Norbert Majerus readily admits that English is not his first language.
The longtime Goodyear engineer — he’s been at the Akron tire maker since 1979 — was born in Luxembourg. He grew up speaking Luxembourgesh, then learned German, French and finally English.
Majerus also admits he got low grades for communication in annual work reviews.
So naturally, he wrote a book, in English, explaining how Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is transforming itself using processes he helped pioneer at the company. And it’s getting really good reviews.
“First of all, I think we have a great story. I think we have a very unique story,” Majerus said. “I think we have a great story that is worth sharing.”
Share he does. Majerus’ book, Lean-Driven Innovation: Powering Product Development at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., explains how he and others in 2005 began applying so-called lean processes at the company’s innovation centers. The 463-page book was just recently published.
Lean is a business management system and philosophy that, to simplify things, eliminates waste and continually improves work and processes. Japan car giant Toyota generally gets credited with creating and refining the concept, which earned the nickname the Toyota Way.
And while the lean system is typically associated with a factory floor, Majerus and Goodyear did something different by applying it to research and development.
Majerus wrote that by adopting lean, the nascent Goodyear Way:
• Cut tire development time by 70 percent.
• Cut warranty costs.
• Increased on-time delivery from 30 percent to 98 percent.
• Made other improvements.
And all without increasing the company budget.
What Goodyear has been doing regarding innovation is unique, Majerus said. And Goodyear’s current management team has no problems sharing publicly, he said. (Goodyear, of course, is not disclosing proprietary information and processes that came out of adopting lean, he said.)
Majerus is among the pioneers in applying lean to product development, said John Shook, chairman and chief executive officer of the Lean Enterprise Institute in Cambridge, Mass. Shook has met with Majerus and visited Goodyear.
“We think it’s great what Norbert is doing,” Shook said.
It is relatively easy to see how lean techniques work on a factory floor but not so easy in an office environment with knowledge workers, Shook said.
“Norbert is one of a smaller group of people going about the intense work of understanding lean in a knowledge environment,” he said.
The willingness of Majerus and Goodyear to share their experiences and knowledge in the book is significant, Shook said.
“You recognize this could help a lot of people,” he said. “I think it’s an important contribution.”
One place benefiting from Majerus’ knowledge and willingness to share is at Akron Children’s Hospital, which is incorporating lean techniques through its Center of Operations Excellence.
The hospital last year published its own book on using lean techniques.
“He helps us see the bigger picture of lean,” said Anne Musitana, administrative director of the center. “He’s definitely a thought leader. He’s a really global thinker. I would say he’s had the biggest impact on us.”
Engineering a book
Book writing is not natural to an engineer such as himself, Majerus said. He initially was approached by a book publishing executive after giving a presentation on Goodyear’s lean process at a conference.
“I took his business card and put it in my pocket and took it home. Then I broke my leg in a skiing accident,” Majerus said. He was at home recuperating in 2014 and began thinking again about writing a book on lean. He pulled out the business card, broached the subject at work, and his boss told him that doing a book was a great idea, he said.
“The story is a good story and I think that made the whole thing easier,” Majerus said. “I could have written a couple hundred pages [more].”
Companies such as Goodyear need to innovate because of increased competition coming from China and India, he said. That’s in part because China spends more on rubber research than the rest of the world combined, he said.
“We need to think about how can we remain competitive in that environment,” Majerus said. “We are making good products. But eventually our technology matures and we have to think about how can we get much, much better on innovation and at the same time not spend any more money.”
Goodyear executive Jean-Claude Kihn (just promoted to head of Goodyear’s Europe, Middle East and Africa tire division) urged Majerus to look into adopting lean more than 10 years ago.
“He got exposed to it and said, man, this would work for product development,” Majerus said. “He challenged me.”
Different techniques
Goodyear over the years has tried many different management techniques and processes, Majerus said. “We tried them all. Jean-Claude said we had to try lean, it’s going to be good for us,” he said. “It took awhile to learn it. We did take a different approach than most other people to it.”
Lean has worked very well in manufacturing, where the focus is on cost reduction, Majerus said.
But research and development is typically not a large business expense for a company, Majerus said. At Goodyear, it makes up about 2 percent of the company’s budget.
But the decisions made in R&D influence a huge piece of a company’s profitability, Majerus said.
“I call it the shadows, in the book,” Majerus said. “Lean is all about value. So I said, why not apply lean thinking to how we create value, how R&D creates value for the customer. That’s one of the big things we did differently.”
Adopting lean in product development was all about people, he said. Goodyear brought in consultants to teach lean concepts, not to tell the company what to do, Majerus said.
“And then we made sure to teach our people. We worked with the people who design tires, we worked with the people who have great ideas,” he said. “And we let them develop the process. It is something that will work for us, because the people will own it.
There have been setbacks and failures along the way to adopting lean, Majerus said. Eventually, people have embraced it, he said.
“I call it developing from the inside out. I have to say we had good support from leadership,” Majerus said. Goodyear Chairman and CEO Rich Kramer is a big supporter and gets special mention in one of the book chapters.
Goodyear not only wants to be known as innovative with its products but also innovative in its approach to work, Majerus said.
“If we want to be sustainable, we have to be leaders in how we do the work, how we do innovation,” Majerus said.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ. His stories can be found at www.ohio.com/writers/jim-mackinnon.