Creating a culture that supports innovation is crucial for any organization looking to thrive in a competitive market. This kind of culture must prioritize open communication, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous learning. Encouraging employees to experiment, take risks, and learn from failures can drive innovation and uncover new opportunities.

Leading companies across various industries have long understood the importance of fostering an innovation-driven culture. For example, 3M encourages its employees to spend 15% of their work time on passion projects, which has led to breakthroughs such as Post-it Notes and other revolutionary products. Similarly, Google’s “20% time” policy allows employees to explore new ideas outside their primary job responsibilities, resulting in innovative products like Gmail and Google News.

Toyota is another example of a company that has built a robust innovation culture. Central to Toyota’s approach is the concept of ‘Kaizen,’ or continuous improvement. Through a suggestion system that receives millions of ideas from employees annually, Toyota fosters a culture where every individual is empowered to contribute to innovation. These suggestions often lead to meaningful improvements in processes, quality, and efficiency, playing a significant role in maintaining Toyota’s status as a global leader in the automotive industry.

At Driessen, innovation is deeply ingrained in our DNA. Our approach involves engaging the entire organization—from leadership to shop floor teams—in the pursuit of continuous improvement. We combine top-down strategic initiatives with bottom-up team engagement, ensuring that innovation thrives at all levels.

A prime example is our “Factory of the Future” project, inspired by the Toyota Production System. This initiative focuses on eliminating waste, optimizing processes, and doing things right and efficiently. As part of the project, we redesigned our manufacturing layout to achieve better material flow, conducted Kaizen events to enhance machine performance, and improved resource utilization. These efforts will help to remain cost competitive and freed up 3,000 square meters of space that can be used for expansion of our business.

On the shop floor, we’ve implemented Shopfloor Management, a tool well-established in the automotive industry, to empower small teams to engage in daily, KPI-based problem-solving. For instance, in just four months, our pilot at a bottleneck process increased overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) from 61% to 75%. This success underscores the power of small, continuous improvements driven by the collective efforts of our teams.

To further enhance our approach, we collaborate with third-party consultants to bring fresh perspectives and avoid stagnation. Recently, we partnered with the Kaizen Institute to refine our methodologies and tools through workshops and Six Sigma projects. This year-long program began with a strategy workshop for our management team, fostering cross-departmental collaboration and ensuring alignment across the organization.

By taking inspiration from industry leaders and tailoring these practices to our needs, we have cultivated an environment where innovation is continuous and results oriented. Our balanced approach—combining strategic projects, shop floor engagement, and external collaboration—ensures we remain at the forefront of market trends and well-positioned for future challenges.

To truly drive innovation, creating the right culture is just the beginning. Companies must also embrace agile, customer-focused development strategies that allow for rapid iteration and continuous improvement. The next article will explore how flexibility and responsiveness in product design enable businesses to deliver highly relevant and innovative solutions.

Note:

This article is part of an ongoing series entitled Innovation at the Core: Leadership & Continuous Improvement Strategies from Driessen Catering Equipment.

To read the next article in the series, click here. 

To read the previous article in the series, click here.

To download the full series as a comprehensive report, click here.