Digitalization accelerates numerous internal organizational processes and influences the development of new products and solutions. Growing complexity and shorter development times increase the pressure on organizations. In order to be able to compete with new companions on the market, speed is – besides quality – a major competitive factor. For this reason, Balluff has been implemented so-called „Strategic Incubation Programs” (SIPs) to develop new business ideas.
Strategic incubation programs to develop new business cases
The idea behind our Strategic Incubation Programs is speed and agile cooperation. The SIPs act like a start-up within the company and draw on internal resources. The teams are put together based on the required competencies, thus ensuring that the development of business ideas is pursued quickly and in a targeted manner. Together with potential customers, an initial value proposition is to be developed within a short amount of time. It is then iteratively adapted and further elaborated in successive development circles. The teams and our program manager, our Strategic Incubation Managers (SIMs), work therefore according to the Lean Startup method.
Iterative development cycles for a tailor-made solution
Based on the identified value proposition, our Strategic Incubation Programs develop a first so-called “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP). This corresponds to a first product that covers the minimum requirements and characteristics derived from the value proposition. In the subsequent revision loops. the MVP is evaluated, adapted and thus improved together with the customer. The aim is to develop a solution that is highly likely to meet the customers’ requirements. To achieve this, only the really important functions are integrated – this saves time and money. Through the iterative process together with potential customers, it quickly becomes clear whether the business idea can even make it to market entry or has to be discarded at an early stage.
Agile cooperation and open error culture
The focus of our Strategic Incubation Programs is on agile working methods and the openness to acknowledge mistakes. This positive error culture follows the “Fail Fast” approach. This means that regular evaluations allow deviations to be identified from early on and actively addressed. Even during the course of the project, it must be possible to discard the idea if the customer benefit and value proposition cannot be realized in a custom-fit manner. This open error culture creates transparency and efficiency as resources are only spent on really promising projects.
Internal innovation programs benefit from many years of expertise
The advantage of such internal innovation programs is obvious. Being located within Balluff provides our program managers with all the internal resources they need to successfully realize their business cases. Our many years of experience in industrial automation are thus also the basis for the successful implementation of our innovation programs.
With our Strategic Incubation Programs we cover various topics in industrial automation, starting at Condition Monitoring, format change or eKanban solutions.
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