“Innovation is a way of thinking how we look at the world differently and it enables us to think of challenges as opportunities. We are then able to get past the biases that we all engender that prevent us from doing things differently, in the process. With synergies in our skill sets and capabilities, innovation is truly boundless for us as a global business.
The goal of innovation for our business is to inspire and empower individuals to think differently, which eventually would instill a culture of innovation at Birla Carbon in the years to come.”
John Loudermilk
CEO, Birla Carbon
Our Innovation Story
Today, businesses across industries are riding the wave of disruption. With the world around us moving at a rapid pace, adapting to change and uncertainty has to be strongly embedded in the business culture. As a business, we discuss innovation, experience it from different perspectives, and take our learnings to our plants, labs, and offices to implement anew. Globally, we constantly attempt to create change through innovation by thinking differently, collaborating effectively, and continuing to live our purpose to #ShareTheStrength with our stakeholders, customers, suppliers, and the communities in which we operate. We believe every person strengthens the other and so also, one idea sharpens another.
In 2018, our organization made a commitment to Share the Strength, our purpose fostering a culture of collaboration amongst our internal and external partners, forging relationships within our communities, adding value for our customers, and ensuring the long-term health of Birla Carbon. The concept of Share the Idea, built on the revelation of our Purpose, emerged in 2019, to safeguard the future of the organization by striving to create a culture of innovation and empowering employees to take part in the innovation journey and transform their ways of thinking and operating.
While the innovation program has continued to grow from its inception to the present, the continued engagement of our employee base is the key factor in determining the success of the journey. To drive this continued engagement, Birla Carbon went BiiG in 2022. The Birla International Innovation Gathering (BiiG) concept emerged from our Purpose to Share the Strength and our innovation challenge. This gathering recognized innovators across the organization, enabled us to learn from our past, helped us future-focus today’s perspectives, and inspired us to strive for continual growth. We were joined in Amsterdam by 120 employees from diverse backgrounds and geographies who now serve as emissaries of innovation.
Our Innovation Principles
We believe innovation cannot be done in isolation. Just as our business Purpose has the 5 principles, we have identified five pillars that break down Innovation to its truest essence. These pillars are integral to the process of innovation at Birla Carbon and form the lens through which we view all our innovation initiatives going forward.
Purpose Driven Innovation
With our purpose excavation in 2018 that led to the crafting of our purpose statement – Share The Strength, across our global business, fostering a collaborative culture was the organic outcome of this powerful statement. This gave birth to the concept of ‘Share the Idea’ which became our innovation Mantra as we moved along. We believe that every person strengthens the other; so too, one idea sharpens another.
At Birla Carbon, innovation is about gathering our resources in a frenzy of energy and impact.
Driven by our purpose, we look to Recognize the risks and rewards of our innovative past
Recognize
Learn how to future-focus today’s passions and perspectives
Learn
Find Inspiration to journey together into the unknown.
Inspire
Purpose-led-Innovation is the common song sheet from which all of our efforts tie in together. We are committed to inculcate and build a culture of innovation across all functions within our business, globally.
We firmly believe – The Ideas of Today, inspire the business of Tomorrow.
Sustainable Innovation
Our sustainability strategy influences every decision we make. From designing and operating our plants to interacting with our customers and communities, it is what guides our efforts to Share the Strength and live our purpose.
In alignment with global sustainability goals, we have mapped our efforts to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on three key areas: economy, society and environment. To continually review the challenges that are most relevant to our business, and to consider internal and external impacts, we carried out a materiality assessment in FY2022. We are also proud signatories of the UN Global Compact, ensuring our efforts are coordinated at a global level.
Innovation Ambassador Network
Collaboration has helped Birla Carbon come a long way in its innovation journey. The company’s robust Innovation Ambassador Network (IAN) actively promotes the basics of innovation and idea sharing across the business globally. The IAN is a group of 22 global superheroes (as we would like to call them), where each comes with his/her unique superpower to drive innovation at Birla Carbon in their own unique ways.
This team creates opportunities to empower employees to share their ideas, build on these ideas through collaboration, and turn them into reality. It is a means to cascade the culture of innovation down to the last employee at the shopfloor. Thus, innovation for the business spans the length and breadth, literally, of all our operations.
- Responsible for general innovation training (SIT tools, Hype, etc.)
- Supports the unit employees with idea submission
- Identifies ways to involve the units in their innovation journey including, working with the general manager to deliver innovation related messaging
- Share innovation best practices with other ambassadors
- Support idea implementation at the local level
- Find new ways to communicate innovation related messaging (displays, posters, videos, email, etc.)
Our innovation ambassadors play an integral role in driving engagement by encouraging site discussions, providing innovation updates at site meetings, and creating pathways of collaboration across geographies. These include partnering various manufacturing units together to share mutual challenges and work together to identify solutions, and sharing them with the larger business. Birla Carbon has a rich legacy of more than 150 years and we want to guarantee the next 150 years as well.
Innovation is key to ensuring the health, prosperity, and longevity of our business.
iCoaches
In complement to our Innovation Ambassador Network (IAN), Birla Carbon’s Innovation Coaches (iCoaches) actively work alongside our sites to generate impactful business solutions.
This cohort leads sessions aimed at solving current challenges and exploring topics of interest for the business. It is a way to generate ideas that have value for our employees, customers, and the communities in which we operate.
Their roles are comprised of:
- Delivering targeted brainstorming sessions to stakeholders to generate solutions to existing challenges and topics of interest within the business
- They are skilled moderators who can deliver effective results
- They establish a common innovation language using the SIT tools and methodologies
- They collaborate with other iCoaches and members of the IAN to deliver key innovation results
- Our iCoach cohort is a volunteer effort. These employees have a passion for innovation, and actively work to identify opportunities for improvement and action these ideas into real-world solutions.
Our iCoaches provide our manufacturing units with a systematic approach to innovation that yields impactful results for our business.
Innovation Success Stories
Birla Carbon Winner of InnoLead’s 2024 Impact Awards
InnoLead’s Impact Awards honor companies that have achieved extraordinary outcomes related to innovation, design, new business models, and new offerings. Birla Carbon’s ‘Share the Idea’ initiative was awarded a 2024 Impact Award alongside 11 other winners. It fosters a culture of innovation and by 2024, it expanded to over 500 employees across 11 countries.
