There’s a lot of talk lately about innovation and its likely role in the revitalization of US manufacturing.

This past June, President Obama announced the formation of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership – a collection of representatives from academia and the public and private sectors tasked with making recommendations to the President on how to best rebuild the US manufacturing engine. Beyond the AMP, the true importance of US manufacturing has jumped back into our collective consciousness over the last two years. We’ve seen what we’ve given away and what that loss is costing us.

But despite the plethora of positive columns, articles and studies – as well as the emergence of the reshoring trend – restarting and sustaining our innovation engine throughout our supply and demand chains brings with it great responsibilities.

Bill, a close personal and professional friend of mine, runs a small, technically advanced aerospace machining business. His company is a family-owned business that obsesses over quality and service. Like many of its successful counterparts, that obsession drives it to constantly evaluate emerging technological advances in capital equipment and ancillary capabilities that bring top-line value to its customers.

To put it bluntly, Bill knows his stuff.

Late in 2011, Bill began looking to upgrade the shop’s CNC milling and machining capabilities. Among the short list of candidates he’d created from his research was a company he’d worked with in the past. As we discussed the experiences and challenges he was facing during this phase, he shared an important observation: the former vendor – a high-functioning technology builder of the upper strata – seemed to have lost something important.

The vendor’s service had eroded. To the point, according to Bill, that it nearly negated the value of the quality a premium price brought.

“What it seems like the company had done is focus more and more on the ‘lights-out, knock-your-socks-off’ innovation and state-of-the-art technology, and let its service degrade to pay for that innovation," Bill said. "The company doesn’t seem to see beyond the initial sale, and seems to have forgotten that dependability is just as important to my business – and my customers’ businesses.”

This isn’t uncommon, and that’s certainly so in manufacturing. But the innovator that had puzzled Bill so – a foreign capital equipment manufacturer known for its cutting-edge products – offers a perfect example of the responsibilities we all have to our customers when we adopt a posture of innovation.

Here are three responsibilities that our businesses and our country must understand before we pursue advancing our technology and innovation superiority:

1. Service: Innovative, cutting-edge technology requires strong support to be applied effectively. Innovation inherently requires more service, since it often presents processes or results that haven’t been seen before. For better or worse, there are fewer familiar standards in highly advanced manufacturing innovation, particularly when it breaks. We must be ready for these inevitabilities, nationally and corporately.
2. Training: Service takes people. But innovation in high-tech sectors is rarely plug- and-play for end users. In innovation, training is two-fold – training our own people for service and operation, and doing the same for the customer. For many manufacturers, customer training or support is seen as high-margin revenue stream. But what happens when those costs or substandard training drive customers to a competitor? Will those margins be worth it then? From the smallest shops to our national commitment, education and training are paramount to a successful innovation strategy.

3. Supply Chain: Any business strategy – and especially the support of innovative technology – demands dependable parts and materials supply. Whether it’s consumables that support the technology or parts and service in support of emergency demand maintenance events, inventories are extremely critical around innovation.

In consumer products, innovation often focuses on usability and simplicity – think phones, tablets and such – making extraordinary tasks extraordinarily easy. But in the industries where high-tolerance, discrete parts are designed and manufactured, high levels of competence and expertise will always be required to meet need. There’s just too much at stake.

And know this – innovation is expensive. It requires resolve and an understanding that you’d better dance until the bear – your customer – says the song is over.

We must all include commitments to service, training and supply chain health to ensure the innovations our products bring to markets are valued, bought and trusted. And any committee, group or special commission had better understand that. We need a strong industrial base to support, feed and protect innovation. That doesn’t just happen.

Otherwise, that bear will bite us – by exposing us to substantial competitive threats. It might not happen in the near term or at the point of sale, but by eroding confidence and loyalty down the road.

AJ Sweatt is a marketing communications strategist and consultant who works with numerous industrial businesses and supply chains – groups, associations, OEMs, suppliers, distributors and SMBs. Sweatt also is an editor and writer with over 20 years of experience in technical, business and industrial publications, and an experienced public speaker, primarily serving technical and industrial environments. He is the principal of AJ Sweatt Logic & Communications, and can be reached via email at [email protected].