From Innovation to Implementation – Success Depends on Preparedness of Those Executing

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

How often does a product or service go straight from research and development to service implementation or product production? A skilled, experienced worker may be able to overcome the ambiguity of this hand-off, but it seems there is, today, a shortage of skilled, experienced workers; baby boomers finally decided they can, or have to, retire, or some companies experience high turnover rates of replacements, or most employers say they lack of skilled candidates…or even someone skilled enough to train them.

There are many reasons that this loosely organized hand-off still exists:

• Perhaps from a sense of futility, with engineers seeming to have given up on the notion of training workers first to ensure immediate output quantity, quality and consistency;
• Perhaps it is from knowing that the organization lacks a “system” in place to facilitate the transfer;
• Perhaps it is from the belief that, especially in the early stages, the product or service may go through many changes before a coherent, repeatable process settles in and when it does the next product or service has been introduced;
• Perhaps from a sense of superiority, that “I know how to do this [because I designed it] so everyone else should know what to do.”

For those who recognize the need for worker training and try to incorporate it manually while trying to keep up with engineering and technological innovations, it is common to find a training program released well into the last days of the life cycle – just in time to train workers for the things they made and serviced years before. Manual methods just do not keep up anymore, and they haven’t for the last 30 years. This doesn’t mean we should “leap-frog” to Artificial Intelligence or online training. The cost alone would dissuade anyone from utilizing it for this type of task-specific training, never mind the inappropriateness.

The most efficient and effective path to expediting a process from development of the process (including all pertinent aspects) to implementation is displayed below. The task should be the central focus, with each stakeholder department contributing its input and metrics of accurate performance. Simply stated, the engineer can draft a process, then the other departments can add their components in order. Once all inputs are in, everyone can review and make changes based on each other’s observations and comments before a final document is released.

Too often departments are the focus of process development and implementation. Each department may contribute, but each department may also have its protocol, maybe even separate software or manual system, and each creating its own support document. A process making its way through this maze – back and forth with revisions and corrections – may take months; making changes to it for things learned in implementation may not make it through the maze before the next request for change is submitted.

Contradictions between a process’ intent and documents released about the same aspect of the task lead to conflict, potential for error and loss of credibility. Revising documents, especially during the early days of product or service roll-out, becomes increasingly difficult as each of the support documents grow further apart. If there are any “turf” issues between departments, the level of difficulty in managing processes increases.

From an quality standpoint alone – ISO9001:2015/AS9100D/IATF16949 certification and re-certification, internal audits from clients, quality and safety investigations and audits – having all documents that take a product from idea to implementation continually in sync makes sense. That has always been the basis of the PROTECH© software and system of managed human resource development. The same software used to support the job and task analysis of a job classification into its discrete tasks and everything about the task is used to support each document’s development, use and revision.

For small and mid-size operations who do not have the resources to invest in a costly, large-scale enterprise resource planning system, this system may cover many bases at a fraction of a fraction of the cost. For those who have invested substantial amounts in an ERP system that has a token “HR module,” you probably have already found that it has very little use in tying process documentation to training workers…or training workers in general.

Although the PROTECH approach focuses the ultimate outcome – quickly training each worker to full capacity through full job mastery (which means mastery of each task that makes up the job classification) – the approach provides  tremendous benefits to the employer with a centralization of the data that accelerates new product or service development and worker development at the same time. The day the new task is released, so is the revised job description, revised training plans and checklists, and identification of those workers who need training. Not only is the internal costs of training significantly reduced, but the increase in efficiency and decrease in worker malperformance testify to this approach’s practicality and sensibility.

This is the way most managers dream it to be, but it has never been a dream for those using PROTECH. It has been the reality. For small and mid-size operations who do not have the resources to invest in a costly, large-scale enterprise resource planning system, this system covers many bases at a fraction of a fraction of the cost, and much more.

If you would like to know more about the PROTECH© system of managed human resource development™  and, how this approach might work at your firm, contact a Proactive Technologies representative  today to schedule a GoToMeeting videoconference briefing to your computer. This can followed up with an onsite presentation for you and your colleagues. A 13-minute promo briefing  is available at the Proactive Technologies website and provides an overview to get you started and to help you explain it to your staff.