successful practices in technology management 2012

Successful Practices in

Technology Management 2012

Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

Steinbachstrasse 17 52074 Aachen Germany Phone +49 241 8904-449 Fax +49 241 8904-6-449 Dipl.-Inform. Susanne Aghassi Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Daniel Bremer Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Myron Graw


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

Please feel free to

contact us with

your questions:

Dipl.-Inform. Susanne Aghassi

Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Daniel Bremer

Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Myron Graw

Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

About Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Being Europe’s biggest public applied research institution, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft comprises more than 80 research units, including 60 Fraunhofer Institutes, at different locations in Germany. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has a workforce of 20.000 employees and an annual research budget of € 1.8 billion.

Information about this study The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, located in Aachen, Germany, is carrying out a benchmarking project on the subject of technology management in cooperation with an industrial consortium. The objective of this international study is to identify successful practices in technology management across different industries. The industrial consortium comprises the following companies: Aesculap AG Miele & Cie. KG Alstom (Schweiz) AG MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH Bosch Diesel Systems, Robert Bosch GmbH Roche Diagnostics GmbH Daimler AG Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG Mibelle AG V-Zug AG

Your investment We kindly ask for your support by filling out the questionnaire and sending it back to us until August 2nd, 2012. You can return the questionnaire by fax (+49 241 8904-6-449) or by e-mail ([email protected]). It will take approximately 30 minutes for you to complete the questionnaire.

Your benefit The companies with the most successful technology management will receive an award in the presence of the specialized press. This will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your company’s performance internally and if desired, to externally point out your exceptional approaches to technology management.

Next steps If the questionnaire analysis indicates that you are among the best companies, we would like to arrange a telephone interview with you in order to collect further information. At the end of September 2012 the consortium will select five successful practice companies based on anonymous case studies. If you are among the selected companies, the consortium and the Fraunhofer IPT would appreciate to discuss more specific issues with you during a company visit. The winners of the benchmarking survey will be honored by Fraunhofer IPT and the industrial consortium as »Successful Practices in Technology Management 2012« on January 30th, 2013 in the presence of press representatives.

Confidentiality We guarantee that we will handle your data with absolute confidentiality and that the consortium as well as third parties will get access to anonymized data only. An inference on your company will not be possible. The presentation of the results will be done exclusively in an anonymous form and on the basis of statistical values of the comparison groups.

Contact If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Susanne Aghassi (Phone: +49 241 8904-449) will provide further information. Thank you very much for your interest and your participation in this benchmarking study!


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

Please feel free to

contact us with

your questions:

Dipl.- Inform. Susanne Aghassi


Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Myron Graw, M. Sc.

Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

1

Please state the scope that relates to your answers:

Company (Business) Unit:

Name, first name, title

Company

Telephone number

Street

Post code, town

Country

Email address

Position within company


Technology ManagementDipl. Inform. Susanne AghassiSteinbachstr. 1752074 AachenGermany

Phone: +49 241 8904-449Fax: +49 241 [email protected]

Scope

Please use one questionnaire per individual operational division, business unit or company. If your business ispart of a larger company/corporation, please only provide information related to your business unit/division.

Multiple answers are permitted for some questions. Where »more than one answer possible«, please checkas many as apply.

This questionnaire covers the following core activities related to technology management:

1. General questions related to technology management2. Organization of technology management3. Technology forecasting4. Open Innovation and Cross-Industry Innovation5. Strategic technology planning6. Conclusions

page 2page 3page 6page 8page 9page 11

Reply form Please return via fax: +49 241 8904-6-449 or email: [email protected]

Answering this questionnaire requires neither the formal organization of these core activitiesnor the existence of a technology management department!


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

Please feel free to

contact us with

your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

2

Exclusivelybusiness-to-business (B2B)

1 2 3 4 5

2. In which industrial sector is your company/division mainly active?

Automotive Chemicals

Pharmaceuticals Cosmetics industry

Aviation and aerospace industry Medical technology

Consumer goods Electronics/ electrical engineering

IT, software Industrial equipment and machinery

Energy Other:

Turnover in 2011

1. How many employees worked in your company/operational division in 2011?

Employess in total

Employess in R&D

R&D investment/ total turnover in 2011:

Technology lifecycles

< 1 year 1-2 years

3-5 years 6-10 years

11-20 years > 20 years

Product lifecycles

< 1 year 1-2 years

3-5 years 6-10 years

11-20 years > 20 years

5. How long are the average lifecycles of your technologies and products?

4. What was the ratio between R&D investments and overall turnover in your company/operational division in 2011and what is the trend for 2012?

General questions related to technology management

3. What was the annual turnover of your company/division in 2011?

(Predevelopment, product development, engineering etc.)

Mio.approx.

%

7. What kinds of innovations drive your company/operational division? (More than one answer possible.)

Product innovations

Material innovations

Process innovations

Service and marketing innovations

(new product technologies)

(new production technologies)

(new material technologies)

8. Is technology management established as an independent operation within your company? If yes, since when?

No, technology management is not established as an independent operation.

Yes, technology management was established as an independent operation years ago.

Exclusively business-to-customer(B2C)

6. What kind of relationship do you have with your customers?

Trend for 2012 increasing constant decreasing

approx.

FTEs, distributed between employees

9. How many FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) work on technology management in your company/division? How manyemployees in total work on technology management?

please indicate currency


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

Please feel free to

contact us with

your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

3

10. Do you have an explicitly defined technology management process? If yes, what does this defined process consistof? (More than one answer possible.)

No, we do not have an explicitly defined technology management process.

Yes, we have an explicitly defined technology management process.

We have a systematic process for developing a technology strategy.

We have a systematic process for identifying and monitoring new technologies.

We have a systematic process for technology planning.

We have a systematic process for technology assessment.

We have a systematic process for technology protection

We have a controlling for our technology management activities.

12. Which employees or departments within your company actively utilize the technology management findings?(More than one answer possible.)

Board of managing director(s) Business unit manager

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Technology development manager

R&D department R&D project teams

Production Marketing

Purchasing Other:

Overall technology management resources 100%

Organization of technology management

13. How are the technology management activities in your company/operational division integrated into theorganization? (More than one answer possible.)

No explicit organizational establishment As a company-wide committee

As a consultant staff which is subordinated to aexecutive authority

Established as a centre

Integrated as an independent department within thebusiness line

Involvement of external service providers

In project teams Involvement of top management

(Profit center, Cost center etc.)

11. How are your resources distributed across the following core technology management activities?

Technology forecasting

Technology planning

Technology development

Technology exploitation

Technology protection

Technology assessment

Other

ca. %

ca. %

ca. %

ca. %

ca. %

ca. %

ca. %:


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

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contact us with

your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

4

14. Where in your company/operational division are tasks related to technologymanagement organizationally embodied? (More than one answer possible.)

Research Production

Early/ Preliminary development Purchasing

Development Sales/marketing

Corporate management Other:

1 2 3 4 5

Operations modified to suit the situation

Universally applicable employees

Pragmatic approach

Centralized organizational structures

16. Please characterize your technology management:

Compulsory and standardized processes

Clearly defined roles

Analytical approach

Decentralized organizational structures

17. Is research and development carried out at more than one facility? If yes, which of the following statementsapplies?

No, there is only one R&D site

Yes, there are R&D sites

Every site has its own, independent technology management

All technology management activities are concentrated at one site

Several sites have their own individual technology management, the processes are, however, synchronizedcentrally and are provided with methodological support if necessary.

Other:

1

2

3

4

5

18. Which are the 5 most important technology management methods and instruments that are used in yourtechnology management in the phases of forecasting, planning, evaluation and exploitation of technologies?

15. Are the topics of innovation and technology management organized separately?

No, technology and innovation management are not worked on separately.

Yes, technology and innovation management are worked on separately.

The topics of technology and innovation management are worked on in separateorganizational units.

Different employees work on the topics of technology and innovationmanagement.

Method: Phase of use in technology management


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

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your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

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Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

5

19. Please assess the following statements:

Not applicable 2 3 Fully applicable

"Our technology management exploits modern IT tothe max!"

"Certain phases of technology management arealready partially automated in our company!"

"The development of high-performance IT tools willsignificantly change the way we work in technologymanagement in future!"

"The development of new IT tools will significantlyimprove the effectiveness of technologymanagement!"

21. How does your company deal with promising technologies/ideas that have been identified by technologyforecasting but do not yet fit in with the current organizational structure or business?

The technology/idea is not pursued further and discarded.

This varies from case to case, there are no defined rules.

For cases like this, our company has

a separate budget

an independent, flexible organizational form

a defined process for the adaption of spontaneous innovative ideas

other:

22. Which competencies/characteristics do you consider to be the 3 most important for technology management scouts,planners and strategists?

Scout Planner Strategist

Specialist knowledge (technical)

Methodological competence

Ability to coordinate

Power of decision

Creativity

Experience

Large personal network

Acceptance within the company

Knowledge of the market and industry

Other:

20. Which specific IT tools do you use for technology forecasting, planning and assessment?


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52074 Aachen

Germany

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6

Technology forecasting

23. How much effort do you invest in the technology forecasting activities scanning, monitoring and scouting?

Technology scanning(Undirected search for new technologies)

Technology monitoring(Targeted monitoring of technologies)

Technologiy scouting(Specific, contracted collection of information relating to technologies)

100%

%

%

%

24. Do you use "search fields" with which to focus the search for new technologies, in order to make technologyforecasting more systematic? If yes, which of the following parameters do you use to define the scope of your searchfields?

No, we do not use search fields.

Yes, we use formal thematically documented search fields.

Yes, we use defined search fields with explicitly defined responsibilities.

Yes, we use defined search fields with explicitly defined responsibilities and set up an explicit search request with afixed budget and resources.

The search fields are defined in line with the following aspects


Technological core competencies

Basic technologies that we already use(but are not core competencies)

Specifications derived from technology strategy

Technologies used by competitors

Substitution technologies

(Mega) trends

Other:

Overall investment of effort in technology forecasting

1 2 3 4

Randomly

In our core sectors

Exclusively within the domain of technologymanagement

25. How and where were new technologies identified in your company in the past 5 years?

Via a systematic approach

In entirely foreign sectors

Exclusively in domains other than technologymanagement


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

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contact us with

your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

7

28. Do you systematically monitor the technology activities of your competitors? If yes, to what extent do you use thisinformation to determine your own position?

No, we do not systematically monitor our competitors' technology activities.

Yes, we systematically monitor our competitors' technology activities.

We use the findings to determine our own strategic positioning.

The findings do not affect our strategic positioning.

29. Please assess the following hypotheses:


"We manage to get the findings of technologyforecasting to the right people at the right time!"

"Storing knowledge/information is more importantto us than sharing it!"

"We have not missed any technological trendsrelevant to us over the past 5 years!"

26. Which criteria does your company/operational division use when selecting sources of information?

Notapplicable 2 3

Fullyapplicable

Rather random selection of information sources

The amount of information expected from the source

Link to our technological search fields

Potential benefit of the source

Costs of using the source

Positive experiences in the past

Other:

27. How do you organize your information procurement network?

We do not systematically organize a network.

We specifically create a network that involves the following elements:

Distribution of resources

Budget

Preferred (cooperative) partners (e.g. university networks)

Preferred sources of information

Responsibilities

Other:


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

Please feel free to

contact us with

your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

8

Open Innovation and Cross-Industry Innovation in technology management

Open Innovation in the field of technology management is a form of cooperation and involvement with externalpartners in the process of finding and developing ideas. A special case of Open Innovation is Cross (Industry)Innovation: the use of innovations in or from other sectors. Contract research and contract development are excludedfrom this definition.

30. What does your company think of Open Innovation?

"Open Innovation is generally not practicable."

"Open Innovation is an interesting approach, but not applicable to us."

"Open Innovation is interesting, but we have not applied it yet."

"We already practiced Open Innovation, but are not convinced by the results."

"We already practiced Open Innovation and are convinced by the results."

"Open Innovation will be part of our innovation culture in the medium to long term "

Drivers

Reduced development costs

Shorter development times

Increased level of innovation

Opens up new markets / custom

Impulses from other sectors

Access to new areas of technology and competence

Development of new business models

Other:

Constraints

Lack of knowledge about Open Innovation

Risk to lose know-how

Dependency on partners

Issues of IP/ legal safeguards

Organizational problems when involving external parties

Acceptance within the company for external solutions

The challenge of finding the right partners

Other:

31. Which are the 3 main drivers to and constraints of Open Innovation?

33. What kinds of partners have you worked with on these projects? (More than one answer possible.)

Never 2 3 Frequently

Competitors

Suppliers

Customer

Companies from within the industry without business connections

Companies from outside the industry without business connections

Universities and research institutes

Private individuals

32. What contribution has Open Innovation made in the past 2 years in your company?

0% 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%

During idea generation

During development

(If 0%, please proceed to question 38)


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

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Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

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9

Technology strategy:

Technology planning: years

years

38. What planning levels does your company/operational division cover in technology planning?

Megatrends Markets

Products Technologies

Demonstrational objects/prototypes Capacities and resources

Other:

Strategic technology planning

34. Do you systematically carry out field analyses that cover more than just your original industry?

Never 2 3 Frequently

… new applications, for which our technologies are transferable.

… technological innovations that can be transferred to our originalapplications.

Foreign sector search for …

35. When do you plan to make use of your technologies/technological expertise externally?


We use our technologies exclusively for our ownproducts and do not exploit them externally.

External exploitation depends on the situation and isnot planned.

External exploitation is planned in towards the endof the technology lifecycle.

External exploitation is already planned in at thetechnology development phase.

39. Do you separate technology and product development?

No, we do not separate technology and product development.

Yes, we do separate technology and product development.

36. Do you have a defined technology strategy?

No

Yes, but not documented

Yes, documented and defined for:

Product technologies

Material technologies

Production technologies

37. For which period of time do you define your technology strategy and technology planning?

All technologies combined

Every individual technology

Every field of technology

Core competencies


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Not at all 2 Very intense

Corporate Management

Research und development

Production

Purchasing

Technology and innovationmanagement

Sales/marketing

Patent division

External experts

Other:

Not at all 2 Very intense

Management

Research und development

Production

Purchasing

Technology and innovationmanagement

Sales/marketing

Patent division

External experts

Other:

41. Do you use roadmaps to synchronize your development activities at various planning levels?

Yes, we use roadmaps.

No, we use a different structured process for synchronizing our development activities:

No, we do not use roadmaps or other structured processes for synchronizing our development activities.

43. Is the roadmap modified if the planning assumptions change?

Continuous updating (i.e. immediately after identifying the changes)

Cyclical update of the roadmap every years

No adjustment to the roadmap within the planning horizon

Use

No, we do not use technology platforms.

Yes, we use technology platforms. These:

are documented

are supported by processes

are supported by responsible parties

are supported with their own budgets

have their own strategy

Objectives

Shorter development times

Transparency

Concentration of knowledge

Focus on core competencies

Rapid reaction to changes in customer demands

Other:

44. Have you organized technologies into "technology platforms"?If yes, what are your 3 main objectives?

(Proceed to question 48)

40. Which are the main triggers for the development of new production technologies in your company / operationaldivision?


Production technologies are exclusively derived fromproduct technologies.

Production technologies are developedindependently, i.e. independent from specificproducts.

42. Which parts of your company/operational division are involved in generating the roadmap and which parts of yourcompany/operational division use the roadmap?

Involvement in the generation process Use of roadmap


Steinbachstraße 17

52074 Aachen

Germany

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contact us with

your questions:




Tel.: +49 241 8904 449

Tel.: +49 241 8904 455

Tel.: +49 241 8904 346

11

Conclusion

46. Does your company measure the efficacy of technology management? If yes, how?

No, we do not measure the efficacy of our technology management.

Yes, we measure the efficacy of our technology management.

Qualitatively Results-oriented

Quantitatively Process-oriented

47. What do you consider to have been the crucial changes in technology management in the past 5 years? What doyou consider to be the greatest challenges for the future?

48. Finally, please provide a summarized evaluation of your technology management:


"Our technology management has optimum supportin the form of methods and instruments!"

"In our company / business unit, technologymanagement is actively practiced!"

"Technology management is fully acknowledged byour management!"

"Our technology management makes a significantcontribution to the unique selling points in ourcompany!"

45. Which incidents caused technology development projects to be abandoned in thepast? (More than one answer possible.)

Rarely 2 3 Frequently

Changes in technology strategy

Project budget exceeded

Development time exceeded

Misjudgement of technological development potential

Changes in customer requirements

Emergence of new technological trends

Other:

Many thanks for your participation!

successful practices in technology management 2012

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