Masco Facilitates New Product Innovation

Masco, a manufacturer of home improvement and building products, is using a software application from Centric Software to capture new product ideas and guide contributions through a standard process that is specifically designed to filter out the best ideas and identify ideas worthy of patenting. Centric's application helps track and systematically vet new ideas. The software manages ideas from concept to final selection, applying standard methodologies and metrics to ensure selection of the best ideas. All ideas from employees, partners and customers are captured using web-forms. Product and financial information about proposed ideas is stored in a secure repository, which facilitates collaborative discussions and selection of the best, new ideas. Formal processes and score cards guide categorization, ranking and promotion of ideas. Teams use the software to collaborate and discuss ideas in an online project management environment, which automatically maintains the complete history of each idea.