Promoting the culture of innovation in the SMEs in the machining

Innovation in management is to look for new and different ways of approaching some part of the business. Innovation is not only r & d. It is true that innovation is normally associated with the research and development and we believe that innovation is a thing of large companies with big budgets and that it is only possible to innovate if you have a powerful r & d Department in resources (material and human). But nothing is further from reality: innovation is not only r & d, innovation is to seek ways to interact with our customers, organizing production, interact with the suppliers, contact persons, etc. The meetings of machining are a good example of innovation in relation to the customers.

But these statements do not tell us how we can innovate in management, as well is that we launched with the following proposals from the meetings of the machining.

To start the innovation, the first thing we have to do is see what is changing and second, analyze how these changes affect our products or services. We may collect information from customers, suppliers, the meetings of the machining, fairs, our commercial network, competition. We have eyes and ears wide open to new trends and market opportunities. Continuously there are changes in values and perspectives, such as the respect for the environment or social commitment. The emergence of new technologies offers us the possibility of needs or offer new services to our clients, such as the micro-machining and precision machining. It is necessary to have precise information on the changes of structure of sector and industry, as the emergence of the electric car, which can generate new opportunities for machining. To political and economic changes as that is playing live, we must have great ability to react do know really how can affect our activity?. And of course, the demographic changes: immigration, the incorporation of women into the world of work, the emergence of countries with low labour costs. What questions can be posed new challenges to businesses.

For innovation in management is essential to question everything, from the specifications of the plane that comes to the technical office - the material is the most appropriate?-, until the effectiveness in our purchasing system. Innovate in value is to offer those aspects that more value from our products and services, target customers by eliminating or reducing those things that do not value.

The culture of innovation has to be present in the strategy of the direction to make it possible to reach all corners of our company. We should be able to Park every day and take a few hours to devote ourselves to implement the culture of innovation. In some companies are organized sessions of generating ideas, which involved people from different departments to collect views from different points of view and not be always the same people who have ideas.

Other proposals to foster innovation among employees are to encourage people to use a notebook to take notes of the ideas that emerge them anytime of the day, allow employees to hang posters in their offices of the type 'Creating genius' while they spend a few moments to creativitydetectives can get a bit, buying books related to the innovation to create a library that all employees can consult, also participate in forums for innovation in social networks (like the blog of the machining), or if we find an interesting article on the Internet send the link to the rest of the team... and if really we want to run the machinery of innovation will have to reward the best ideas of the people directly involved.

Partnership and cooperation agreements: strategic alliances with customers, suppliers, consultants, technology centres and contacts with the outside market. Why make these alliances?

• With the customers, because they are those who help us to specialize our offer, they are our main source of information.
• With suppliers because they are going to help to complement this offer, extend it, improve it.
• With consultants because they are those who help us lay the foundations of these partnerships, legal, fiscal, cultural, and furthermore facilitate us access to grants and subsidies in the face of the public administration.
• With the technological centres because provide us engineering, r & d.
• And contacts in the foreign market are that our offer is globalice and therefore is sold or far enough to recoup the investment.

These are the main barriers that we may find ourselves before the decision to introduce the culture of innovation in our business:

• Insufficient involvement and commitment by the management
• Resistance to change by some people
• In the absence of a strategic plan
• The structure of the company, too hierarchical
• It is believed that the traditional business guarantees permanence

One, several, or all of these barriers, can only ask: do the competition, local or foreign, is paralyzed before them? Yes we can say emphatically is that counter them will enhance our ability to innovate.