{"id":4304,"date":"2020-03-06T16:27:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T21:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/?p=4304"},"modified":"2020-09-21T16:21:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T20:21:34","slug":"the-assembly-line-versus-the-concept-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/stage\/blog\/the-assembly-line-versus-the-concept-car\/","title":{"rendered":"The Assembly Line Versus The Concept Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe it\u2019s because I was Creative Director with Volvo for 8 years. Maybe it\u2019s because I went to high school in Oshawa, Ontario (Canada\u2019s version of Flint, Michigan). But when I want to frame up innovation, I often think of what the car folks do. With that in mind, there are two critical parts to your business and career.<\/p>\n

1. The Assembly Line<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s face it, whatever product or service you deliver has a series of activities done in succession that generate a \u201cthing\u201d at the end of a literal or metaphorical assembly line.<\/p>\n

The assembly line is where your profit comes from because you\u2019ve stripped out every single ounce of inefficiency. Each employees\u2019 role on the assembly line is very clearly defined and their actions are meant to be repeatable. When they\u2019re executed the same way every single time, quality is maintained, costs are contained, and the margin is consistent.<\/p>\n

As any spot welder knows, there\u2019s no collaboration on the assembly line. No one stops the line to blue sky concepts and brainstorm alternative methods of delivery. Everyone does their job, they pass it off to the next person, and the line continues with peak efficiency. In my business we say, \u201cKill it and bill it.\u201d Put your head down. Get it done. And move on to the next task.<\/p>\n

The first step of innovation is putting what you currently do on the assembly line. Make low value activities low effort activities so that you can save time, money, and energy for new innovations that will truly make a difference.<\/p>\n

2. The Concept Car<\/strong><\/h2>\n

No car manufacturer can just focus on the assembly line, either. Every once in a while, you need to lift your head up and look at the world around you. When automotive manufacturers want to explore new ideas to topple their own established ways of thinking, they create a concept car.<\/p>\n

The concept car is built off the assembly line. There\u2019s no hope or expectation that the concept car will ever go into production. Auto manufacturers just do it to do it and to see what they can learn. Sometimes, through that innovation journey, they\u2019ll discover that one unique component or process of the concept car can be easily integrated into the assembly line. Over time, with enough concept car-inspired components, the assembly line innovates responsibly because of the experimental components that feed it.<\/p>\n

The assembly line is where you make your money.<\/p>\n

The concept car is where you spend your money.<\/p>\n

Most start-ups are really just focused on building concept cars. Most established organizations, on the other hand, are just focused on assembly lines. The best type of organization is the one that can have a healthy balance of the two. Efficient production. Healthy innovation.<\/p>\n

Some other things to consider: <\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. With intense pressure to innovate, many organizations are trying to build multiple concept cars in the middle of the assembly line. The result? Absolute chaos. No one is exactly sure what they\u2019re supposed to do or how their success will be evaluated, and morale craters over the uncertainty. There\u2019s no repeatable behaviour, so quality goes down, costs go up, and the margin is eroded. The result is that the skeptics take a look at the numbers and grumble, \u201cI told you we should have just done it the old way.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. The first step to innovation is improving the efficiency of what you already do. There are things that you do as an individual that can be done far more efficiently than you do them right now. The original HP Way was \u201cManagement by Walking Around\u201d. Sadly, for many leaders, that has become \u201cManagement by Reply-All\u201d. Many of you are trying to inspire your teams by writing Outlook novellas and then, surprise, there\u2019s no time at the end of the day to try something new. Get efficient. Then start exploring.<\/li>\n
  3. I was in a group conversation with a famous CEO of a global disruptor at an event in Sarasota earlier this year. When talking about innovation, he pointed out the difficulty of developing \u201cconcept cars\u201d for established organizations: When a start-up has a great idea, they can pitch twenty VCs in a row, getting a \u201cno\u201d every time. But if the twenty-first VC says YES, they can go to market. Within established organizations, if someone has a great idea, they have to pitch it up a long line of bosses and get a \u201cyes\u201d every single time. The first \u201cno\u201d they encounter kills the idea. Start-ups only need one YES to take out the establishment. Established organizations only need one NO and the idea is dead.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Many will hop up nodding their heads and reciting the Innovation Mantra from memory, \u201cYa, a\u2026 To succeed, we must embrace failure\u201d. Not so fast.<\/p>\n

    I don\u2019t really love the phrase \u201cembrace failure\u201d because there are times when we should definitely not embrace failure. At no point should you embrace failure on your assembly line. I\u2019m sorry, but there is no room for failure there. You\u2019ve done it a million times, and anything that veers from repeatable behavior is not to be embraced.<\/p>\n

    Failure should be embraced only on things that you\u2019ve never done before. And if you\u2019ve never done them before, can they really be considered failures? An experiment doesn\u2019t fail. It produces a result that you learn from. Concept car failure should be expected and accepted. Assembly line failure should be penalized. The automotive industry is changing faster than ever. Let\u2019s just hope they can apply their approach to production to their approach to innovation.<\/p>\n

    Zoom Zoom.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Ron Tite<\/strong> is a best-selling author, speaker, producer, and entrepreneur. He has been named one of the \u201cTop 10 Creative Canadians\u201d by Marketing Magazine and speaks to leading organizations about leadership, disruption, branding, and creativity.<\/p>\n

    Ron Tite, Dr. Steven Stein, and Peter Hall will be the keynote speakers at our virtual\u00a0Innovators Exchange<\/a>\u00a0taking place on October 15, 2020, discussing\u00a0Re-Imagining in a Post Pandemic World<\/i>.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019d like to register for this event,\u00a0click here<\/a>. For more information on the benefits of becoming a member of Innovators Alliance,\u00a0contact us today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Innovators Alliance is a peer-to-peer networking group of CEOs committed to driving business growth through innovation.\u00a0<\/strong>Join us for an upcoming event to see what it\u2019s all about!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    Is your company innovative?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Try our NEW Innovation Self-Assessment.<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0It takes less than 5 minutes<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    Like this? You might also like: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals<\/a><\/p>\n

    Why Join A CEO Roundtable? <\/a><\/p>\n

    How Entrepreneurs Can Be Better Leaders<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Maybe it\u2019s because I was Creative Director with Volvo for 8 years. Maybe it\u2019s because I went to high school in Oshawa, Ontario (Canada\u2019s version of Flint, Michigan). But when I want to frame up innovation, I often think of what the car folks do. With that in mind, there are two critical parts to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":4305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,17],"tags":[52,53,54],"class_list":["post-4304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-blogs","category-business-process-innovation","tag-innovation","tag-assembly-line","tag-concept-car"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Assembly Line Versus The Concept Car - Innovators Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I want to frame up innovation, I think of what the car folks do. 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