Fostering Innovation at the Innovation Engineering Summit

In June, our Ruggedized division in Houston, TX proudly hosted the latest quarterly Innovation Engineering Summit. This provided an exceptional opportunity for engineers across Aptiv to explore innovative strategies, as well as new avenues for growth and collaboration. Read on to hear from our experts and learn more about how events like this play a critical role in our company culture.

Facilitating Open Dialogue and Sharing Best Practices

Donald Neuterman, a Design Engineer at our Melbourne, FL location, emphasized the power of communication among engineers by sharing best practices and providing an opportunity for cross-functional collaboration.

“It’s necessary that we get engineers talking to each other, which is why these meetings are so important. We were able to communicate across various capabilities and share best practices. I definitely thought it was useful.”

His insights highlighted how open dialogue can lead to the exchange of innovative ideas and strategies, fostering a culture of continuous improvement within Aptiv.

Promoting Integrated Communication

Jordan Doering-Shaikh, a Mechanical Design Engineer at our Orange, CA location, also emphasized the value of these meetings:

“Something I saw that I think would be good to replicate was their integrated approach. On the engineering team you have the design engineers making tools, and manufacturing engineers are doing design and that makes it a lot easier for the team to work together on projects. I think these meetings are instructive. They help us work out the muscles of collaboration.”

These insights underscore the critical role of Innovation Summits in sharing best practices. Facilitating open dialogue across the business units empowers our teams to collaborate more effectively and integrate their expertise, strengthening our collective approach to innovation.

Leveraging Diverse Skills for Innovative Solutions

Another key objective of these meetings is promoting collaboration. The summit also showcased real-world applications of collaborative efforts. Neuterman shared an example of a project that required the combined expertise of different Aptiv divisions.

“We have a customer who wanted to expand their downhole drilling capabilities. They needed a new bulkhead connector that could withstand 30,000 psi or greater. Industry standard bulkheads are not capable of achieving this pressure rating, so they needed a custom solution. Ruggedized can machine Inconel, which is something we have difficulty doing down here in Hermetics. So they provided the bulkhead and copper pins, then we sealed them together. It’s been a pretty successful project between our two groups. We were able to solve the problem more efficiently, and now have an innovative product we can sell to future customers.”

As one of our core values, collaboration is essential to a cohesive work environment. This success story illustrates how leveraging diverse skills and perspectives can lead to innovative solutions and new product development, ultimately enhancing Aptiv's competitive edge.

This event provided an exceptional opportunity to explore innovative strategies and new avenues for growth, and the insights gained will continue to inform and inspire new ideas in the years ahead.