Tech Roll Call
Field Innovation Development (FID) Program to bring “bright ideas” to light
With M-I SWACO evolving from a functionally driven to a business and customer driven organization, technology and research programs need to have a stronger customer driven component.
With field personnel being the closest to customer needs, the Environmental Solutions (ES) Product segment and the ES R&E groups have implemented the new Field Innovation Development (FID) Program to tap into those resources.
“In the past we have referred to this development as ‘black ops’ and most of the time these ideas were developed using the resources of the specific regions.
Historically, with some exceptions, these projects were carried out inefficiently, unsafely or without minimum standards, and some were even abandoned prematurely due to lack of resources. Without a process to provide these resources and a system of checks and balances, some real good innovative ideas cannot be captured and evaluated properly. We have to accept that innovation is a corporate process, not a research process, and is something very important to our sustainable growth and profitability,” said ES Operations Support Manager Nestor Daboin.
The program was introduced during the inaugural global ES meeting in Houston, which ES Vice President Brian Hunter said will become an annual affair. The meeting, which drew management, regional technical service managers, business line managers, and representatives from Capital Sales, Engineering and Manufacturing, will be held every December to review previous years and prepare for the one upcoming, said Hunter.
Meanwhile, Daboin said the purpose of the FID Program is to exploit the innovations that arise from the field. “Our company has always had a critical mass of innovative people, which has been one of the keys to its success — having people at all levels willing to create value for customers. Our field personnel, including technical and operational, are the ones closer to the customers’ needs, and the ones best fit to look at current or new processes and equipment and innovate to improve them, creating tangible value for the customer,” he said.
“The FID Program creates a mechanism for promoting, channeling, filtering, selecting and diffusing the brightest ideas from the field. It represents a bottom up process that supplements or balances the formal, top down Product Development Management Process (PDMP) organization and enables solutions to some of the dilemmas, for example, between standardization and centralization on the one hand and market responsiveness on the other,” Daboin added.
The program will be rolled out formally to the regions in the first quarter of this year. The funding for the FID Program will come from the existing ES RD&E budget. From that budget, US $1.8 million will be allocated for 2008 with up to an estimated maximum of US $100,000 allocated per project, Hunter added. During the ES meeting three ideas were chosen from a total of 13 submitted by all the regions. The ideas chosen came from Canada/Alaska, Sub Sahara and Europe regions.
“The incentive for this program will be handled using the same standards as the Product Development ES Initial Proposal Policy. This policy provides compensation to employees who conceive an idea or concept for a new product or for improving product performance that enhances current business or is a benefit to the company’s ES group. In summary the incentive program is dependent on passing two key stages on the PDMP: In Stage Gate 1 an award is granted of US $500 maximum, shared equally between submitters, and in Stage 4 an award is granted of US $2,000 maximum, shared equally between submitters.
While Hunter said R&E will provide funding, the field will actually own the projects selected for development. “We will get more ideas to the field faster, because operations will own them. Even regionally oriented ideas can be fast tracked with this process,” Hunter said.
Daboin said the FID Program has established shared responsibilities between the groups involved, as follows:
GBU/Region. This group is responsible for submitting proposal and details (RTSM to coordinate and input into IP e-collaboration site), sending product design specifications to fabricator and securing firm quotations. Project Management will be responsible for timelines, approvals to proceed to fabricator, day to day financial management and weekly updates. The respective RTSM will ensure that the project stays on track and on budget, determine a suitable test site, coordinate transport, assist with commissioning and performance testing, and capture lessons learned.
Business Line Managers (BLMs) and/or Product Development Managers (PDMs). They will be responsible for analyzing new submissions for relevance to a product line, preparing recommendations for a three man PDMP subcommittee, providing progress reports for PDMP meetings and providing business line oversight of projects.
PDMP Subcommittee. This group will review recommended projects and, on an oversight basis, review progress of these projects to make sure they stay on track and on budget, add funding if required, shut down a project, if necessary, and administer the award program.
RD&E. This group provides funding with agreed upon milestones for payment; gives a cursory review of the design; addresses significant operating hazards (HAZOP and Risks Assessment); captures and files any IP; provides technical assistance; writes and executes FAT, Commissioning and Testing Protocol and provides report; captures long term performance and lessons learned and creates report; integrates drawings, manuals and technical files to M-I SWACO specifications; and coordinates with manufacturing or an approved fabricator to build additional units.
