TIME: 2 months

What We Did
Our newly motivated experts took this process to other parts of the company. The success of the pilot programs – and the coordinated rollout of the process with a new management review system – motivated others in the organization to implement the process. We also leveraged our senior client relationships to help create awareness and visibility for the rollout of this process. Knowing that management would be closely following the results of the process assured teams that the process could have real impact, rather than being just another "box to check."

What Resulted
The solutions we developed are expected to greatly improve customer satisfaction, both by reducing quality problems caused by system interface issues and by improving product performance along brand-defining attributes.

The client has since asked us to help them improve their product launch process in the factory and to improve the upfront product strategy and cost targeting process. Those projects are already underway and are having impact on product development programs.

The client has also subsequently engaged McKinsey to help reorganize their product development organization for further performance improvement.

What We Learned
To foment change, we needed to motivate the employees at all levels of the client company. That meant not only creating "buy-in" to a new way of doing things but also inspiring and empowering employees at all levels to take ownership of improvement initiatives.