Tibor Dőry

Innovation and excellence

Management methods for innovation transformation

Arousing curiosity in an ergonomic environment

It is a major challenge for a company engaged in production and mass manufacturing to ensure that the factory floor and the sight of grey synthetic resin inspire and encourage the formulation of development proposals. From this point of view, shop floor initiatives that make corners and areas next to office blocks more homely and creative are of great importance. At Audi Hungaria, several so-called creative green corners have been set up at the initiative of employees and with the support of the Idea Exchange, organised around a few painted oil barrels on an artificial turf area. Based on feedback, employees enjoy spending time there and chatting with each other, and they have launched a number of innovative initiatives in this environment, thus confirming the legitimacy and role of ergonomic workplaces in the manufacturing environment as well. It is also important to note that when employees have the opportunity to chat and talk informally, innovative ideas come more easily.

The showrooms created in the production areas can be seen as an inspirational tool for encouraging process innovation and learning about customer perspectives. These showrooms model the manufacturing environment and, by assembling toy trucks from components, enable employees in the area to identify numerous new insights, logistical innovations and optimisation opportunities. In addition, employees can of course take advantage of numerous training programmes.

Over the past 10–20 years, the company has paid a great deal of attention to the continuous improvement of production processes ("Kontinuerlicher Verbesserungsprozess", abbreviated to KVP). The focus was primarily on streamlining processes and saving human resources, which proved successful, as the production plant became the most efficient unit in the group. However, this positive picture is clouded by the fact that area managers were required to demonstrate efficiency improvements achieved during a given period from time to time. Employees viewed this prescribed and top-down pressure to save costs as a kind of job-killer solution, which reduced their motivation to initiate innovative solutions of this type. The company management's approach has changed, and recently it has become possible to formulate and implement KVP proposals that result in human resource savings on a voluntary basis. In addition, there are an increasing number of development proposals focusing on work quality and ergonomics, as healthy employees have become increasingly valuable in times of labour shortages.

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2026

ISBN: 978 963 664 182 5

Menedzsment

The aim of the book "Innovation and Excellence" is to inspire and encourage company leaders, managers, and experts to initiate and implement innovation transformations with the help of professional literature and corporate case studies. Another important goal is to help develop the innovation capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises in particular by sharing simple, proven management methods that can be tested in practice.

The first part of the volume reviews the factors of corporate excellence and success, then highlights the possible sources of innovation, with a focus on the role of users and employees. The empirical section presents a detailed description of the supportive role of the workplace environment and creative working conditions based on corporate case studies (AUDI, BOSCH, MELECS). The volume concludes with a description of selected tested practical methods and management techniques that readers can try out in their own businesses.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/dory-innovation-and-excellence//

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