise NHS service provision. The government is investing insolutions that maximise health gain, are people centred and resourceeffective. All of these have implications for design. The government’sinvestment also means that money is available for innovativeapproaches to solving healthcare problems. The government also has

a pressing agenda which demands that 7,000 new beds are available by 2004. The Portakabin WardSpace

concept was designed to deliver against this agenda because of its speed of

construction.

• Technological

The use of computerised systemsto hold, process and transferpatient information both digitally

and by video at every point ofclinical activity is rapidly becoming a

reality. Portakabin WardSpace buildingsincorporate a coding system, an integrated

communications system that is attached to everynurse, so when a patient “buzzes” for attention the nearest nurse canattend. Computer write-up points are also supplied in every bay to writeup notes in the patient’s vicinity, thereby improving efficiency.

Research and DevelopmentThe environmental analysis revealed clear opportunities to developPortakabin’s product presence in healthcare, so the company carriedout research to create a product carefully tailored to this market. Thisinvolved working with external experts who advised on healthimplications. To establish the required design, Portakabin’s ownarchitects also consulted with NHS Estates. Cost constraints were alsoconsidered: the new product had to be designed to stay within thepurchasers’ budget.

The next stage was to create a digital prototype. Modular wards were anew concept for the NHS and so Portakabin needed to educatepotential purchasers. The company prepared support materials,including detailed layouts, images and a compact disc visualpresentation to show the product in its best light.

Product DevelopmentThe Portakabin WardSpace design was developed quickly to meet theopportunity presented by the NHS plan. Many ideas were generated inorder to come up with a winning concept.

Portakabin was already producing a variety of modular buildings, andthe opportunity was there to take the modular concept and turn it intoa purpose-designed hospital ward – an attractive proposition. Thiswould enable Portakabin to gain a potential competitive edge in thehealthcare marketplace.

These wards were to be constructed and fitted out within a factoryenvironment and then assembled on-site. Factory construction has allsorts of advantages, including no rain to delay construction. Modularconstruction also meant that from design to finished building, a wardcould be completed in just 24 weeks. Potentially 50% of the time itwould take a traditionally built ward to be created.

Another major advantage that reduces timescales is that parts of theassembly are produced in batches. The components of a ward for aLondon hospital will be similar (if not identical) to those going to ahospital in Manchester. This slashes build programme time comparedwith on-site project manufacturing, where each unit constructed is aone-off in a method call job production.

As with all Portakabin products, Total Quality is built into productdevelopment. All of Portakabin’s employees are trained andencouraged to come up with ideas for improving company performancee.g. by identifying ways to reduce waste or to improve customer service.The aim is to achieve continuous improvement in all aspects of

GLOSSARY

Aesthetic:A principal of taste and style adopted by a person, group or culture.

Ambience:Surroundings or atmosphere.

Batch production:The work to be completed is separated in a number of operationsand each product goes through these stages.

Job Production:One job is completed before the next is started so each product canbe made unique.

Interim:Something temporary or provisional.

Private company:A company owned by shareholders but which - unlike a publiclimited company - cannot make a public share issue. A privatecompany has Ltd within its name e.g. Shepherd Construction Ltd,Portakabin Ltd compared to a plc.

Strategy:A long term plan.

For further information about Portakabin please browse:

www.portakabin.com

One main aim of Portakabin WardSpace accommodation is fast deliveryto meet the urgent NHS agenda, with handover of the new buildings24 weeks after the client has approved the plans. The wards areattractively decorated and fitted. The benefits of the design to patientsare that there are more single person units to improve patient privacyand confidentiality, and more social interaction in the social areas,which leads to faster recovery.

External influences driving change and productdevelopmentWe use the term ‘strategic fit’ to describe the relationship between anorganisation and its environment. Strategic fit involves having the rightsort of management (good at decision making) and the ability torecognise customer needs, the right resources (financial, human etc),appropriate technological capability (ability to work with new ideas andtechnologies), and the products that match customer demand. In orderto ‘fit’ the organisation and its products to the environment it isimportant to carry out a SLEPT (Social, Legal, Economic, Political, andTechnological) analysis of environmental forces.

In developing Portakabin WardSpace accommodation, a SLEPTanalysis revealed the following factors:

• Social

The NHS plan notes that ‘the most notable change in today’s society isthe public’s own increased expectations about the quality of the deliveryof services, whether in the public or private sector’. The Patient’sCharter sets out patients’ rights. It states that people attending ahealthcare facility for assessment, diagnosis, treatment or care canreasonably expect to have:

• confidential consultation and discussion with those responsible fortheir treatment

• total privacy when meeting the requirement for interventions and/orbodily functions

• a safe, clean, hazard-free environment, with a pleasant ambience.

All of these have implications for building design. The UK also has anageing population. As a result, the demand for hospital space iscontinually increasing – it’s a market worth being in.

• Legal

New products must comply with all relevant legislation. In developing thePortakabin WardSpace design, Portakabin engineersresearched all applicable aspects including airhandling (to prevent the spread ofairborne diseases) and temperaturecontrol to meet hospitalrequirements. Other considerationsincluded all aspects of health andsafety, and fire controlregulations.

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performance; hence improving quality, cost and customer service withminimal disruption to patients and staff.

ConclusionThe Portakabin WardSpace building is a unique product as it offers apurpose-designed product for healthcare. It involved placing within anexisting market, an exciting new product that is customised to providehigh quality wards at affordable prices, fast.

Portakabin is developing products targeted at bespoke markets wherethere are growth opportunities, for example Lilliput nurseries ineducation and Portakabin WardSpace accommodation in healthcare,boosted by extra government spending on these key areas. By operatingin a range of markets, Portakabin is able to capitalise on marketdemand and build on new opportunities as they arise.