Toothpaste market opens wide for GSK

In a brave attempt to bite off a bigger slice of the shrinking £293m UK market for toothpaste, GlaxoSmithKlein has relaunched its Aquafresh brand with a line-up of three new “Zoned” flavours that aim to spark an emotional connection, particularly with women over 30 and mothers who work full or part time, living a modern active lifestyle.

Refresh, Revive and Wakey Wakey aim “to break the norms in the dental care category by transforming the brushing experience into a truly engaging moment, awakening the senses and bringing emotional involvement to a functional activity.”

The mint-based flavours are enhanced with apple, lemon or watermelon. “We wanted to bring the user experience to life and evoke an emotional response through the pack graphics," said Katrina Bennett, account director at Blue Marlin Brand Design, which refreshed the look and feel of the packaging and created the Zone idea.

China targets new technology development
It takes guts to go on gut feel
Smart controllers boost line output

R&D

China targets new technology development

China’s government has identified 134 technology sectors it will support with the aim of increasing exports.

The 2004 Guidelines for Priority on Key High Technology Areas just published is based on a study of local and international technology trends. China will focus on biotechnology and new medicines, new materials, information technology, environmental protection, aeronautics, astronautics, and agriculture, among others.

No firm figures for investment are available. But China’s high tech budget trebled to $1.8 billion for the five year plan for 2001-5.

High tech production rose to US$326 billion in 2003, up from $132 billion in 1999, at an average annual growth rate of 25.5%. Exports were $110 billion, five times the $24.7 billion of five years before.

Management

It takes guts to go on gut feel

Most vital business decisions are based on gut feel because they can’t get the information they need, according to new research from Business Objects, a business intelligence software company.

The survey of US and European bosses found they are frustrated. More than half of the critical business decisions made by their organisations are based on "gut feel" and experience, rather than sound, verifiable information, they said.

Some 77% said that they knew of bad business decisions made within their organisation because of a lack of information, and nearly all said this hurt productivity.

Chief reasons for the problem are data in incompatible formats and databases, poor communication between systems and people, incomplete or overwhelming data, poor presentation of relevant data, poor access methods and inappropriate security strictures.

And when they need the low-down on their competitors, the problems compound.

Manufacturing

Smart controllers boost line output

Japanese factory automation specialist Omron has introduced a family of intelligent sensors and actuators that integrates production line data into management information.

The Kyoto company released its first product to use this new information management system this month, and will release five versions and 58 types of controllers that use the Omron Smart Library.

The family of products is aimed at improving productivity in high capacity plants making items ranging from consumer electronics to motor vehicles. The new system aims to minimise start-up and bedding in time for the line, and uses predictive maintenance techniques to keep it running at optimal yield. The input data comes direct from the machines on the line.