Identifying and nurturing promising ideas as they grow into new products and business opportunities is an important part of the SKF corporate structure.The SKF “Innovation Process” is a corporate procedure that defines the steps to be taken when bringing a new project to market. The procedure has already led to many new products, including magnetic and ceramic bearings and hard-wearing diamond-like carbon coatings. These projects were initiated and developed by SKF Nova, a company within the SKF Group that is dedicated to promoting and developing new technology-based businesses.
SKF Nova, situated in Göteborg, Sweden, focuses on identifying and developing new technology for products and manufacturing processes. Greenhouse, the business arm of the company, focuses on nurturing new businesses. The company has a highly skilled and educated workforce, where drive, initiative and the ability to communicate effectively are valued.
“The interaction between people is crucial,” says Börje Andersson, managing director of SKF Nova. “I promote teamwork, not only in individual projects, but also between different projects and organisations. You can get some amazing results when two people from different backgrounds and views meet.”

Gathering ideas
The SKF Innovation Process has been implemented as a way to develop products and businesses faster, more easily and at a lower cost. A particular advantage of this process is that it can be applied to any idea, preliminary study or project. It helps SKF Nova identify those projects that are the most promising and move them towards implementation in the shortest time possible. The first step in the process is to gather ideas. Ideas can come from anywhere, but personnel at SKF Nova and inventors within SKF are the most common sources. “Today, the SKF Group has 40,000 employees,” notes Andersson. “It is only natural that those employees have ideas that are valuable to us.”
Ideas emanating from external sources are normally evaluated by the global SKF organisation. Ideas not directly linked to local development strategies are passed on to SKF Nova.
The next step in the process is to identify the ideas that have the greatest potential for SKF. These ideas must be both consistent with the Group strategy and fit into the SKF business. They are further evaluated in terms of technological, financial, organisational and market factors. This evaluation continues until a final business plan has been determined and approved by SKF management. The project is then transferred into the Emerging Business Division or another division where it has the best chance of growing into a successful business.
Among the technologies developed by using the Innovation Process are magnetic bearings, coatings and ceramic bearings. “Magnetic bearings, coatings and ceramic bearings represent an excellent growth opportunity for the Group,” says Andersson. “But these three projects exemplify only a fraction of the projects. There are plenty in the pipeline right now that promise to generate future profitable business growth.”

Anna Hultman,
SKF Nova AB, Göteborg, Sweden