I LEADERS ON INDUSTRY THOUGHT NNOVATI N
IN DECEMBER, we conducted a roundtable discussion on innovation in the rigging industry to get perspectives and insights about what is driving innovation and growth.
Wire Rope Exchange: How do you define innovation in our industry?
Tom Miller: To me innovation in the rigging industry is two-fold. We’re focused on providing our customers with safer products that also promote ease of use. Te loads are getting bigger and bigger, so the rigging also gets bigger and bigger – which means more weight and more opportunity for accidents. Providing a safer way to lift these larger loads is where we are looking. Also, I think our own manufacturing practices have to be safer.
Mike Parnell: We listen to our customers, understand their challenges and work on how we can get their challenges fixed. It may be through a new product innovation, or a new design-lifting device. Ultimately, it is all about lowering risk, which can be accomplished by a more positive method for connection, a more dependable wire rope or sling system, or by better education or technical skills. Every time we get a new piece of electronic equipment, we consider: how can I use this to solve my customers’ problems. How can I ramp up their learning? How can I take away some of the potential for accidents?
Brad Benner: I think it’s important to take a holistic approach to innovation. We make it a process of our business model. Our industry has high requirements. It’s important because people’s lives are involved. If something goes wrong with a product in our industry it makes the news. A tower crane goes down in New York or something goes wrong on an offshore platform and there is a scramble drill. We can’t innovate so much that we get beyond what we know works. You have to do a lot of research to make sure that your innovation is sound and accurate so that people are safe.
22 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2012 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
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