A trip to Eureka! Ranch paid off in business growth ideas for Specialty Tires of America. Specialty Tires is a manufacturer with customers in auto racing, off-the-road equipment, aerospace, and other exotic industries. And Eureka! Ranch is a Cincinnati-based consulting group with ties to Catalyst Connection. "Our people are fairly analytical — left-brained,” says Specialty Tires president Don Mateer. “Eureka! Ranch enabled us to become a bit more right-brained and creative and, at the end of the day, to come up with some solid ideas."
Don was describing an experience that he and his cross-functional team, accompanied by Catalyst Connection's Bryan Fischer and Ed Wagner, shared during a Eureka! Winning Ways idea-generation session in 2007.
"As a CEO, I have to be responsive to strategically managing growth," Don says. "The expectation I had going in was that there probably would be a brainstorming session, not unlike things we had done internally to identify growth opportunities for our company. What I found was much more. It was a real systematic and disciplined approach for coming up with ideas and putting those through a screening process that would be a predictor of success. They met and exceeded my expectations."
The session helped Specialty Tires come up with a long list of ideas, four of which went through Eureka! Ranch’s Merwyn concept research system. Guided by this data-driven evaluation, Don’s team zeroed in on two promising concepts, then – utilizing a Eureka! Ranch planning process called TrailBlazer – put them into development. One is a new product for defense applications; the other is a special deep-tread tire for the mining industry. Specialty Tires anticipates significant revenue from both ideas in 2008.
Winning Ways, Mateer says, “gave us a way to evaluate new markets, products, and customers, and have a pipeline of growth planned, quarter by quarter, on an ongoing basis."
Eureka! Ranch promises to help companies identify "measurably smarter choices for growth." Winning Ways is a seven-week process that starts with a preliminary planning meeting and idea-generation session, followed by evaluation, action planning, and 30 days of coaching, culminating in a yes/no, yes/but decision. Following the Winning Ways session, Catalyst Connection's Eureka! Ranch certified growth coach, Bryan Fischer took over the lead role, facilitating the remaining steps.
Mateer was so satisfied with the results that he plans to use the Eureka! Ranch process as “an actively managed part of our business from now on. I am confident it will provide a continuous stream of new products or new product ideas."
Specialty Tires and Catalyst Connection have built a rewarding relationship in the course of more than 20 projects. Over the years the two organizations have engaged in supervisory leadership and lean manufacturing training, web site development, and marketing and sales analysis. In 2007, in addition to the Winning Ways project, Catalyst Connection conducted a customer research study and an employee retention project for Specialty Tires.
“Time and time again, it has been beneficial working with Catalyst Connection. Their professionals and the skills they bring to bear give a manufacturer like us a much more confident view of the future. For companies that don’t know how to outsource some of the needs that they have, it can be done in a reliable and cost effective way. We aren’t used to relying on consultants to help us, but I consider Catalyst Connection not just a consultant, but a business partner," Mateer says.