Thomas Kinisky, President and CEO
Jean Angus, Innovation process director
Saint Gobain Performance Plastics
Innovation has always been top of mind for Thomas Kinisky and his leadership of Saint Gobain Performance Plastics.
He works hard to empower his people to be both innovative and forward thinking in their daily work. When you have employees who are collaborating to contribute valuable solutions to your business, you have a strong culture that is ready for any challenge it may face.
So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when the company created The Plastics Innovation Council, and then received essays from 75 employees explaining why they deserved to be named to the council.
This group was ultimately formed with 20 members, and its task was to take innovation at Saint Gobain to even greater heights. Despite the culture, the council discovered that there was no evidence of an enterprise-wide, systematic and comprehensive program on creating and nurturing innovation. A search was convened and Jean Angus was brought in as the company’s innovation process director.
Angus developed a program based on three platforms: people, strategy and solutions. The result is a company that was good at innovation and is now one of the leaders across any type of industry you could name. More than 100 workshops have been held and more than 1,500 people have been trained.
Saint Gobain has engaged customers and identified undiscovered customer needs in 30 market applications. This disciplined approach has built a wave of momentum toward innovation that continues to build.
How to reach: Saint Gobain Performance Plastics, (216) 245-0529 or www.plastics.saint-gobain.com
