Danfoss Trata – the Best of the Best in the innovation category
In 2016, AmCham Slovenia is again awarding the best business practices through its Best of the Best program. Within three presented projects in the innovation category, the audience, committee and the keynote listener, chose Danfoss Trata and its 24Idea project, as the finalist.
Exceptional projects and ideas of AmCham Slovenia members have been bringing best business practices into the Slovenian business environment for 17 years. This has helped create and shape our Best of the Best program, in which we have been presenting and awarding the best business practices for the third consecutive year. These companies serve as a guide and an inspiration and they are the result of creativity and innovation of our member companies' employees. By this, we are contributing to the transfer of best business practices and positive experiences into the business environment.
At three Best of the Best events, we will present 9 best practices within three categories: INNOVATION, MOTIVATION and OPENNESS.
The purpose of the program is to present and highlight the outstanding work of employees in AmCham Slovenia member companies. Our goal is for these best practices to serve as a role model for changes in other business and companies. We are highlighting the positive and we are focused on successful stories, which we want to share and spread. Our special "Best Practice Academy" serves as a committee, which chooses the Best of the Best program finalists. Together with their help, we will spread exceptional ideas and practices that have been inspiring us for years, among AmCham Slovenia members and beyond.
Exceptional individuals and partcipants in our Best Practice Academy are: Viviana Žorž – Adecco, Ksenija Božič – BB Consulting, Aleksandra Brank – Bisnode, Mateja Panjan – Danfoss Trata, Simona Dijak – Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires, Primož Zupan – Halcom, Mojca Perič – Helios, Tanja Subotič – IBM, Maja Langerholc – KPMG, Aleksander Baretič – Mars Overseas Holdings, Katra šemrov – Microsoft, Rok Cuderman – Petrol, Jernej Smisl – Piovarna Laško, Zvezdana Lubej – Profiles International Slovenia-Human resources, Tea Gasser – PwC, Nina Remškar – Roche, Martina Merslavič – Siemens, Soniboj Knežak – Steklarna Hrastnik in Marko Boštjančič – Telekom.
The overall winner – the most convincing example of the best business practice – will be selected among three finalists, on the basis of votes on the AmCham social media channels. Each of the three finalists will be presented by a short video, while the overall winner will receive a weekend-package trip to New York.
The projects within the Innovation category are:
1. Y.business, Ypsilon
2. 24Idea, Danfoss Trata
3. A high-performance method for predicting antibody activities, Lek
Despite the difficult decision, as all three projects were in fact the winners, the most voters were convinced by Danfoss Trata and their 24Idea project, which was selected as the finalist.
This year's keynote listener, whose votes were decisive in choosing the Innovation category winner, was Mr. Enzo Smrekar, vice-president of AmCham Slovenia, General Manager and Board member, Droga Kolinska
24Idea is an internal, 24-hour Danfoss event that introduces start-up working methods into its organizational culture. Generating fresh, new ideas and motivating the employees, were the basis for the preparation of a pilot project, where employees were able to show what they are capable of and bring new energy into the workplace.
In June last year (2015), 80 employees spent 24 hours trying to find improvements in the "Commercial Controls" business area, within the Danfoss “Heating” segment. Proposed ideas by the employees were mostly linked to the optimization of business processes, development of new products and opportunities for growth and business development. The event was simultaneously organized in Danfoss companies in Ljubljana and in China, with a virtual exchange of ideas taking place throughout.
What is special in the 24Idea model is the fact that anyone within the organization can contribute ideas, with the key to their successful implementation being cooperation within different areas and departments. On the basis of such cooperation, the employees could function outside the frameworks of their department, which developed their skills and ideas from different angles and viewpoints. Once the event was finished, 8 teams got the opportunity to spend 20% of their working time on developing their new ideas and potential.
The success of the 24Idea event penetrated to the corporate level, with the first similar event taking place in Denmark in January this year – within all Danfoss segments. What the project showed is that the employees are what drives the development of Danfoss products for a better tomorrow. Consequently, the 24Idea management team was invited to co-create a corporate model for faster development of innovation.
Photo gallery is available HERE.
