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