The manufacturing community is and has been painfully aware of the critical importance innovation and product development play in the competitiveness of their organizations. Survey results tell the tale, with nearly three-quarters of respondents to a Boston Consulting Group survey ranking innovation among their companies' top three strategic priorities. A far smaller percentage has been satisfied with the payoff of their efforts.
The U.S. government appears more recently to have fully acknowledged the role innovation and product development play in the creation of a dynamic economy, particularly with regard to job creation. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership is evidence of that increased awareness. In June, President Obama launched the partnership, a national effort to invest in emerging technologies to grow jobs and enhance U.S. competitiveness. Accelerating product development is key to reaching those goals, the launch announcement noted. The plan includes a $500 million investment to start the effort.
"With these key investments, we can ensure that the United States remains a nation that invents it here and manufactures it here," the president said at the announcement of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.
The growing focus on innovation and product development as keys to competitiveness raises a number of questions: What is the manufacturing community -- not only manufacturers but all the players who contribute to the health of this sector -- doing to be more successful in their innovation and product development efforts, and what should they be doing?
This article marks the third in a four-part series on the competitiveness challenge facing the United States and its manufacturing community, highlighting the areas of innovation and product development. It explores those questions through the words of three product innovators.
Eaton: 'We Need Innovation to Grow'
If you want to grow your company in any significant way, innovation is a required element. That's Eaton Corp.'s perspective. The Cleveland-based power management manufacturer aims for 12% to 14% growth every year "and the lion's share of that has to come from organic growth," says Michael Wynblatt, Eaton vice president for engineering technology.
Organic growth typically requires grabbing a larger share of an existing market or entering entirely new markets or segments. These options require purchasers to either give up a competitor's product or possibly buy from a company with which they are not familiar.
"Why is someone going to start buying Eaton, maybe for the first time ever? Probably only if the product is very distinctive, and has high differentiation from what the competitors have," Wynblatt says. "Innovation is the way that you get there."
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