Innovation Pipeline Desk / Manufacturing Desk
MANUFACTURERS AND MEDICAL DEVICE MAKERS
Innovation Pipeline for Manufacturers: Pilots a Plant Manager Will Actually Run
The plant manager asked for one fix to scrap on line three. The innovation team came back with a market map full of logos, none of them tied to line three, and the plant went back to fixing it by hand.
The Manufacturing Desk starts from the plant: each problem statement names a line, a measure and a plant owner. Candidates are scored on production evidence in a comparable plant, and every pilot brief fits your change control and quality system.
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Manufacturing Desk
What the Manufacturing Desk works on first
These are the problems this desk hears most from manufacturers and medical device makers. Your Mandate Brief sets the real list; each one gets a named owner before any candidate is scored.
| Problem the desk hears first | What the desk returns |
|---|---|
| Scrap, yield and first pass quality | Candidates with production evidence in a comparable process, scored against the measure your plant already tracks. |
| Maintenance and unplanned downtime | Candidates mapped to one asset class, with the data they need and who on the plant floor runs them. |
| Medical device design and quality records | Candidates scored on how they fit your quality system and change control, with a named quality reviewer. |
| Integration after an acquisition | Candidates for one process shared across sites, with a cost ceiling and a kill date set before scoring. |
Same four parts on every desk
How the Manufacturing Desk works
PART 01Mandate Brief
Your mandate rewritten as three to five problem statements, each with the business owner who asked for it, the budget line it draws on and the date it matters by.
Check: every problem statement names an owner who agreed to it in writing.
PART 02Scout Sweep
Startups, vendors and internal ideas found against each problem statement, each with a dated link to public evidence that it runs in production somewhere.
Check: every candidate row has a source link and the date it was read.
PART 03Screen Scorecard
Every candidate scored against the eight rule rulebook below and marked pass, hold or drop, with the rule and the evidence behind each mark.
Check: every mark cites a rule number and a source.
PART 04Pilot Briefs
The strongest candidates written up as one-page pilot briefs: the success test, the internal owner, the cost ceiling, the security path and the kill date.
Check: each brief has a success test the business owner can mark yes or no.
What correct looks like
The Screen Rulebook: eight rules every candidate has to pass
Named owner of mistakes: Mike Rodgers. If a row marked pass fails a rule on facts that were public when it was scored, it is rescored or replaced within five business days at no charge, and the miss is counted in the next monthly report.
- It maps to one written problem statement with a named business owner.
- It has public evidence of production use, such as a named customer, a case study or a filing, dated within the last 24 months.
- Its pilot cost fits under the ceiling the owner set before scoring began.
- Its data path is known: what data it touches, and which team reviews security.
- It has a success test the business owner can mark yes or no when the pilot ends.
- It has a kill date, set before the pilot starts.
- Someone inside is named to run it after the pilot if it works.
- Every mark cites its source and the date it was read. Nothing passes on a vendor's say-so alone.
What stays with you
What your people keep owning
- Your innovation leader owns the mandate and signs off the problem statements.
- Your business owners decide which pilots start and which get killed. The desk recommends; it never decides.
- Procurement, legal and security run their own reviews. The desk hands them the brief and the evidence, not a verdict.
- You own every vendor relationship. The desk never contacts a vendor in your name without your written OK, and every file is yours to keep.
Not included
- Not a venture fund. The desk does not invest in, or take equity or fees from, any company it scores.
- No pay to play. No vendor, startup or platform pays to be listed, scored or recommended.
- Not an ideation workshop, a hackathon or an innovation lab you have to staff.
- No build. The desk does not build, integrate or run the solutions it scores.
- No legal, security or procurement verdicts. Those teams run their own reviews.
- Not a startup database subscription. Output is documents and a board in your own tools.
Straight answers
Questions manufacturers and medical device makers teams ask.
- How do you keep candidates tied to the plant floor?
- Rule 1 needs a written problem with a named owner, and on this desk the owner is someone who runs a line or a plant. Candidates without production evidence in a comparable process are held, not passed.
- Does the desk visit our plants?
- Not for the Health Check or the Sprint, which run remotely from calls and documents you share. A plant visit can be added to the Sprint at cost if a problem needs one.
- Can this work for a medical device quality system?
- Yes as a screen: every brief names the quality reviewer and the change control step a pilot has to clear. Your quality team decides; the desk does not sign quality records.
Start with one mandate
Request a Pipeline Health Check.
The Health Check report is yours to keep whether or not you go further. Sign the Sprint within 30 days of the report and the $2,500 comes off the Sprint in full.
Health Check $2,500. Pipeline Sprint $12,000. Then $3,500 a month.
The Health Check is a fixed price, returned 10 business days after the kickoff call. The Sprint runs six weeks. The Run is month to month with 30 days notice, and covers 10 new scored candidates a month, board upkeep and the monthly report.