Do you want to introduce a new product that is better than anything on the market? Do you want to sell lots of this new product at a higher margin than your existing products? Do you want to develop the product in less time than your traditional product development cycle? Maybe we can help.

Everybody talks about innovation, but how do you make it happen? You see innovative products every day in the news. Why not you? One of the things that hold us back is the image of a self-made millionaire. When in reality, most innovation is not the work of one person. Thomas Edison had a team of engineers. Elon Musk did not design the Tesla car or SpaceX rocket himself. They had great teams. You are proud of your company and what you have achieved. You may have a great team in place that will certainly continue to produce innovations. But if you want to make bigger innovations faster, maybe you need to add some diversity to your team through collaboration.

I have had some great career successes. Each big success was the result of the work of a great team.

After over 40 years of sales, marketing and product development, I believe the secret to fast innovation is collaboration. In addition, collaboration between diverse participants. This is not just about racial or economic diversity but a diversity of background and thought. Everybody has a different life experience. Everybody has a different education. With that in mind, everybody has a unique ability to innovate when put in the right situation. Sitting at your desk will probably not do it. You have to get out and interact with others to spark that innovation.

Sometimes internal innovation is possible with a little luck. The first linear motor, high-speed, laser cutting system, was developed in the early 1990s through a collaboration. The laser-cutting market was an arms race to see who could supply the highest-power CO2 laser and cut the thickest steel. Laser manufacturers were competing with each other. Meanwhile, the metal fabricating market was dominated by punching machines called turret presses. It took a fraction of a second to punch a hole in sheet metal and quite a while for a laser to cut the same hole. A metal fabricating machinery company took on the project to go after the turret punch market and not go head-to-head with the other laser manufacturers. The challenge was to see how fast they could cut a hole in lightweight sheet metal. They realized over 90% of steel, by weight, sold in the US was 16 gage (1/16”) or thinner. Most every laser on the market could cut light gauge steel fast but did not have the motion dynamics to cut a small hole.

The machine tool company had a diverse set of engineers in linear motors, laser systems and software. A new vendor was able to show advantages in a new type of digital signal processor motion controller where not only could you control the rate of acceleration but also the rate of change of acceleration or jerk. It was about 100 times faster than a conventional controller at converting digital information from G-Code and linear encoders into the analog signal needed to drive the linear motors. This is the same technology that took the digital signals from a music CD and converted it to the analog signal needed to drive speaker coils was now readily available. Another supplier could provide a new style of four-meter-long precision linear encoders.

With a diverse group of engineers, suppliers and customers, project 100 took off. The idea was to see how fast you could laser cut 100 ¼” holes in 18-gage steel. Most lasers would take 2 to 5 minutes. The new machine could do it in 30 seconds. Furthermore, it could cut the outline of the part faster than a turret punch could nibble it out.

Three prototype machines were built and installed in the highest demanding applications like surgical equipment and saw blades. Beta customers were sworn to secrecy. After a year, the machines held up much better than their ballscrew-driven predecessors.

Then came the marketing innovation. The laser was incredible to watch. But how could you get many customers to see how fast it was? This was before viral videos on YouTube. It was the era of the VHS tape. The company shot a short video of the machine cutting a part with 100 quarter-inch holes in under 30 seconds. The tape was duplicated and mailed to thousands of potential customers. It went viral. Customers showed it throughout their companies. Companies showed it to other laser vendors. The company was swamped with potential customers wanting to travel to visit the showroom and see the machine. Before the demo, customers were trying to hand over deposit checks to hold deliveries of the new system. The company’s laser sales tripled. That was fun.

Linear Motor Laser Cutting 1/4” Holes in 18 Gauge Steel

The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an example of applying diversity to problems. They combine experts in materials, robotics, controls, composites, software and manufacturing technology on a team to help industry accelerate innovation.

One very cool project was the first 3D-printed car that went from concept to finished product in 8 months. While there were some great examples of cars with lots of 3d printed components, this was the first time the main structure of a vehicle was printed in one piece. An automotive company with a web-based design collaboration software process dubbed co-creation provided the design inspiration along with engineering and assembly know-how. Two machine tool companies developed and provided equipment. Two materials companies provided reinforced thermoplastics. A company that provided process modeling finite element software provided analysis tools. A team from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (ORNL MDF) provided collaboration on the machine development, programming software, and process development that led to the project’s success. Finally, an industry association gave the team a platform at a major trade show to make the car in front of the world.

There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of little innovations that went into the car called Strati. No car company, no machine tool company, no materials company, no software company and no national lab could have done this project alone in two years. It was conceived in February, designed in April and May, engineered in June, July and August, and manufactured in one week in September.

Strati was 3D-printed, machined and then assembled with production drive components and suspension parts at IMTS in Chicago. The finished car was driven out of the trade show on the last day. What a big event. That was fun.

One example of innovation is using large-format additive manufacturing to make tooling for the precast concrete market. I participated in a meeting with some of the brightest scientists in the US. Department of Energy in building technology, combined with some experts in additive manufacturing and materials from ORNL and some design and production experts from one of the leading precast concrete companies in the world. I saw a sea change in how custom precast concrete components could be produced. The first project was to clad a new skyscraper in Brooklyn, New York in precast window surrounds. The old way of making forms with wood was replaced with 3D-printed carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic. While the printed forms were more expensive, they were much more durable than the wooden forms, making the overall cost better. There was difficulty in building enough wooden forms because the skilled carpenters needed to build them were in short supply. While ORNL proved the process two other companies worked to make some of the molds. The resulting building is beautiful with hundreds of different designs for the window surrounds. The resulting parts are as white as sugar, reflecting the property’s history as the old Domino sugar plant. That was fun.

One South First and Ten Grand Buildings With Precast Concrete Window Surrounds That Look Like Sugar

How can you build some diversity in your product development team? You can try to hire a diverse team to develop your products. New product development happens in sprints and there are long times between products when a valuable team may not be needed.

The longer the team works together the less diverse they become as much of their experience is now shared experience.

You can hire a senior consultant to be a trusted part of your product development team. Hire them by the hour for just as long as you need them. They are not part of your overhead when the economy cycles downward.

RICK NEFF, LLC has experience from all the projects in this story. With a background in strategic planning, manufacturing technology, marketing, sales and engineering we can help you jump-start your product development. We also are connected to many of the best minds in industry and can help with suppliers and technical experts to assist in the process. We may work directly with you, or we may use our network to connect you with an expert or experts who can help.

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Be Better Faster! Accelerating Innovation