Winning Innovation

A story of transformation, Winning Innovation illustrates a company-wide transformation of a magnitude that only superior R&D can make possible. It introduces principles for an innovation excellence transformation along with the parallel people transformation that is necessary for real change to occur. The result is a new culture based on respect and humility; highly efficient processes that deliver a wealth of innovations, sales, and profits for many years to come; and an owner who leaves a bright future for the people and company he’s known and loved his entire life.
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Lean-Driven Innovation

In 2005, Goodyear’s research and development (R&D) engine was not performing up to its full potential. The R&D organization developed high-quality tires, but the projects were not always successful. Goodyear embarked on a major initiative to transform its innovation creation processes by learning, understanding, and applying lean product development principles. Within five years, Goodyear saw its product development cycle times slashed by 70 percent, on-time delivery performance rise close to 100 percent, and throughput improve three-fold – all achieved with no increase in the R&D budget.
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Lean-Driven Innovation is available from Amazon
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Reviews & Endorsements

"When I first got to know Norbert Majerus at an LPPDE conference some years ago, I felt he was a remarkable man. He was sure of his deep knowledge, but he also was very interested in learning more, a lot more. This is a sign of a true lean practitioner. In Lean-Driven Innovation, Norbert shares some of his deep knowledge with us, and puts it in place with clear principles and real examples. He shows that focusing on true customer value — instead of the traditional focus on R&D cost — really pays off, and that building new value streams is the true objective for a product development organization. I love the last chapter Lean Never Ends, showing that the journey has just begun!"Peter PalmerSenior Manager Process Support, Scania, Board Member of LPPDE
"Norbert Majerus is a remarkable engineer and an extraordinary storyteller. This book tells the story of how he and his colleagues have taken their understanding of the basics of lean and applied it to the difficult task of product development. He is one of the few people I know who has so completely absorbed the concepts of the book, Factory Physics, that he has been able to apply them in a completely new environment—product innovation." Mark L. SpearmanCo-author of Factory Physics and Former Department Head, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Texas A&M University
"In Lean-Driven Innovation, Norbert Majerus brings insight and understanding to how Goodyear successfully applied lean principles to its R&D processes, and he offers readers the know-how and encouragement to do the same. The book is especially effective at showing how Goodyear has been able to make its R&D capacity visible and manageable, repetitively surfacing and resolving constraint issues and regularly improving the innovation process. These principles will help non-manufacturing processes far beyond R&D as well, such as administration, services, and healthcare." Peg PenningtonExecutive Director, Center for Operational Excellence, The Ohio State University
"Norbert’s work is a particularly impactful effort as it is not purely academic or theoretical, but rather based and vetted upon the years of hard-fought experiences and knowledge gained at Goodyear throughout its lean product development journey. Readers will undoubtedly gain insights into a number of promising continual improvement processes that may be applied at their companies for immediate and positive impact." Rich GildersleeveChief Technology Officer, DJO LLC
"A candid and well-told story of the process by which a strong and innovative engineering culture incorporated the powerful principles of lean product development." Don ReinertsenAuthor of The Principles of Product Development Flow,
"Lean-Driven Innovation provides a set of guiding principles for how to build an innovative organization that are based on science and hard-won experience. The principles are brought to life by great examples from Goodyear’s impressive lean transformation in R&D. This is a must-read for innovation leaders. Although based on a transformation in R&D, the thinking applies equally well to software development and other project-based knowledge work." Peter T. WardDirector, Center for Operational Excellence, The Ohio State University

About the Author

Norbert Majerus
Owner and Founder – Norbert Majerus Consulting Ltd.
Lean Champion, Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Book Author
Shingo Fellow and Prize Winner
AME Volunteer

Beginning in 2005, Norbert implemented a principles-based lean product development process at the three global innovation centers of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. For more than a decade he was Goodyear’s lean champion in research and development.

In 2016, Norbert published his first book, Lean-Driven Innovation, which received the Shingo Research Award. Also in 2016, with Norbert’s guidance the Goodyear R&D organization applied for and received the AME Excellence Award. Norbert published his second book, Winning Innovation in 2022.

Norbert, born and raised in Luxembourg, has a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, Germany, and worked most of the disciplines in the Goodyear innovation centers in Luxembourg and Akron.

Norbert has taught workshops and has spoken at many conferences in the United States and other countries. Since retiring from Goodyear in 2017, he continues to share his extensive lean expertise via Norbert Majerus Consulting and as a board member of LPPDE (Lean Product and Process Development Exchange).

Contact Norbert Majerus 

Organizations

Featured Press

How to Take a Novel Approach to Innovation on The Supply Chain Now Podcast
July 11, 2022

After leading a legendary R&D transformation during his tenure at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, he turned to the written word to share his wisdom and insights on the application of #lean principles.

Join Billy Ray Taylor and Norbert for this episode of The Winning Link Podcast, where they discuss Norbert’s new novel, Winning Innovation, along with the importance of culture to transformation, how to formulate the right recipe for innovation, and more.

Listen to the podcast. 

Winning Innovation on Mind the Innovation Podcast
May 17, 2022

Innovations are critical for businesses. They help companies stay on top of new developments and allow them to implement new tactics in new and evolving markets and gain a greater market share. Innovation also helps create opportunities for higher productivity and a more productive workforce. A culture where all ideas are supported encourages employees to express ideas that may become catalysts for innovation.

Click here to listen to the podcast.  

This Time It’s Business Fiction? on the Blueprint Podcast
May 5, 2022

On this week’s episode of the Blueprint podcast we had an incredible conversation with Norbert Majerus, Lean Champion at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Author of Lean-Driven Innovation on his new book. This time it’s business fiction?

Click here to listen to the full episode. 

Shingo Institute Research Award
April 26, 2016

Lean-Driven Innovation receives the Shingo Institute Research Award 

Lean Driven Innovation Twin Cities Continuous Improvement Consortium Workshop Event in White Bear Lake, Minnesota
October 2, 2019
Although lean has found widespread application in manufacturing and services, there have been very few sustained implementations in R&D — and even less in the innovation creation process. Lean startup thinking has energized some areas of application (e.g., software development), but manufacturing innovation has yet to fully embrace lean principles.

Goodyear and many other innovative companies have proven that the benefits of applying lean principles to innovation or R&D — even at the fuzzy front end of the innovation cycle — can be much higher than what has been accomplished in traditional applications, such as manufacturing and services. Benefits include greater agility, more successful new products, better delivery, and much faster speed to market.

This workshop is designed for leaders and practitioners seeking to work more innovatively. Building on the principles of Lean Product Development and Lean Startups, the program provides a comprehensive framework that helps leaders and organizations figure out what to do and how to do it every day. It will provide approaches to answer the following questions:
– How to quickly and efficiently execute a competitive Innovation Creation Process
– How to measure progress to be sure you are getting closer to your goals?
– How to maximize the talent you already have?
– How to discover the truth using simulations, interactions, and tangible experiments?

It applies to all businesses and services that want to become more innovative.

This workshop will focus on the following topics:
– Why innovation is important in all industries, services, and processes
– The lean principles that take an idea to a successful product
– Examples and case studies of successful implementations
– Key tools and features
– Quick learning cycles (agile, scrum)
– Minimum viable products
– Fail fast and often to succeed quickly
– How to engage people in a lean transformation
Innovation and product development subjects, including understanding customer value, collaboration, critical questions, quick learning cycles, minimum viable products, concurrent development, agile, and scrum
– Coaching participants through the creation of a virtual new product by using a sprint cycle

By attending this workshop, what will attendees be able to do upon returning to work on Monday?
– Apply lean thinking to their innovation creation process
– Develop a roadmap to allow everybody to be successful at efficiently creating innovative products, services and processes
– How to engage the people in the transformation and the new process

Who should attend this session:
– Leaders, managers and practitioners in R&D, Engineering and Manufacturing organizations. 

Two fantastic workshops by Norbert Majerus at Chalmers Conference Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden
January 24 – 25, 2018

Two different workshops will be presented by the Shingo-award winning author of “Lean Driven Innovation”, Norbert Majerus.

Workshop 1: Lean-Driven Start-Up Innovation, January 24, 2019.

Workshop 2: New Products Every Year – On Time and On Target, January 25, 2019.

Register for these workshops at LLPDE.org

Lean Driven Innovation Twin Cities Continuous Improvement Consortium Workshop Event in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
November 29, 2018

Although lean has found widespread application in manufacturing and services, there have been very few sustained implementations in R&D — and even less in the innovation creation process. Lean startup thinking has energized some areas of application (e.g., software development), but manufacturing innovation has yet to fully embrace lean principles.

Goodyear and many other innovative companies have proven that the benefits of applying lean principles to innovation or R&D — even at the fuzzy front end of the innovation cycle — can be much higher than what has been accomplished in traditional applications, such as manufacturing and services. Benefits include greater agility, more successful new products, better delivery, and much faster speed to market.

This workshop is designed for leaders and practitioners seeking to work more innovatively. Building on the principles of Lean Product Development and Lean Startups, the program provides a comprehensive framework that helps leaders and organizations figure out what to do and how to do it every day. It will provide approaches to answer the following questions:
– How to quickly and efficiently execute a competitive Innovation Creation Process
– How to measure progress to be sure you are getting closer to your goals?
– How to maximize the talent you already have?
– How to discover the truth using simulations, interactions, and tangible experiments?

It applies to all businesses and services that want to become more innovative.

This workshop will focus on the following topics:
– Why innovation is important in all industries, services, and processes
– The lean principles that take an idea to a successful product
– Examples and case studies of successful implementations
– Key tools and features
– Quick learning cycles (agile, scrum)
– Minimum viable products
– Fail fast and often to succeed quickly
– How to engage people in a lean transformation
Innovation and product development subjects, including understanding customer value, collaboration, critical questions, quick learning cycles, minimum viable products, concurrent development, agile, and scrum
– Coaching participants through the creation of a virtual new product by using a sprint cycle

By attending this workshop, what will attendees be able to do upon returning to work on Monday?
– Apply lean thinking to their innovation creation process
– Develop a roadmap to allow everybody to be successful at efficiently creating innovative products, services and processes
– How to engage the people in the transformation and the new process

Who should attend this session:
– Leaders, managers and practitioners in R&D, Engineering and Manufacturing organizations. 

Lean Driven Innovation Workshop in San Diego, California
August 30, 2018

This workshop is designed for leaders and practitioners seeking to work more innovatively. Building on the principles of Lean Product Development and Lean Startups, the program provides a comprehensive framework that helps leaders and organizations figure out what to do and how to do it every day. It will provide approaches to answer the following questions:

How to quickly and efficiently execute a competitive Innovation Creation Process
How to measure progress to be sure you are getting closer to your goals?
How to maximize the talent you already have?
How to discover the truth using simulations, interactions, and tangible experiments?
It applies to all businesses and services that want to become more innovative.

Description

Although lean has found widespread application in manufacturing and services, there have been very few sustained implementations in R&D — and even less in the innovation creation process. Lean startup thinking has energized some areas of application (e.g., software development), but manufacturing innovation has yet to fully embrace lean principles.

Goodyear and many other innovative companies have proven that the benefits of applying lean principles to innovation or R&D — even at the fuzzy front end of the innovation cycle — can be much higher than what has been accomplished in traditional applications, such as manufacturing and services. Benefits include greater agility, more successful new products, better delivery, and much faster speed to market.

This workshop focuses on the following topics:

– Why innovation is important in all industries, services, and processes
– The lean principles that take an idea to a successful product
– Examples and case studies of successful implementations
– Key tools and features: Quick learning cycles (agile, scrum), Minimum viable products, Fail fast and often to succeed quickly
– How to engage people in a lean transformation
– Innovation and product development subjects, including understanding customer value, collaboration, critical questions, quick learning cycles, minimum viable products, concurrent development, agile, and scrum
– Coaching participants through the creation of a virtual new product by using a sprint cycle

By attending this workshop, what will attendees be able to do upon returning to work on Monday?

– Apply lean thinking to their innovation creation process
– Develop a roadmap to allow everybody to be successful at efficiently creating innovative products, services and processes
– How to engage the people in the transformation and the new process

Who should attend this session:

– Leaders, managers, and practitioners in R&D, Engineering and Manufacturing organizations.

Register for the workshop. 

2018 Engineer’s Day at the Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg-Kirchberg
February 3, 2018

Lean thinking has revolutionized the manufacturing industry. Since 2005 its principles have been applied to the innovation process by Norbert Majerus. Born in Luxembourg in 1952 and based in Akron since 1983 Goodyear’s lean champion in research and development. He is the author of the award winning book: “Lean driven Innovation”.
 

Lean-Driven Innovation Workshop at Century College, Minnesota
November 6, 2017

Although lean has found widespread application in manufacturing and services, there have been very few sustained implementations in R&D or other organizations that focus on innovation. Lean-startup thinking has energized high-tech industries, but applications to the innovation creation processes in traditional manufacturing industries or services have been rare and very little has been published on the subject. In fact, many executives believe that applying lean to an innovation creation process can hurt creativity. The resistance to lean and innovation is unfortunate: the benefits of applying lean principles to innovation or R&D even at the fuzzy front end of the innovation cycle, can be much higher than what has been accomplished in traditional applications, such as manufacturing and services. Benefits include higher agility, more successful new products, better delivery and much higher speed to market. Goodyear has developed a highly successful lean R&D and innovation creation process, and the company willingly shares its findings with industry. This presentation imparts what Goodyear learned on its lean R&D journey as well as how Goodyear implemented lean principles and achieved synergy between lean and creativity.

Content:

  • Learn why innovation is important in all industries, services and processes
  • Understand how lean can be applied and how it can benefit all organizations
  • Learn how to create value for the customer and the organization
  • Understand the lean principles and how to apply them to your work or processes
  • See examples and case studies of successful implementations
  • Learn how to generate new ideas and efficiently develop them into successful products or processes
  • Experience a new dimension of thinking that can be applied in many other areas
  • Understand how to engage the people in the transformation
  • Learn how to manage innovation projects using lean principles

Agenda:

  • Why innovation is important
  • Why it is important to use lean thinking in the innovation creation process and how the principles can be applied
  • 10 Drivers of lean innovation with simulations and hands on exercises for
  • Value stream collaboration
  • Quick learning cycles
  • Minimum viable products
  • Managing innovation projects with lean thinking
 

Leading People and Cross-Functional Teams in a Lean Innovation Environment at Lean Innovation Forum in Madrid, Spain
October 24, 2017

Many lean change agents cite “the people” as the biggest challenge in the transformation. This was certainly also an experience that Goodyear’s lean champion, Norbert Majerus had. He learned that people must be fully engaged in the transformation to produce sustainable results.

A lot has been published about how Toyota manages people – and all of that is very good – But many companies have experienced challenges to copy the Toyota model because they have a different culture and organization.
It is obvious to Goodyear now that they have a different organization and culture and that people must be managed differently. To get there, it helps to understand the principles, the specific needs and challenges.

Through the workshop, participants will learn what experience they had in Goodyear innovation centers during and after the lean transformation.

The workshop is based on the training Goodyear provides to its associates, and includes many industrial examples as well as hands-on exercises through which the participants will understand how to lead the transformation from the people perspective. 

Lean-Driven Innovation Workshop at Goodyear in Akron, Ohio
July 27, 2017

Tour Goodyear, an AME Excellence Award recipient, and see how the company has developed its highly successful lean R&D and innovation creation process in this one-day workshop packed with simulations, examples, case studies and excitement. This presentation imparts what Goodyear learned on its lean R&D journey as well as how the company implemented lean principles and achieved synergy between lean and creativity. 

LPPDE North America 2017 in San Jose
September 18 – 20, 2017

Norbert Majerus, Goodyear
Co-chair of LPPDE North America 2017

Development speed has never been more important than right now. Being faster than competitors is a big advantage to most companies, but what many companies do not know is that development efficiency improves as they get faster.

Development speed can be significantly improved by the application of lean principles to the development process. For example the correct application of waste elimination, single piece flow, concurrent development etc. had a huge effect at the Goodyear Innovation Centers where they have been used for more than 10 years now.

In this workshop, participants will learn what lean principles increase development speed and how to correctly apply them to achieve the desired effects. Many simulations, examples and illustrations make the workshop effective and fun.

To enrich your learning experience, you can sign up for pre-conference workshops on September 18, 2017. These sessions typically are in groups of 8-16 people and are highly interactive and tailored to the audience as much as possible.

Register for this workshop and other events at LPPDE North America 2017!

Learn more about this workshop 

Lean-Driven Innovation Workshop at Cal-Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA
August 14, 2017

Although lean has found widespread application in manufacturing and services, there have been very few sustained implementations in R&D and even less in the innovation creation process. Lean start-up thinking has energized the area of computer applications but the manufacturing innovation lacks behind.

The resistance to lean and innovation is unfortunate: the benefits of applying lean principles to innovation or R&D even at the fuzzy front end of the innovation cycle, can be much higher than what has been accomplished in traditional applications, such as manufacturing and services. Benefits include higher agility, more successful new products, better delivery and much higher speed to market.