Title: Innovation at 3M corporation
1Innovation at 3M corporation
- M9721015 ??? LINDA
- M9701021 ??? MAR
- M9701020 ??? FRIDA
2Outline
3Introduce 3M
4Background
- Founded in 1902 at Minnesota.
- Five businessman set out to mine a mineral
deposit for grinding-wheel abrasive. - Deposits proved to be of little value
- New 3M company focus on sandpaper products.
51910s
- New investor were attracted to 3M, such as Lucius
Ordway, who moved the 3M company to St. Paul. - Early technical and marketing innovations began
to produce successes. The company paid its first
dividend of 6 cents a share in 1916.
61920s
- The worlds first waterproof sandpaper, which
reduced airborne dusts during automobile
manufacturing was developed. - Masking Tape was invented- an innovative step
toward diversification and the first of many
Pressure-Sensitive Tapes. - Technical progress resulted in Cellophane Tape
for box sealing and soon hundreds of practical
uses were discovered.
71940s
- 3M was diverted into defense materials for WWII,
which was followed by new ventures, such as
Reflective Sheeting for highway markings,
Filament Adhesive Tape and the start of 3Ms
involvement in the graphic arts filed with offset
printing plates.
81950s
- Thermo-Fax copying process, Fabric Protector,
Cleaning Pads and several new electro-mechanical
products ware introduced.
91960s
- Dry-Silver microfilm was introduced along with
photographic products, carbonless papers,
overhead projection systems, and a rapidly
growing health care business of medical and
dental products.
101970s
- Markets further expended into pharmaceuticals,
radiology and energy control.
111980s
- Post-it Note was introduced, which created a
whole new category in the marketplace and changed
peoples communication and organization behavior
forever.
121990s
- Sales reached the 15 billion mark. 3M continued
to develop an array of innovation products,
including immune response modifier
pharmaceuticals brightness enhancement films for
electronic display and flexible circuits used in
inkjet printers, cell phones and other electronic
devices.
13Nowadays
- In 2004, sales topped 20 billion for the first
time, with innovative new products contributing
significantly to growth. Recent innovations
include Post-it Super Sticky Note, Transparent
Duct Tape, optical films for LCD televisions and
a new family of Cleaning Products that give
consumers the right scrubbing power for a host of
cleaning jobs.
14Traditional innovation way at 3M(1)
- Product team comprise technical individuals
- involve process engineers
- ensure the particular product under development
could be efficiently made - provided feedback about 3Ms manufacturing
capabilities - Allowed for technical employees to take matters
in their own hands. - Marketing input traditionally came from current
customers and sales representatives. - Product developer focus on finding new angles or
twists on the early trends.
15Traditional innovation way at 3M(2)
- Tools to identify market needs and trend by
product developers of 3M - Data from sales representative with daily contact
with physicians or registered nurses. - Gather some 30 nurses biannually from across the
nation in a room to obtain reactions to proposed
products. - Customer evaluation of currently marketed
products. - Site visits to observe physicians and nurse at
work, with the intent to identify unforeseen
needs. - Data on risk factors for diseases.
16Traditional innovation way at 3M(3)
- Disadvantage
- Hiring out for market research created too many
interfaces between development teams and
customers - Information obtained was not necessarily
proprietary - anyone could open up a medical textbook to find
key risk factor for diseases. - Understanding customer and market needs would not
suffice - customers were somewhere blind about their own
needs, and thus could not provide clues about
developing revolutionary products.
SHOULD BE INNOVATED!!
17Why 3M want to use Lead User Method
- They want to product a breakthrough products.
- Want to find new ways
- Identify leading-edge customer needs
- Develop concepts for breakthrough products and
services - Customer-focused product development process
18Lead User Method(1)
- Definition
- Method An accurately forecasting market
opportunity by taping the expertise base of lead
users. - Lead User
- The people whose experience are ahead of the
market segment. - They may lead in either target or analogous
market. - They may be involved with just one or more
attributes of the problems users met. - Purpose
- unearth product development opportunities.
19Lead User Method(2)
- Advantage
- richer and more reliable information
- better products and service concepts
- acceleration of the product and service
development process - Necessary Elements
- supportive management
- a cross-disciplinary team of high skilled people
- a understanding of the principles of Lead User
research - Compose
- 4-6 people from marketing and technical
department - 12-15 hours per week spent on the project
- project typically takes 5-6 months
20Lead User process
21Stage 1- Project Planning
- 4-6 weeks
- Identify the types of market, new products of
interest, and the innovation level - Identify key business constraints
- Interviewing industry experts to help focus in
key market trends
22Stage 2-Trends/Needs Identification
- 5-6 weeks
- Select a specific need-related trends
- Digest the information from stage 1
- Find top experts
- Development a good understanding of major trends
23Stage 3-Preliminary Concept Generation
- 5-6 weeks
- The group acquires a more precise understanding
of the needs it has selected as the area focus. - Seek to informally assess business potential for
the product or service being conceptualized. - Interview lead user experts for technical
knowledge that pertains to concept generation. - Meet with key managers to confirm that needs and
concepts fit well with business interests.
24Stage 4-Final concept Generation and learn from
lead user
- 5-6 weeks
- The team takes the preliminary concept developed
toward completion. - Seek to ensure that all possible solutions have
been explored. - Lead user workshop
- brainstorming to arrive at consensus on the
concepts(1-2 days) - Evaluates the concepts in terms of technical
feasibility, market appeal, and management
priorities.
25Example of Lead User Process 3M Corporation
and Infection Control
Stage 1
- 3M wanted to find a breakthrough infection
control product. - Surgical drapes
- Probe the team with questions
- What do you know about this market?
- How important is the skin itself
- as a source of infection?
- Build up an invaluable database of information
- Know the need for good surgical drapes
26Example of Lead User Process 3M Corporation
and Infection Control
Stage 2
- Make sense of all the information gathered in
stage 1 - Prove more effective the current products
- easy to apply and remove.
- Talk to a wide range of experts
- veterinary science to medics from MASH.
- Turn up other experts
- Theater make-up business to veterinary sciences
to oceanographers.
27Example of Lead User Process 3M Corporation
and Infection Control
Stage 3
- Identify important trends in infection control
- Travel to extreme situation surgical
environments in developing countries - Send product developers to visit potential
customers. - Identify lead users
- Veterinary hospitals, make-up artists in
Hollywood - How to pool the combined knowledge and talent to
develop product concepts?
28Example of Lead User Process 3M Corporation
and Infection Control
Stage 4
- Hold a workshop
- 11 3M personnel and 11 outside experts
- Focus on efficacy and cost
- Four challenges
- Lack of structure in many corporate meeting
- Introverted and extroverted participants
- Artists idea VS. surgeons squash
- Find ways to marry very creative ideas with
technical feasibility. - Lie in navigating a sea of facts
- Interplay of QA from diverse range keep the
process afloat.
brainstorming
29Example of Lead User Process 3M Corporation
and Infection Control
- Rank the product development concepts
- Customer preference for the new products
- Creation of new growth for division, with the
goal of double-digit annual growth. - Boosted global presence of the division.
- Higher growth for the rest of 3M through
incorporation of proprietary 3M technology with
patient protection.
30Example of Lead User Process 3M Corporation
and Infection Control
Recommendation
- Economic line
- One size fit all
- timesaving
- Low cost material
- apply anti-microbial substances to skin
- Skin Doctor line
- Hand-held vacuum mode -mop up surface liquids
- Original laying mode
- Antimicrobial armor product line
- Consistent with current strategy of reactive
infection control - Open the door to new business opportunities(2
billion)
31Conclusion
- Focus on qualitative probing of the right
questions - Traditional method focus on quantifiable
question and research - Evolution or revolution?
- Combining technologies from more than one core
areas is evolution. - Lead users method is a revolution
- Think about challenging the entire business
strategy. - Think that we gather and use information
differently than before - Provide emotional support
32Thank for your attention
33Pyramid of Experts
Cross-disciplinary networking
Mid-level experts
Mid-level experts
Top experts
Top experts