It started with an ARC

In 2016, GO Productivity delivered an ARC (Assessment, Road-map and Coaching) to Oakville Stamping & Bending. The ARC, as it traditionally does, looked at establishing a focused productivity and innovation plan to help support the business, in the wake of a range of new growth opportunities that had presented themselves.

Fast Forward to 2019

Fast forward to 2019 to where OS&B has been enjoying a steady and exciting growth in business, approaching a double of net profit over the course of the previous year.  One of the reasons for growth has been new market opportunities and a flood of new product ideas to introduce enhanced value to the industry.

With OS&B already positioned as leaders and innovators in an increasingly competitive marketplace, there was an opportunity to reengage with GO Productivity and formalize a structure and some key process around their product innovation goals.

Over the course of winter 2019, GO Productivity worked with the Senior Management Team to build a Product Innovation Architecture to help OS&B manage the flow of all new product ideas.  A key part of this was building a process that the team could consistently and effectively rely on to take any new idea from conception to adoption.

In addition to articulation of the architecture, a value system was reinforced around using the processes that were built – if new product ideas were to be effectively developed and managed, it was going to require patience, discipline and execution.  This can sometimes run counter to value systems that inform ideation – creativity, possibility, and freedom.  The reality is the two value systems need to work effectively in tandem.  A successful innovation program encourages good ideas to come from anywhere in the business and find themselves a priority for investment; but a successful innovation program also requires focus on the priorities that are chosen and clear accountabilities around timelines, key performance indicators, and project teams.

Oakville Stamping & Bending continues to build on this innovation architecture and will be in a position to launch key new products into the marketplace in 2020.

If you’d like to learn more about these types of activities your organization can do to increase your productivity and bottom line, contact us at start@goproductivity.ca.