Andrew Wood, a former British Rail manager at York, is more than an ideas man. He knows how to inspire other people to come up with brainwaves.

More even than that, he helps them to convert those ideas into money-saving, cash-earning reality.

It is more than three years since he and Lynda Cozens left British Rail for which they both ran suggestion schemes, to begin Ideas Management Ltd which is now based in Swinegate, York.

Well, if British Rail was being privatised, why couldn't they sell their rare ability to set the scene for ideas, notions, inventions, criticisms by staff of other companies, to come true?

An increasing number of companies were becoming aware of the calculation made by the UK Association of Suggestion Schemes, of which Andrew is a former chairman.

Based on its own survey last year, the Association reckons that a total of £1,000 million would have been saved if every UK company had effective systems to get the best ideas out of staff and then put them into practice.

Big name clients who use Ideas Management's consultancy, training services or tailor made employee suggestion schemes are, as you might expect, a number of railway companies, including Central Trains Ltd, Anglia Railways Ltd, Regional Railways North East, and English, Welsh and Scottish Railways.

But the client list is also as varied as the Bank of Scotland, British Airways, Barclays Bank, HM Prison Service, London Electricity, Motorola, NatWest Card Centre and the Inland Revenue. His big achievement this year was to win a major contract with Dana Commercial Credit.

Now Ideas Management Ltd has entered the French market. Renault Cars has translated the firm's booklet, "101 Ways to Improve Ideas" and issued it to all its managers.

Andrew, who publishes a bi-monthly subscription magazine called Ideas Express which circulates in the UK, the Middle East, US and Canada, says: "We have always recognised that no matter what your industry or culture, the principle behind the suggestion scheme remains the same.

"We are delighted that Renault managers are strong believers in the generation of ideas by employees. I know they will find this booklet useful."

Meanwhile, one of the best ideas he has put into practice for his own firm is to enter the 1998 Evening Press Business Venture of the Year. Should he win the £2,000 prize he would upgrade his in-house printing capability with a powerful scanner.

Sounds like a good suggestion.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.