Mike Waite – President, Menasha Packaging – How does innovation  thrive at Menasha Packaging?  “I have to make sure I give them freedom and latitude, and make sure I don’t shut them down,” says Mike, who personally answers his own phone calls. “I can shut that down by a wrong word, a wrong tone in a meeting. I tell my managers, ‘Try to have an open mind every day you come to work — how can you do it better and make it better?’”

Jackie Hutter – Principle - IP Strategist – Though patents today are usually perceived as legal rights, they were originally developed to spur innovation by disclosing information about other people’s inventions.  “It’s better for innovation if you know what other innovators have done,” Hutter says. “Innovation begets innovation.”  Patents reveal the innovator’s core competencies as well as weaknesses.   Patents can also illustrate how others have tried solving certain problems, keeping you from reinventing the wheel.

Matt Hlavin – President, Thogus – Innovation is all about visibility. New employees are trained on identifying areas for improvement by watching a video of how the shop floor is set up or how a certain job is processed. Then they’re asked to identify: Why is this inefficient? What’s good? What’s bad?  To maintain that open environment after orientation, employees will be able to use an iPad at each machine to access YouTube videos of Thogus’s processes and leave comments.