Black Country best for barbecue inventors

INVENTORS behind an anti-flare-up system for barbecues are looking to develop their next product in the Black Country.

Peter Neath and Ian Worton, of Dynamic Technical Products, have tapped into support from the Manufacturing Advisory Service-West Midlands to develop the 360 Replacement Grill.

The product utilises Grillstream surface tension technology to channel oils and fats away from the hot charcoal.

The West Midland pair have worked with the MAS New Product Development (NPD) team to design the grill. They have also teamed up with local suppliers Roson Engineering (tooling), Regent Engineering (presswork) and Ellison Coating Systems (enamelling) to bring the product to market.

The duo, who previewed their invention on Dragon’s Den, expect to sell the 360 direct to the market and through licensing agreements with major barbecue manufacturers and retailers.

“Most barbecues are manufactured overseas and are pretty much based on the same design principles that are 50 years old. We wanted to change that by using British engineering expertise,” said Mr Neath, an automotive component manufacturer by trade.

“It took us seven years to come up with, develop and licence the Grillstream and it is already proving a major hit both in the UK and in fifteen countries across the world.”

The NPD programme provides a business mentor and specialist assistance from industry experts to help firms validate and, if possible, commercialise ideas or new inventions.
 
The service has more than £500,000 at its disposal to support manufacturing companies in the West Midlands.

Roy Pulley, project manager for NPD, said: “In today’s global manufacturing environment, it is absolutely essential that we invest in new ideas and innovations that will give us that competitive edge…the problem is it is so expensive to get a product to market.

“This is where our service comes in. We’ll work with a firm on the initial concept and identify what assistance they need and then bring in the best people to deliver that.

“Grillstream is a great example of how it works. The duo had a simple yet outstanding idea to solve an everyday problem and we helped them to access CAD facilities for prototyping and more recently supported them on securing patents for the UK, Europe and the US.”