How to Ignite Innovation

    Serendipity is when a person finds or discovers something by chance. For example, when George De Mestral, a Swiss engineer was walking his dog some of those pesky burrs got stuck to his clothes.  He then examined the burrs and noticed that they had small which allowed them to attach easily to the fabric.  This inspired the design that led to Velcro, this is an example of an invention that happened by chance. 

    Errors occur quite often, and those who advance oftentimes learn from their mistakes.  Sometimes, mistakes can lead to new innovative ideas.  For example, such as Viagra which was first created to treat patients suffering from angina, a heart condition that causes pressure in someone’s chest.  The drug was ineffective at treating angina, but it was discovered that the patients who took the little blue pill were able to maintain a longer erection (Concordia University, 2021). 

    Exaptation is when you have invented something, and you then repurpose the original invention into that invention for a new purpose.  For example, the classic children’s toy play-doh was originally invented to be a household cleaning product.  It was invented by a soap company, and it was supposed to be used as a ready-made wallpaper.  The ingredients consisted of salt, flour, and water which was a malleable substance that kids enjoyed playing with.  The company was then convinced that it could be more profitable by creating a play substance that children can play with as a toy.  The company then created the substance in various colors and re-branded it into a toy.  Play-doh was discovered by chance.  Another innovative product that was discovered by chance was Coca-Cola.  Coca-Cola was originally intended to counteract morphine additions.  The inventor, Dr. John Pemberton was addiction morphine after he was seriously injured in a fight.  Dr. Pemberton was a pharmacist who wanted to create a cure for his own addiction, and his plan was to use cocaine in a liquid form to help curb his morphine addiction.  The drink has used as an alternative to morphine to help alleviate anxiety and headaches.  It was used to relieve symptoms associated with nervousness and exhaustion. It was later discovered that this tasty treat could be marketed a sweet, tasty treat by removing the coca and adding more sugar.  Coca-Cola is now one of the top-selling carbonated beverages in the world (Bellette, 2019).

References

Bellette. (2019).  5 Inventions That Ended Up With A Different Purpose.  Retrieved on September 27, 2022, from https://bellette.com.au/dig-deeper/5-inventions-that-ended-up-with-a-different-purpose

Concordia University. (2021). 9 Successful Inventions Made by Accident.  Retrieved on

September 27, 2022, from https://www.concordia.edu/blog/9-successful-inventions-made-by-accident.html

Dreaming Big in Innovation

 

Is there a such thing as a genie in the bottle? What about wishful thinking versus taking action, is there a thin line between the two?  In the simplest terms, wishful thinking is the act of wanting something to happen when it is considered to be impossible.  Wishful thinking is not just about fantasizing it’s about thinking of an idea, it’s about being intuitive and daring to make your dreams a reality.  You have a problem and use this approach to find potential solutions to the problem.  I believe that wishful thinking sparks innovation and it engages intrinsic motivation which leads to being innovative.  Wishful thinking helps you to redefine a problem and to gain new insights. 

 

If I had all of the money, talent, and time in the world and I could anything I wanted to do I would do the following;

Education:

1. 1.      I would love to open up a learning/ tutoring service that provides free tutoring and free supplies for children within our community that are in need.
2. 2.      I would also like to open a financial institution to teach children about investing and proper money management.
3. 3.      I would also like to open up an etiquette school that teaches home economics and proper etiquette.
4. 4.      I would also like to learn how to play the drums and then go on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
5. 5.      I would also like to learn capoeira, I used to dance in carnival and learning capoeira would also be great to learn.
6. 6.      I would like to take some skating classes and learn how to perform skate dancing.
7. 7.      I also like art, and I like tattoos.  I would like to learn more about tattoos and how to tattoo.
8. 8.      I would also like to learn about farming and agriculture.
9. 9.      I would also like to learn how to ride a motorcycle and ride in Daytona beach during bike week.
10. 10.  I would also like to learn how to speak Spanish fluently.

Job or research:

1. 1.      I would love to teach.
2. 2.      I would like to become a CPA as well.
3. 3.      I would like to become a professional roller skater.
4. 4.      I would like to open my own beauty bar.
5. 5.      I would also like to start my own data analytics consulting firm, where data doctors can help people to understand the most from their organization dataset.
6. 6.      I would love to become a chef and also to be a food critic.
7. 7.      I am also fascinated with planes, and I would like to become a pilot.
8. 8.      I would also like to become a professional dancer.
9. 9.      I would also like to write novels and become a novelist.
10. 10.  I would also like to be a herbologist and partake in the study of magical plants.

Philosophical or religious:

1. 1.      I would like to invest in healthier eating practices and hire a personal chef, to eat more whole food and fresh foods that are tied to holistic properties.
2. 2.      I would like to invest in holistic medicine and herbs
3. 3.      I would love to go on a religious treat where we can meditate and form a personal relationship with God.
4. 4.      I would like to go see a medium, I lost my sister and my aunt in a double homicide murder, and I would like to talk to a medium to get more closure from the loss of my loved ones.
5. 5.      I would like to spiritual pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
6. 6.      I would like to attend one of Joel Osteen’s services in person.
7. 7.      I would also like to travel Kamar-Taj which is an isolated community located in Tibet, on the Himalayas.  Dr. Strange is one of my favorites Marvel superheroes.
8. 8.      I would like to receive a healing prayer in a salt cave.
9. 9.      I would like to go on an 8-Day Wellness Workshop, that includes a Yoga & Hiking Retreat, in Puerto Vallarta.
10. 10.  I would also like to do an intensive detox retreat in Thailand, and receive a vital body cleanse at The BARAI Spa.

Travel:

1. 1.      I would like to travel to Madrid.
2. 2.      I would like to travel to Brazil, and dance in carnival.
3. 3.      I want to go back to Costa Rica.
4. 4.      I want to travel to Egypt.
5. 5.      I want to travel to South Africa.
6. 6.      I want to travel to London and go shopping on Carnaby Street.
7. 7.      I would love to go to Germany and eat some Schnitzel.
8. 8.      I would love to travel to Barcelona and see the architectural designs of Antoni Gaudí.
9. 9.      I would like to go to Tokyo and go parting at the Zeus Night Club.
10. 10.  I would like to go to the Amsterdam redlight district, I am curious to see if they really use red lights.

Dream Home:

1. 1.      Beach front home, I love being by a body of water.
2. 2.      A winter cabin for Christmas family gatherings.
3. 3.      I would also like to invest in real estate and acquire an apartment building because I would like to provide housing for my family and other families that are in need.
4. 4.      I would also like to grow my own food; a farmhouse would be great as well to produce fresh food for the community.
5. 5.      I would also like to open a house that supports homeschooling, where children can have proper etiquette training and home economic skills.  Skills that children are lacking today but are extremely essential today.
6. 6.      Another dream home would be a mental, spiritual, and spa retreat that provides mental and physical health education.
7. 7.      I would also open up a space for creatives, this would provide an opportunity for people to have a creative space to explore their talents and their gift and access to resources free of charge.
8. 8.      I would also like to open an assisted living home for the senior citizens to ensure that they receive the care that they need.
9. 9.      I would also like a dream home for pets, a luxurious hotel home for pets where too can go on vacation while their owners are on vacation.
10. 10.  Another dream home would be a beachfront waterslide home, that would consist of a 3-story home with several waterslides throughout the home.  I would be able to slide from the top story to each floor and out of the house into the swimming pool.

In closing, the intent of my Wishlist is to help people and provide support to my community.  I believe in being blessed to be a blessing to others.  I want to strengthen my relationships and enjoy a better life together with my family and friends.  I would like to ensure that I leave an everlasting legacy and that I ensure the generation to come after me is able to benefit from my contributions.  The sky is not the limit, it’s our playground.

Forecasting and Predicting the Next Big Thing

 

Forecasting for the future is essential and it is key to innovation.  Forecasting depends on the following;

·         What we are forecasting

·         How fast the market is expected to change

·         Availability and accuracy of the historical data

·         The team’s end goal

·         The available resources.

Forecasting is contingent upon historical data; this is a disadvantage for new products.  There is always going to be a tradeoff between cost and the robustness of forecasting (Tidd & Bessant, 2020).  When there is limited data to work with for new products, a regression analysis can be used to identify which contributing factors have the greatest impact.  This helps to identify which factors matter most so that you can better forecast for the future.  The underlying drivers are revealed from the data and this is used to predict future risks or future demand.  Forecasting allows innovators to improve reliability by identifying future trends from the dataset. 

One infamous prediction that actually came true was a prediction from Jeff Bezos.  Jeff Bezos is a pioneer in the industry, and he predicted that e-commerce and cloud computing would become the new way to sell products online.  His predictions came to fruition, and cloud computing is now the biggest trend to support internet-based business.  Jeff Bezos believes that innovation is driven by frugality and that constraints on resources drive innovation.  Jeff Bezos stated that “One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out”.

 Amazon was founded in 1994 when Jeff Bezos envisioned the start of an internet-based business, where products would be sold online.  He focused on forecasting by looking at the information that was stable.  He wanted to focus on what was reliable and what would not change over time.  He implemented a plan that invested in ensuring that Amazon would provide the things that consumers need and improve on the delivery of those things.  Based on the data he was able to forecast that consumers would continue to want low prices and that they would consistently want fast reliable delivery, and lastly that they want access to a wide variety.  He used this to build his business strategy (Haden, 2022).

One of the forces that impacted the success of Amazon was technological forces.  There were technological forces that impacted Amazon because of the rapid development, which subsequently caused Amazon’s technological platform to become rapidly obsolete, which in term caused them to constantly update their technological platform.  These constant updates help them to remain number one and allows them to offer a wider audience with a plethora of products to offer.  In fact, they now sell whole goods and still deliver their products rapidly. 

Another force that impacted Amazon is the social force because online shopping has affected the physical health of shoppers.  The thought is that online shopping has made everyone lazy, and everyone is staying at home while Amazon delivers the goods.  This has allowed people to become complacent and has sparked unhealthy eating habits which have affected the overall health of American adults and children.  Amazon has been under pressure to provide options for a healthier lifestyle.

The secret to success is innovation, and innovation starts with forward thinking.  It is essential to plan ahead.  Innovators should be predicting the next trend and sparking change.

References

Tidd, J., & Bessant, J. R. (2020). Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and

Organizational Change, Enhanced Edition (7th Edition). Wiley Global Education US. https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781119713197

Haden, J. (2022) 20 Years Ago, Jeff Bezos Said This 1 Thing Separates People Who Achieve

Lasting Success From Those Who Don't. Retrieved on September 7, 2022 from https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/20-years-ago-jeff-bezos-said-this-1-thing-separates-people-who-achieve-lasting-success-from-those-who-dont.html

 

Scenario Planning vs. Forecasting

 

Change is frequently challenging, but it is inevitable.  There is always going to be unavoidable change, that will be impactful and oftentimes disturbing to our way of life.  Therefore, we have to plan for change and be proactive rather than reactive.  The future is uncertain, however, as innovators, we can plan ahead. 

There is often some confusion regarding scenario planning versus forecasting.  They both involve forward thinking; however, the methods are different and require specific tasks.  They both add value and assist with having mitigations in place to address any unforeseeable impediments.

Scenario planning involves identifying all of the stories that make up the bigger picture.  You have to consider all of the paths that will lead to you to your desired future state and identify the stories along that path.  Scenario planning involves looking at all of the interacting events that align together to identify the paths that lead to the bigger picture.  This approach is all about cause and effect and identifying the critical paths and the critical decision points.  This adds value because it helps you to prepare ahead of time, you can easily identify risks and have mitigations in place to deal with the uncertainty of foreseen events.  It’s about analyzing your current state against your desired outcomes and identifying plausible futures.  This approach allows innovators to create various narratives that include scenarios that require group collaboration. This approach allows you to rely on past experiences and lessons learned rather than relying solely on numbers from a quantitative perspective.  Scenario planning involves the following six steps;

1.      Defining the challenge

2.      Gathering information for an analysis

3.      Identifying the driving forces

4.      Defining the future state

5.      Creating the scenarios

6.      identifying the stories with the scenarios. (Wade, 2012).

Scenario planning should include long-term planning and defined scopes that have identified all risks.  With scenario planning, you cannot test for accuracy because the information does not have any historical context.  This approach is based on guessing and assumptions.  Scenario planning helps you to identify barriers to performance ahead of time and to put a plan in place to address these identified risks before they occur. 

Forecasting takes a different approach and involves looking at the world with the lenses that you use today.  Forecasting does not involve creating scenarios, it looks at the challenges that you have today.  It is about planning to resolve the same challenges that exist today but forecasting how to address these challenges in the future if the same challenges occur.  With forecasting, you can more easily test for accuracy.  This is a fact-based process.  Forecasting does not include identifying risks; it involves using quantitative data to predict what could happen if the same problem is encountered.  This is done by looking at historical data.  This helps to resolve some short-term problems and is more based on historical data, whereas scenario planning is about being forward thinking and identifying the “what if scenarios”.

To summarize, scenario planning involves multiple possibilities, whereas forecasting only considers one possible future.  Both methods add value, they are simply different ways to solve problems.  It is essential that you plan ahead, and that you sharpen your vision for the road ahead and identify impediments before they occur.  This allows you to be better prepared for new competitive challenges, and to be ready for new opportunities that lie ahead.  This is another source of innovation, which comes from imaging and exploring alternative paths.  There are various techniques and tools that are used for forecasting and for imaging alternative futures, which can be used to help strategize new possibilities for innovation (Tidd & Bessant, 2020).  Don’t forecast the future, anticipate it. 

 

References

Wade, W. (2012). Scenario Planning. Wiley Professional, Reference & Trade (Wiley K&L).

https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781118237410

Tidd, J., & Bessant, J. R. (2020). Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and

Organizational Change, Enhanced Edition (7th Edition). Wiley Global Education US. https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781119713197

Game Changers - Predictive Maintenance

 Introduction

Human beings have come a long way in a relatively short period of time, it was not so long ago that we were actually keeping track of maintenance actions on a log sheet.  Inventors see the world in a different way, not just as it is, but what it could be.  Often times innovative ideas come from not just thinking outside of the box, but also what we can do with the box.  The sky is not the limit, instead, the sky is our playground.  Throughout history, we humans have been exceeding the status quo and pushing the limits, from the wheel and plow, to vaccines and medicine, satellites, smartphones, and even unmanned airplanes.  So, what is the next step how will science and technology continue to evolve and revolutionize the world as we know it today?  To answer this question, we must consider how inventors become innovative, what motivates them, and where do they get their ideas from.  Gaming ideas usually come from errors or unwanted accidents that have occurred, including predictive maintenance.

History of Predictive Maintenance

    The history of predictive maintenance began in the early 1950s, and it was primarily developed by the Japanese (Roser, 2021).  Back then maintaining your equipment and machinery was essential to your business.  Often times maintenance was more reactive than it was proactive, the motto was simply if something breaks then fix it.

    After World War II the Japanese economy and industrial infrastructure was in bad shape.  At that time the Japanese leaders began to adopt American philosophies about quality management and control.  This led to Total Quality Management and was introduced by Dr. W Edwards Deming during a lecture in Japan.  More lean principles were introduced and there was more of a widespread emphasis placed on automated equipment, tools, processes, and procedures.  As we moved to a more digital platform that greatly increased the efficiency of production, this also brought along many unforeseen challenges.  As skilled workers diminished, there were not enough technicians that could maintain the machines, and this led to costly breakdowns.  This contradicted their new paradigm to produce high-quality products, you cannot achieve high-quality products with poorly maintained equipment (Cumming, 1950).  This spearheaded predictive preventative maintenance, which is the concept of daily maintenance.  This consist of properly managing and planning maintenance activities to keep the equipment in good operational condition.  The intent is to avoid failures and unwanted accidents by engaging in periodic inspections, routine maintenance, and prevention of deterioration. 

    Toyota was one of the first companies to introduce preventative maintenance, by introducing automation, then by increasing maintenance technicians, and also by implementing preventative maintenance techniques (Roser, 2021).  This helped to advance technology as we know it today, these combined techniques and practices with earlier lean principles is what helped to lead to unprecedented levels of efficiency and success.

Predictive Maintenance Today

The intent of predictive maintenance is to improve maintenance efficiency and effectiveness, see figure 1.  Technological advancements were made to ensure that the maintenance actions were carried out, but also performed in such a way that it is cost-effective.  It was important to factor in proper maintenance planning and scheduling, while also ensuring that lean maintenance principles were followed (Wireman, 2004).  Unwanted accidents and catastrophic events led to predictive maintenance solutions and failure reporting systems that are supported by machine learning. 

Figure 1. Predictive Maintenance and Its Role in Improving Efficiency

Companies have now turned to predictive maintenance to avoid these severe economic losses and to increase system reliability.  With the use of machine learning, companies can implement predictive maintenance techniques.  Data has been developed and collected, and preventative maintenance solutions have been tested in a simulated environment, and the results demonstrate that preventative maintenance technology is able to predict machine states and failures with high accuracy (Paolanti et al, 2018).

There are also economic forces that are driving predictive maintenance because it helps to drive cost efficiency.  Predictive maintenance can drive substantial savings by increasing production, performance, and quality.  This will also lead to cost savings with reduced maintenance actions because innovative technology now allows us to predict failures before they happen.   

Before predictive maintenance existed, there were several accidents that transpired.  Machinery and complex systems like aircraft were inspected based on handwritten planned-out maintenance schedules, which were determined by the manufacturer based on the life expectancy of parts studies.  In this case, some parts of the aircraft were required to be disassembled so that those sub-parts could also be inspected and analyzed to ensure proper maintenance.  There was always a risk associated with the inspection activity because it could actually introduce failures if the inspector failed to put the sub-parts back together correctly.  So this required a new approach that required that maintenance actions actually be in sync with the current condition of the equipment and that it should be carried out based on the equipment’s actual usage patterns.  Based on the usage patterns, data could be collected, and machine learning could be implemented to predict preventative maintenance actions that should be taken in order to prevent unintended accidents.  This was the true beginning of innovation, which led to the use of probability statistics to determine inspection cycle strategies which is ultimately the foundation for predictive maintenance, which is a driving technological force.  

Figure 2. Predictive Maintenance Infrastructure

References

Cumming, W. (1950).  The Origin of Preventive Maintenance And What It Includes,"

    SAE Technical Paper.  https://doi.org/10.4271/500032

Paolanti, M., Romeo, L., Felicetti, A., Mancini, A., Frontoni, E., & Loncarski, J. (2018, July).

      Machine learning approach for predictive maintenance in industry 4.0. In 2018 14th IEEE/ASME         International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications (MESA) (pp. 1-        6). IEEE.

Roser, C. (2021).  A Brief History of Maintenance.  Retrieved on September 4, 2022

    from https://www.allaboutlean.com/maintenance-history/

Wireman, T. (2004). Total productive maintenance. Industrial Press Inc. Global

    Education US. https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/books/9781119713197