Brown & Watson International Judged One of Australia's Most Innovative Companies

The Australian Financial Review’s prestigious Boss Magazine, has named Brown & Watson International, the company behind leading automotive brands including Narva and Projecta, as one of Australia and New Zealand’s most innovative.

Brown & Watson International ranked eighth in the ‘manufacturing and consumer’ segment as judged by an expert panel assembled by The Australian Financial Review and leading research company, ‘Inventium’.

To qualify in the recent awards, Brown & Watson employees completed surveys on a range of areas including:

• Measurement (quantifying innovation efforts)
• Communication (turning innovation into a habit)
• Positioning (being a thought leader on innovation)
• Resources (allocation of time, money etc.to drive innovation)
• Strategy (aligning innovation with organisational strategy)
• Roles (Driving motivation through job definition and focus)
• Process (the pathway from mission to market)
• Climate (employee perceptions of the organisation) and
• Capability (skill building for innovation)

Additionally, participating organisations were asked to nominate a recent innovation for judging, which saw Brown & Watson submit its Narva VR (Virtual Reality) Driving Light Experience.

The VR Experience, which is available on the Narva website (www.narva.com.au), sees the user seated as a front passenger of a four wheel drive at night and allows them to select from a variety of L.E.D light bars, L.E.D driving lamps as well as non L.E.D lighting in operation over three terrain types: highway, dirt road and a four wheel drive track.

As well as giving an accurate visual representation of each product’s performance, a narrator provides the key benefits of each light as selected.  This is supported by performance data including colour temperature, Lumen and Lux details to the left of screen.

Typically, driving lights are purchased during daylight hours from a retail automotive showroom or online with buyers rarely having the opportunity to see how the lights would operate in ‘real world’, low visibility conditions. The VR Experience addressed this situation by offering an innovative solution.

In evaluating the Narva VR Experience, judges noted that the technology “showcases how different driving lights attached to a four-wheel-drive vehicle look on different road surfaces, giving drivers a realistic experience of how different lights work. This allows drivers to make an informed decision when choosing lights.”

The judges also referenced the 13 per cent increase in sales of the lights featured in the VR Experience since launching the innovation.

Brown & Watson International Chief Operating Officer, Kabel Davis, said that to have ranked so highly in the prestigious competition was extremely rewarding for the Narva team.

“Our company strives to instill a culture of innovation at personal, team and broader business levels, with initiatives and incentives in place to reward this goal,” Mr Davis said.

"It is wonderful to be recognised with this prestigious accolade, especially with so many high calibre entrants participating and we're extremely proud of our team and their efforts.”

“As a company we strongly believe that continuous innovation is key to remaining relevant in our industry and buyers of Narva products should know that we won't be slowing down anytime soon,” he said.