SR&ED

We frequently encounter manufacturing companies that are significantly under claiming on their SR&ED tax credits. The biggest mistake we see is that many of these companies view their new product development efforts as the only area where SR&ED is occurring and forget to look at their manufacturing improvement efforts. The methodologies of effective manufacturing process improvement, such as the Deming cycle or Six Sigma, often satisfy the requirements of SR&ED eligibility. Companies are quite surprised at how this can SR&ED eligibility can impact the real cost of their improvement projects. Let’s look at an example: A manufacturing company uses a piece of equipment that has consumable wear inserts. During operation, these inserts are consumed (worn-out) and require monthly replacement. The company’s Manufacturing Engineer identifies a number of possible other materials or coatings designed to reduce the rate of wear on the insert but is uncertain how these other materials will […]