Innovation leadership in Australasia

Market leadership in building products and construction

The new situation in 2020 has also forced the construction industry to realign itself. Major investments in the public sector, particularly in hospitals and other medical facilities, are pushing many construction companies towards rethinking and innovating. Emerging industry drivers such as sustainability and green investment are also shaping the new conditions.

On the way to becoming the Australasian leader in sustainable building products, construction, and distribution, Fletcher Building has set ambitious goals to get there.

Innovation at Fletcher Building

Together with ITONICS, one of the foundation stones was laid at the end of 2019. In order to create company-wide synergies, generate evidence and transparency, the innovation platform of ITONICS was integrated and closely aligned with Fletcher Building‘s mission to fuel growth opportunities, innovation success, and company-wide collaboration.

• One of the market leaders in NZ and Australia
• Fragmented approaches to innovation processes across the business
• Missing transparency over initiatives of 30 business units
• Limited reporting to Executive Committee on innovation initiatives across the business
• Difficulty in identifying project collaborations

Objectives

Strategic alignment: Implement an innovation portfolio management platform aligned to Fletcher Building’s strategic initiatives

Create evidence: Involve all innovation executives and bundle their activities to create synergies and generate evidence

Track portfolios: Track progress of projects and help to make decisions in project directions

Prioritize initiatives: Aid in road mapping and prioritizing innovation initiatives

A main portfolio management platform aligned to strategic initiatives

The Fletcher Building Innovation Team is responsible for steering the innovation agenda across Fletcher Building. Supported by the ITONICS Innovation OS, the team is driving incubation, portfolio management, and strategic planning in line with the strategic goals.

Achievements

• The platform is an integral part of the new innovation culture and contributed to cross-pollination of pioneering growth opportunities. More than 70 ideas and projects have been moved through the funnel.
• Due to improved collaboration opportunities, the entire company is undergoing a cultural transformation giving 100’s of employees access to innovations happening across the business.
• The new innovation process is fully digitized and mapped on a collaborative innovation platform.
• The central organization of information results in immense time savings in the innovation process.
• Over 30 innovation leaders from across the company now manage their portfolios with full transparency.
• More than a dozen potential business to business collaborations have already been identified.
• Executive Committees: Growth opportunities and the right investment decisions for the company are now visible.
• Innovation Team: The team is now able to obtain informationabout the entire company and link topics between the businesses, technologies, and markets. Cultural change now also becomes visible, tangible, and measurable. Innovation paths can be better prioritized and informed decisions can be made and justified based on data.
• Business Steering Innovation Groups: The progress of projects can now easily be tracked. Ratings make clear where to focus on, also in order to save resources. Teams are now able to prove the benefit of their idea with a small budget.