MVP Finalist Profile

Read Steve Payne's Interview on FastTrack

Accomplishments

Steve has been instrumental in the development of a new product that enabled Johns Manville to enter a market segment that it had not previously served. He took charge of the project as lead project manager after it had stalled for nine months, and through his application of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), led the team to launch within six months. Through his personal and continuous effort, Voice of the Customer (VOC) was attained throughout the product development process, and the resulting product design led to three prototypes in a three month period, one of which was successfully launched in the target market.

Impact

Solving the technical problems required patience and demanded the use of robust problem-solving tools to help frame problems and potential solutions. Steve applied an internal version of the Stage Gate product development process (JM Gate) as the basic framework for the overall project planning lifecycle, and crafted a careful approach to product design using basic but effective Six Sigma and QFD tools. Through this methodical approach and understanding of the production issues, Steve achieved the first successful production trial in approximately three months.

This achievement motivated the team which then led to further accomplishments, such as fully understanding the nuances of manufacturing the new product through Design of Experiments analysis, making continual advances and improvements in the product design, and developing tangible intellectual property around the product. Finally there was positive feedback from the marketplace, culminating in the placement of a number of purchase orders that will generate profits to Johns Manville’s income statement.

Biggest Success

Steve feels his biggest successes are two-fold: “First, leading our first successful production trial midway during the development phase where our key customer product criteria was first met and proven feasible. Second, fully executing the development phase of the project and pushing it completely through the scale-up and launch phase has been remarkable. In addition, I am proud that our product has been successful in terms of delivering a product brand for a new Johns Manville business segment and generating profits to the income statement, and having done so with a wholly innovative product to the marketplace.”

Methodology and Lessons Learned

Steve used a variety of tools to help pinpoint areas of focus and achieve small “wins” throughout the development process. For example, Multi-Generational Project Planning (MGPP) enabled the team to properly scope the outline of the product and deliverables. And Fitness For Use (FFU) exercises provided the team with direct feedback on product performance requirements in the field. House of Quality (HOQ) techniques helped connect what was required in the market by product end-users with how to better target the team’s processes and design. Multiple Design of Experiments (DOEs) enabled Steve and the team to quantify learnings and move the development process forward in “bite-size” steps.

Among the lessons learned is that there is no such thing as over-communication as long as it is effective and frequent; also, that contingency planning is a necessity. Steve also finds merit in taking five minutes at the end of each week to reflect on project status and accomplishments to assess the real pace of the product development program over time.

Influence

Mark Turpin, Global Leader Commercialization, and Al Dietz, Global Leader Innovation, both of Johns Manville, both credit Steve with having been instrumental in entering a market segment that the company had not previously served. They also praise his “‘hands-on’ approach to the entire QFD process evidenced by his leadership of each step of that process.”