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Tune In: Innovation and Leadership in Automation, by Gary Mintchell
"I hire innovative people." - Warren Buffett.
"Hire the right people." - Bill Gates. In this issue, we take a deep look into innovation in automation.
I love technology, so I picked the technology piece for myself. We also gave readers a chance to talk about what they see about innovation in automation. We also got a pundit, a practitioner and a professor to talk about innovation issues in automation and in manufacturing as well.
Borrowing stable technologies from the so-called “high-tech” sector has become a staple for innovation in our industry. Just think back over the past few years. Who would have thought 10 years ago that we would have personal computers and their underlying technologies everywhere in manufacturing? Or that we’d be using Ethernet for the bulk of our networking?
All those cool ideas and technologies that technologists discussed in my article (see p. 20) will not be developed and implemented without people. I recently listened to a podcast recording of a conversation with noted investor Warren Buffett and his friend Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. That’s where I found the quotes above. But there is more to the equation than just hiring the right people. I’ve seen talented people completely shut down by organizational entropy. What they do is take their creative energies to someplace outside work—or in the worst case, just lose personal motivation altogether.
Tuned out
What really initiated my thinking about this subject was a chance conversation with a professional person. “I put in my eight hours and get out.” Why would a highly trained, dedicated professional get into that sort of attitude situation? In a word, the answer is leadership—or lack thereof. For example, a company takes on projects but doesn’t train the staff adequately to handle the new situation. Seemingly arbitrary rules are imposed with no explanations. Decisions affecting people are made without input from the people who know what’s going on...
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» PINTO’S PROSE: Eight Innovation Ideas to Help Drive Automation Companies, by Jim Pinto
Growth is hard in today’s economic environment.
Strategies that worked well in the past are no longer effective. Everyone recognizes that innovation can generate successful growth, but it seems elusive and unpredictable. How does one find innovation?
You remember the story of the drunk who was looking for lost keys under the lamppost, with the explanation, “Because there’s more light over here.” For too many companies, this describes their search for new ideas. They look to improve what they’re already doing, but cannot come up with any new ideas to break through to really new business. New ideas are typically beyond core markets. To be truly innovative, companies must change their frames of reference and extend their search space. New thinking is required—looking away from the lamppost.
Innovation involves more than just a research and development (R&D) budget. It’s a committed plan to create something different. To succeed, companies must look away from their mainstream business to recognize the next big opportunities before their competitors do. This is especially true today, when rapidly accelerating technologies and global competitors have the propensity to upset the status quo.
Industrial automation products, for example, typically have higher gross margins, stuck in the mold of low volume, slow-growth business, with a mindset that inhibits change. Higher-priced products inhibit a broader range of applications. It’s the self-fulfilling prophecy that inhibits innovation and limits growth.
Automation is ripe for “disruptive innovation,” the term coined by Clayton Christensen to describe the process whereby products initially take root in simple applications at the low end, and then relentlessly move up to eventually displace established competitors. The disruption gives a whole new population of customers access to products that were only available for high-end applications.
Disruptive markets
Industrial wireless products, for example, typically have higher gross margins, stuck in the mold of low volume, slow-growth business, with a mindset that inhibits change. Higher-priced products inhibit a broader range of applications. It’s the self-fulfilling prophecy that inhibits innovation and limits growth...
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