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NEW Operations-Innovation Trials Option (May 3, 2010) - The eagerly awaited Operations-Innovation Trials option features a work-system design center, emphasis on developing operations managers, and greater financial payoff for "host" companies. These and other features of the new private beta option were conceived based on feedback from companies hosting Single-Application Trials.

In addition to ramping up the field application trials for humaneering technology (Version 4 - the Professional release), the Institute imagined the newest EarlyAccess field trial option as an opportunity to extend the Institute's capability to support companies that host humaneering field trials and to respond to "wish list" feedback from hosts to Single-Application Trials. The result is a unique program that gives host companies sustainable professional support for more strategic operations improvements, while preserving the Institute's non-commercial role and the host company's control and flexibility in where and how humaneering is applied.

A focal point of the new option is a work-system design center, established within the host company facilities, where operations managers are encouraged to bring their goals and challenges and to explore new humaneering-based options for improving their unit's performance. Similar hubs for work design activity were developed spontaneously during some Single-Application Trials, and the affect on managers was palpable. For many managers, the design center and its activities symbolized a genuine openness to innovation and change that may have been expressed previously but didn't seem real. Managers also found the centers a helpful source of new thinking, solutions, and opportunities for operations improvement.

The Single-Application Trials have also demonstrated the potential to inspire and support operations manager development. Managers involved report that the methods used by the humaneering professionals have helped them see their operations in new and more insightful ways. Rather than relying on spreadsheets full of abstract targets or graphs of workforce survey results, the humaneering approach immersed them in the work itself and in the conditions experienced by the workforce, which provided a much deeper understanding of the current work-system constraints. Armed with this new insight, these managers say they were much better equipped to resolve the underlying issues permanently. The new Operations-Innovation Trials option continues this collaborative design work with operations managers, and extends the teamwork to the collaborative selection of high-payoff projects on the front end by involving the manager in performing quick work-system diagnoses and, when appropriate, creating an evidence-based business case for improvement.

Whereas the Single-Application Trials limit field applications of humaneering to individual problems and opportunities, the new Operations-Innovation Trials option supports 5-10 application projects per year, per design center, and allows for expansion to a maximum of 10 design centers during the first 24 months of the 3-5 year agreement. The potential for increased scale is an obvious advantage, yet equally important is the sustained support for humaneering applications. Combining these effects, the payoff for companies to host the Operations-Innovation Trials is substantial.

To assure a fair and efficient (i.e., highest valuation) allocation of the limited available opportunities for companies to host the new Operations-Innovation Trials, a sealed-bid auction is being planned for July-August 2010.

PRESS RELEASE (May 3, 2010): Innovative Companies Get Early Access to Missing Technology - PDF 86KB