To celebrate the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) turning 20, we’re hosting a series of best practice visits (BPVs) throughout 2025. You can now sign up to participate in our upcoming visit to MacIntyre Chocolate Systems.

This visit will highlight how organisational culture can support the use of innovation as a key business tool to help safeguard the future of your business and directly contribute to its bottom line.

Part of the Probat group, MacIntyre Chocolate Systems is a worldwide supplier of chocolate manufacturing and processing equipment. Formed in 1974, the company has historical roots in Scotland that can be traced back to the 1800s. With around 98% of its products exported and a customer base stretching across 116 countries, this organisation is a truly global business.

Under the direction of Managing Director Joe Gorman, MacIntyre Chocolate Systems changed its operations by shifting the workplace culture to better engage with and empower its staff. This allowed the organisation to tap into its workers’ wealth of product knowledge and high-level engineering skill, to create a boundless capability for innovation which is now part of the organisation’s DNA and a key differentiator in the markets they serve.

During this visit, Joe Gorman will talk us through the organisation’s history and cultural revolution, then explain how using innovation as a business tool linked to the financial bottom line has placed the company at the very top of its sector. There will also be a Q&A session, so please come with your questions ready as this is very much an audience participation event.

You’ll also be able to visit the shop floor and see the business processes in operation, which should answer some questions and perhaps provoke a few more. You’ll have a chance to ask any final questions after the tour.