Specialty Chemical manufacturer taps employees for new product ideas
A specialty chemical manufacturer wanted to generate more new products and looked to employees for innovative new application ideas. To do so, their Stage Gate process was enhanced with an Idea Generation Stage 0.
ProjectLead developed a New Project Proposal form to capture employees' product ideas and provide some early information about potential opportunities.
ProjectLead developed and delivered training on the process of entering new project ideas and collaborating to obtain the necessary information for sizing and evaluation of the idea.
ProjectLead integrated the new Stage and Gate 0 into the company's project and portfolio management software system.
RESULTS
More New Products
Metrics verified an increase in new products into the product development pipeline.
Employee Involvement
Company officials added an interesting financial incentive to employees whose ideas resulted in commercialized product.
Right-sized Structure
Ideas were sized from a potential revenue and cost standpoint, at a high level, to give some preliminary information about the idea's potential.
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