Everybody agrees that changes will have to come. We have to
change our ways in respect to the environment, but limited
resources will also force us to act more as partners in a business
relationship in order to cope with the challenges of a global
market. This change is no longer voluntary, but a necessity to
survive and to eventually build strong economies. Deliberate
changes can only be achieved by well-managed innovation. Innovation
is more than designing high-tech products and smart Internet
services. Innovations produce cost reductions and flexibility. It
makes sustainable progress possible without spending extra money or
adding effort to satisfy loyal customers through improved
functionalities or performances. Isn't that what we all want?
Sustainable progress can be achieved through the elimination of
waste, low consumption of materials and energy, and an exact fit of
the requirements of a client's needs. This requires more than good
quality control. Quality control can improve processes, but it
cannot reorganize them. New business processes provides new output,
therefore, the marketing of your products and services will also
change. When a new product or service is launched, there will be
effects for all primary processes of the value chain. Consequently,
an innovation process should include all rationalized possibilities
of the value chain for fulfilling the demands of the market.
Quality and Innovation are, in this respect, the motivators for
sustainable improvement.
The management of these kinds of innovations can overwhelm
project leaders when there is no clear course for achieving the
desired innovation output and knowledge. Aiming at a moving
target during Innovative developments will delay the process, cause
higher costs, and lower the quality of the result. Innovation and
Quality must merge in order to change organizations for sustainable
progress. Therefore, guidelines will help to innovate to the most
recognized quality systems (particularly the ISO 9001: 2008 and Design
for Lean Six Sigma .) These make it necessary in an early stage
to define requirements and constraints of a new development - not
only on functionality and performance levels, but also integrally
on the level of modules, systems and processes that will produce
the offer to the market. Multidisciplinary involvement for defining
the new development must start from the beginning in order to
contribute and monitor the results for the improvement of the
venture's performance.
Benefits of fast product introductions to increase competitive
advantage can be achieved by speeding up innovations.
Systematically shortening the time to market is possible through an
agreement on an innovation program that includes all necessary
rules and processes. These should be similar for every innovation
within your company. The ISO 9001: 2008 standard specifies that the
company's organization must be geared towards effectively
fulfilling the requirements of your customers. This also means that
the external processes, with all their inputs and outputs, of the
members of the supply chain must be included in these procedures.
Because multidisciplinary involvement is a necessity for good
quality output of the innovation result, these procedures must be
defined in consensus. Responsibilities, activities, and the input
of 'go/no go' decisions at milestones have to be agreed upon for
every stage in the development process. The interaction with all
other procedures within ISO 9001 can be incorporated for an
effective workflow.
Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFSS ) keeps the processes clear, governable,
predictable, and results-oriented; it will form the conditions
which minimize the chance of errors and the prevention of waste
whilst shortening the process time. These processes are formed
during the innovation development with the new product and its
associated services. Using the philosophy of DFSS will make the
products and services more robust because design specifications
will meet the process capabilities; the (outsourced) system
components can also be valued on customer demands rather than a
theoretical hypothesis. These characteristics are all design
choices that effectively can simplify quality control and reduce
production waste. Therefore, it speaks for itself; use the
principles of strategic quality management as a rule when making
decisions during the realization of the innovation. During the
innovation development, all disciplines must focus on opportunities
for improving the venture's performance while actively contributing
to process upgrades. All these contributions must be put in effect
by the innovation manager. The role of the innovation manager is
also the role of advisor, thus responsibilities can be shared in a
correct manner and activities focused. The board of directors will
value the results and plans for the next stage and can steer the
project on strategic parameters.
During the innovation process, many strategic choices must be
made. Moreover, the business processes must be formed during the
innovation for the whole supply chain. Your organization must be
motivated to function according to the new rules of quality
management. Of course, this requires a mutual interest in the
improvement of your business processes. All supply chain partners,
as well as your own corporation will benefit from organizing your
innovation processes. The result is that your innovation projects
will gain in speed, efficiency, and cost-awareness. ISO 9001: 2008
and DFSS can support these processes in a natural way. Cost saving
and sustainable progress should be complementary.
Anneloes Cordia has supported many multinationals and combines
her professional work with a position as Professor in 'Innovation
and Entrepreneurship' at the Rotterdam University for Applied
Science. Her latest book the 'Innovation Management Practice Handbook' is
available as an eBook. All innovation methodologies
described in this book have been verified during her 25 years of
experience as (interim) project manager in innovation for a
diversity of technologies and markets.
Contact her at cordia@productrealisatie.nl.