It Doesn't HAVE To Work

Process innovation is a very interesting activity. There are plenty of technical challenges to overcome, no doubt. However, many of the key roadblocks are managerial or non-technical. I’d like to share a story about this topic. I was the project leader on an audacious project, and success was far from certain. The goal was to invent and manufacture a new material with dramatically better performance for the customer. Much progress had been made: a composition for the new material had been invented and refined; pilot-scale testing looked very promising, and, full-scale trials in the manufacturing facility were underway. Problems arise in full-scale testing of new processes for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is that the sample sizes are much larger than pilot scale testing. This larger sample size makes it easier to detect problems compared with pilot-scale trials. Such a problem arose in our production trials. This problem made manufacturing difficult to perform consistently, and it was inherent and unavoidable with the new and improved material we were processing. This problem was a “stopper”; the material could not be introduced in production until this issue was resolved. I was discussing the situation with a key manager. He wanted airtight assurances that this problem could be resolved successfully. I told him I could not provide such assurances, but I would make it work if it was humanly possible. I estimated we had 80-90% chance of fixing this problem. The discussion continued. The manager was not happy or relieved, he told me: “This HAS to work, we are depending and planning on it.” I told him it did not have to work, there was no cosmic prerogative to make it so. I also told him these problems were inherent and unavoidable, and required a strong stomach. Simply wanting all the benefits of innovation without properly preparing for the difficulties is unrealistic, I suggested. Also, the project managers had not had backup plans (to save money), something I had advised against. As Richard Feynman, the famous physicist, said: “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” We ended up solving the production problem, as hoped, and began high volume manufacturing with the new material and process. I learned from this that different people and organizations have differing abilities to stomach the difficulties that inevitably arise when innovating. World-class innovators expect and plan for the difficulties beforehand and buckle-down when they do occur.

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YOUR CHALLENGE THIS WEEK

Please reflect on your boldest and most significant process innovations in the past 5 to 10 years…

• Were you prepared for the inevitable difficulties that arose during scale-up?

• Did you have solid backup-plans in place to manage and contain the risks?

I’d enjoy hearing about your “HAVE to work” innovation experiences! As always, you can just email me and I’ll get back to you promptly.

All the Best, Marty

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