Sustaining Continuous Innovation Through Problem Solving

Stephen Armstrong has 22 years of success leading large-scale business transformation turnaround initiatives with an initial pedigree in the aerospace and defense industry and then spreading to other sectors. Included are 23 large-scale enterprise-wide turnaround and strategic change assignments, in technologically complex environments.Armstrong built his leadership capability on a solid foundation as an aerospace engineer where he began as a shop floor apprentice. His engineering specialty was the development of manufacturing processes for advanced aerospace composite materials. After a period in operations management he changed career direction and entered the management consulting industry in 1988 with KPMG becoming principle in charge of the manufacturing system practice in Canada.His first entrepreneurial venture was founding AMGI in 1993, which was initially a management consulting company and has shifted to education and training. In addition to his role as CEO-AMGI, he is also Chief Innovation Officer at Samco Machinery.He has led over 30 executive steering committees and built 150 plus self-directed work teams in every functional business discipline to achieve dramatic improvement results. Initiatives have spanned companies in size from a family owned start up business with 10 employees to large multi division enterprises with 15,000 employees. The bottom line results have included:product development time to market reduction of up to 50% revenue growth (20-400%)cost reduction (30-50%)sustainable performance improvement.One early example: After leading a business transformation initiative to turnaround deHavilland Aircraft, Armstrong initiated and led the original team that developed the Bombardier Engineering Aerospace System (BES). BES was eventually adapted across Bombardier’s operations worldwide and halved the time it takes to develop a new aircraft and bring to the market place. For this achievement Armstrong was awarded the Ontario “Professional Engineers Medal for Excellence” in 2010.His expertise has led to Armstrong being asked to teach at the University of Toronto and become Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster, in the Department of Business Psychology.

• Part I: Transforming the Business – Achieving a Culture of InnovationAn Introduction to Business Transformation-The Methodology & PhilosophyThe Phases of Business Transformation Explained: Laying the Foundation for ContinuousInnovationThe Organizational Approach to Business TransformationPart II: Analyzing the Status Quo – By Constantly QuestioningHow to Analyze the “As Is” Business Processes. Research Customer Needs and ExpectationsSelect the IssueDefine/Design the ProcessEstablish Standards and Design Performance MeasuresImplement the Processes, Standards, Measures, and Quality SystemsConfirm the Process/Issue FocusSet the Improvement Objectives and SchedulePart III: Continuous Innovation – By Problem SolvingCreative Process Improvement. Cause and Effect AnalysisGathering and Analyzing Root Cause DataSelecting the Root Cause to be AddressedFormulate Alternative SolutionsEvaluate and Select the Best SolutionDocument Solutions. Investigate and Validate the SolutionClosing the Loop through Continuous ImprovementPart IV: Engaging the People – Sustaining InnovationManaging Process Improvement Teams: Making it WorkSustaining Innovation with a Higher PurposeAppendices – Management Tools