Innovation - A Journey

Innovation comes in many forms. It is not always a sudden, revelatory, eureka moment. In fact, the innovation that I think is in the Parts Town DNA – the “we’re going to get better every day” kind of innovation – is just the opposite.

Often, innovation is less like a fireworks show and more like a 5000-piece puzzle. You start with the edges and you fill in the center. It takes a lot of trial and error. Sometimes you make a lot of progress, and sometimes you learn that the great idea in your head isn’t so great in real life. Still, you push forward every day and you keep at it. Innovation is a process – it’s the journey you take, and, like any journey, it’s best taken as a collaborative effort.

What I’ve seen in my three months here is a team that strives. We meet goals and then set new ones. We celebrate achievements while pushing to the next level. We measure ourselves against an escalating standard, and we like it that way.

I’ll give an example. Our warehouse team was storing boxes on the floor around our packing area. This had been normal for a while, and didn’t seem like a big deal. But one day, we found that a customer’s part had fallen behind one of those boxes and was left off an order. It was a good wake-up call for us, and it started a chain reaction of reorganization.

But here’s the interesting part. There was no single “innovation” moment. It was more a shift in mindset, a “let’s focus our attention on this and make it better.” Our blinders came off, and “get it off the floor” gradually became the new normal. First, we consolidated picking paperwork, computer equipment, and exception queues. Next, we focused on the packing stations. Boxes don’t sit around anymore. Each night, the packing floor gets cleared completely. Finally, we started finding homes for things: cabinets, shelving, hooks, taped off zones. No more orphans, no more nomads – everything in our warehouse has a home. (I am sure the “find homes” theme is going to continue, because with our company growing so quickly, many homes are impermanent!)

What I am proudest of is that these daily innovations are a product of conversations and collaboration. There are no decrees or because-I-said-so’s. We discuss and debate and find the right answer. Not only does this keep the team strong, but it ensures that the Parts Town spirit of innovation stays a key part of our culture.