Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1037828
Summer 2018 33 There's an interesting story behind the branding of ITW's customer-back innovation and, like many compelling narratives, it starts with a conundrum and ends with meaningful change. Lei Schlitz, now the executive vice president of the Food Equipment segment, was there in 2012 when the Glenview, Ill.-based, manufacturer began the hard work of repositioning itself after the passing of its CEO David Speer. Part of that process included shedding slower-growing companies and grap- pling with how far into the future R&D should go to pursue technological innovation. Even more important was determining how to reconcile that pursuit with customers' immediate needs. Schlitz recalls the details well, having begun her career at the ITW Technology Center, where she worked closely with Speer's predecessor, CEO Scott Santi. "Scott and his leadership team were starting the journey to transition ITW from growth by acquisition to its current enterprise strategy of focusing on a winning portfolio of business seg- ments," she says. The goal of the technology center was to create futuristic technology for the entire company that would hopefully be adopted. An extended stretch of more misses than hits, however, raised concerns and exposed an inter- nal fissure. "The low adoption rates were creat- ing negative feelings between the business units and the technology center," explains Schlitz. "Our salespeople and others closer to the customer were saying, 'You've got all these engineers here and you're not addressing our problems. You're just addressing technology and innovation for technology's sake.'" That's when the wheels began to turn for Santi, who challenged both R&D and the company's business units by questioning if ITW could go "half way." Meaning, instead of insisting customers follow it into the future, was there a better way to address their current problems and, at the same time, identify solutions for future needs? Now, the manufacturer divides its resources, mobilizing sales to strengthen ties and keep its ear to the ground, while marketing and engineers from R&D engage in user panels, market research and audits to observe how their equipment per- forms in a foodservice environment. Then the two LEI SCHLITZ ITW "If you want to identify emerging pain points and trends, it's not about what customers are telling you, it's about what you're seeing." By Stacy Ward, Editor in Chief stacy@feda.com VULCAN'S VCCG GRIDDLE WITH IRX™ INFRARED BURNERS, SOLID STATE CONTROLS AND RAPID RECOVERY™ COMPOSITE GRIDDLE PLATE COOK 9 PERCENT MORE LBS./HOUR THAN A GRIDDLE WITH A STEEL PLATE. THIS TRANSLATES TO 180 BURGERS/DAY AND AN ADDITIONAL $900 IN SALES REVENUE/DAY.