A case-study on how PPC is managing to change a 124 year old company through innovation…

The Challenge

  • Global change and a focus on the African growth imperative required a new way of working at PPC
  • Collaboration & knowledge sharing needed to be entrenched and a move away from email and Xcel templates as means of managing innovation was necessary
  • A pipeline for commercialisation needed to be established that was based on strategically aligned suggestions and fresh thinking
  • A more collaborative ecosystem needed to be build
  • Innovation had to become an everyday activity for all staff

“Innovation is viewed as a tangible, effective and sustainable activity with the potential to deliver on key strategic objectives by leadership. It is one of the organisation’s five strategic pillars communicated as a contributor to the organisation’s economic, organisational and individual success, and a key driver of business competitiveness and growth. It’s our world… we need to shape it or someone else will” – Alta Shoultz, PPC Innovation Manager.

The Response

From 2013-2014 PPC designed and innovation strategy, measured and improved leadership capabilities in terms of innovation, completed two technology scouting projects and completed numerous creativity and training workshops. Building on what already was in place, PPC then implemented a best-of-breed web-based idea management system in 2015 called PPC Innov8 – to encourage a bottom-up flow of ideas. Roll-out and communication activities were implemented and a transparent, effective innovation programme enjoyed first priority status.

Some insights from PPC:

A 124 year old company needed to change. This could only be achieved by being serious about innovation. First steps for PPC were:

  • Building an innovation culture with regular, planned interventions
  • Strategic investment and growth, underlined with a sizeable budget for innovation activities that included ideation, experimentation and implementation
  • Building organisational capability in innovation as a strategic priority
  • Investing in a suitable Innovation Management System (IMS)

The Results

R8 Million ROI in year 1

990 registered users in year 1

556 total ideas submitted and 23 ideas selected for implementation

 

Contact us to learn more about innovation at PPC!