This workshop was developed to teach the Goodyear associates the fundamentals of lean-driven innovation and uses many simulations, exercises and interactions to teach the principles. Learn about the fundamentals and see how to apply and implement them in your own place of work.
Although lean has found widespread application in manufacturing and services, there have been very few sustained implementations in R&D organizations. Similarly, lean-startup thinking has energized lean thinking in the computer industry but the applications in the innovation creation process of traditional manufacturing industries have been very rare. Discover how the benefits of applying lean principles in R&D can be much higher than in the more traditional applications like manufacturing. As documented by the recent AME Excellence Award, Goodyear has developed a very successful lean R&D and innovation creation process and the company shares the finding with the industry.
Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs approximately 68,000 people and manufactures its products in 50 facilities in 22 countries around the world. Its two innovation centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. The Goodyear R&D organization received the AME Excellence Award in 2016. www.goodyear.com
For nearly a decade, Norbert Majerus has been Goodyear’s lean champion in research and development. He has implemented a principles-based lean product development process its three global innovation centers. He has worked most of the disciplines in the Goodyear innovation centers in Luxembourg and Akron. Majerus has a master’s degree in chemistry from the Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, Germany He is author of “Lean-driven Innovation" which received the Shingo Research Award in 2016. 
