From an established Corporation to an agile Performance Engine

Ensuring a sustainable competitive edge in an increasingly digital landscape requires proactivity and informed decision making. Companies need to tear down internal knowledge barriers in order to react to any changes in the market, to detect innovation potential and to adapt strategies accordingly.

In order to break down internal knowledge silos, KSB, a leading supplier of pumps, valves, and related systems, implemented the innovation platform iport in 2017. Today there are over 7,043 active users and more than 1,100 ideas have been submitted. Based on the ITONICS innovation platform, all employees worldwide can actively participate in the idea and innovation management.

Following the digitalization of the idea management, the platform was expanded at the beginning of 2019 in order to include the components ‘Corporate Foresight’ and ‘Competitor Analysis’, and has since formed the digital foundation of a KSB-wide cultural change towards an agile performance engine.

Initial situation at KSB

• Small group of participants, no community
• Small, local improvements
• Mostly only production areas involved
• Little effect of idea management on entire company
• Limitation of idea content by statue
• Limited activation mechanisms