SKF are the world leading manufacturers of ball bearing sealing solution. In 2007 IDEAS trained 10 trainers on Six Thinking Hats and the trainers trained approximately 200 participants.
Subsequently FAT- CATS were established and 6 teams were given 6 focus areas, one each. After 3 months the 6 teams produced 10, 111 ideas and 253 ideas were approved for implementation. The teams used Six Hats and Lateral Thinking tools to generate ideas.
An Idea tracker was invented and used to track progress of each team.
In May 2009, phase 3 of the innovation initiative concluded with 365 ideas presented bi six teams. But this time the reject rate of ideas was a mere 1.8%, suggestive of the treatment of ideas and the logic behind the ideas. All ideas produced were with the Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking hats methodologies.