LAPP

Innovation for Future – New processes promote innovation

As one of four core values in the company’s mission statement, innovation has always been deeply rooted in LAPP’s DNA. Innovation management, too, is changing as rapidly as the world itself and constantly requires companies to adopt new technologies. That’s why LAPP has introduced a completely new innovation process with Innovation for Future, which also makes innovations possible that would previously have been unthinkable.

Text: Julia Bayer

LAPP cannot predict the future – at least not entirely. What we can do is predict the future of data cables. The key is one of major promises of Smart Factories: predictive maintenance. Data analysis is used to detect defects before they happen so that you can avoid expensive downtime. With Ethernet cables, previous solutions from competitors always required a change to the cable. The new LAPP approach is different. It uses the decreasing transmission capacity of a line to make conclusions about aging and possible failure. The Predictive Maintenance Box can be simply plugged into the Ethernet line.

LAPP will soon be entering the pilot phase with three customers from the medical technology, automotive, and intralogistics sectors. This breakthrough in predictive maintenance shows more than LAPP’s capacity to innovate. The company introduced the totally new Innovation for Future process at the beginning of 2019 for complex projects with uncertain outcomes. Generally, it is not intended to replace the usual stage-gate process. The stage-gate process is still the method of choice for incremental innovations, like a new type of cable based on a legacy product. However, when it comes to disruptive solutions and services outside the core business, the Innovation for Future process is the only assurance of success.

Innovation for Future: Illustration Innovation Board
For transformative and disruptive innovations, where goals, market potential or even business model are sometimes not yet known, LAPP has been using the agile Innovation for Future process since the beginning of 2019. The decisive difference: With the new process, managers no longer just say yes or no to the development status at intervals, but are involved as idea providers and supporters.
Illustration of Lapp's Stage Gate innovation process
LAPP relies on the proven Stage Gate process for innovations in its core business. In this process, an innovation project is regularly reviewed. If the defined goals regarding functionality, costs and deadlines have been met at the time of the review, the gatekeeper's thumb goes up. If the thumb goes down, the project is terminated immediately.
Portrait photo of Guido Ege with blue jacket and red tie
Head of Product Management and Development at LAPP

Innovative approach to innovation

LAPP’s development of the predictive maintenance solution signaled a different approach to innovation. Due to the technical complexity of innovation, the developers initially focused exclusively on the technology. “For a long time, no one asked themselves which customers could use it and how much they would be willing to pay for it,” explains Guido Ege, the Head of Product Management and Development at LAPP.

In the classic stage-gate process, in which management says yes or no to the continuation of a project at defined intervals, the project would have been quickly concluded without the customer’s involvement. Nevertheless, the response at the Hannover Messe 2019 and the SPS fair showed that the project was headed in the right direction. Customer interest was tremendous. “We now want to further develop this solution with our pilot customers,” says Susanne Krichel, Business Development IoT at LAPP. This case underscores the fact that the topic of innovation also needs to be revaluated and approached in an innovative way.

The transformation of the economy, which is characterized by rapid digitization, new business models and uncertainty about the future, also requires a change in innovation management. With Innovation for Future, LAPP has opened up a space for innovations that would have been unthinkable in the past. “We have defined three requirements for the new process, which must be satisfied at the same time,” explains Georg Stawowy, Member of the Board for Technology and Innovation at LAPP Holding. The innovation team must develop a technical solution, identify the key factors of the business model, and talk to at least one potential customer. The last requirement is especially important for making sure that development does not bypass the customer.

An innovator is someone who creates added value for customers

The customer has always played an important role in LAPP innovations. It is for good reason that, alongside innovation, our customer orientation is anchored in the company’s core values. An innovator is not just someone who pours themselves into the creative process; it’s also someone who creates new added value for the customer. “Our customers do not expect us to constantly reinvent the wheel,” says Innovation Manager Stawowy. The new Innovation for Future process thus fully satisfies the needs of LAPP customers.