Recently I participated in an off-site five-hour brainstorming event. Our company was in the process of developing a new machine design and after repeated attempts to have meetings in-house that were not able to come to fruition due to interruptions, we took it off-site.
Our team was made up of seven of the key individuals who had experience in the design and building of this type machine. We met in a boardroom at a nearby hotel and were tasked with completing the design in five hours. The individuals came very motivated. They started discussing the new design ideas before everyone was even seated around the table. Within the first hour we had the design concept completed and started actually creating it in SolidWorks 3D.
The next four hours were spent refining the design and troubleshooting defects in it. Everyone was totally focused and all opinions were appreciated and considered. It was a really great experience that resulted in quite an accomplishment. Next time your company is in need of a new concept or difficult resolution to a problem, I highly suggest an off-site session attended by various individuals who might have good input to add to the mix.
The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.
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