- The Car Assembly Line
Let’s face it, whatever product or service you deliver has a series of activities done in succession that generate a “thing” at the end of a literal or metaphorical assembly line.
The car assembly line is where your profit comes from because you’ve stripped out every single ounce of inefficiency. Each employees’ role on the assembly line is very clearly defined and their actions are meant to be repeatable. When they’re executed the same way every single time, quality is maintained, costs are contained, and the margin is consistent.
As any spot welder knows, there’s no collaboration on the assembly line. No one stops the line to blue sky concepts and brainstorm alternative methods of delivery. Everyone does their job, they pass it off to the next person, and the line continues with peak efficiency. In my business we say, “Kill it and bill it.” Put your head down. Get it done. And move on to the next task.
The first step of innovation is putting what you currently do on the assembly line. Make low value activities low effort activities so that you can save time, money, and energy for new innovations that will truly make a difference.
- The Concept Car
No car manufacturer can just focus on the assembly line, either. Every once in a while, you need to lift your head up and look at the world around you. When automotive manufacturers want to explore new ideas to topple their own established ways of thinking, they create a concept car.
The concept car is built off the assembly line. There’s no hope or expectation that the concept car will ever go into production. Auto manufacturers just do it to do it and to see what they can learn. Sometimes, through that innovation journey, they’ll discover that one unique component or process of the concept car can be easily integrated into the assembly line. Over time, with enough concept car-inspired components, the assembly line innovates responsibly because of the experimental components that feed it.
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