Industrial creativity Definition and coaching methods

Since the end of World War II, the economies of Western societies have been characterized by successive phases of evolution. The first, commonly referred to as "the glorious thirty years," spanning from 1945 to 1975, was defined by unprecedented economic prosperity. The Marshall Plan to aid in the reconstruction of Europe had a considerable impact on the economy of the Old Continent. During these thirty years, reconstruction took precedence over innovation. Manufacturers therefore drew on the knowledge and expertise they had mastered in the areas of planning and mass production. This period saw the emergence of structured and structuring working methods such as Value Analysis.

The following thirty years were marked by a gradually globalizing economy. This led to a strengthening of rigor and performance processes. These years, described as "rough," saw an intensification of the rationalization of production activities and diversification of competitive approaches, supported by the emergence of new technological fields and increased interactions due to globalization. Methods were developed using a structuralist approach based on previous years. The LEAN Manufacturing method, derived successively from Taylorism, Fordism, and Ohnisme, is a good example of this.

According to Latour, a new era, defined by the following contradictory injunction, lies ahead of us: "on the one hand, 'innovate or die'; on the other, 'be careful or perish'! It's enough to drive you crazy. What does 'innovate cautiously' even mean?"

In the field of industrial engineering, this concept of innovation, expressed in a less explicit and even less widespread manner, is nevertheless being developed by both researchers and the heads of large companies.

In February 2011, the website Engadget published a memo from Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia, acknowledging a resounding failure in these terms:

"We [Nokia] aren't even fighting with the right weapons [...] The battle of devices has become a battle of ecosystems, where the ecosystems in question are formed not only by the device's software and hardware, but also by developers, applications, sales, advertising, search, social applications, geo-location services, unified communications, and other aspects. Our competitors are not taking market share from us with devices, they are taking market share from us with complete ecosystems."

The transformation, decline, or expansion of markets is occurring at an alarming and extremely rapid pace. These phenomena are, in part, difficult to predict. The only reliable constant on which companies can rely is the ever-increasing need for change.

To respond to such variations in constraints, particularly...