Complementing R&D with the power of innovation
Learn how ZF is rethinking engineering culture and empowering 800+ employees to innovate bottom-up in a rapidly changing industry.
Impact with rready
€500m p.a. influenced revenue
generated through rready products
40+ projects launched
through rready products
Millions in cost savings
across product lines
The challenge
Maintaining customer-focused innovation in a disrupted industry
The automotive industry is experiencing significant changes driven by various trends, including automation, digitalization, and electromobility. In response to societal demands for greater efficiency, resource conservation, and enhanced climate protection, the industry is undergoing profound shifts to adapt and evolve. For the team at ZF’s Innovation Factory, change is thus not an option, but instead, a survival skill.
With a customer base that is becoming more distributed, the production process as well as the design process are changing, requiring engineers to adopt a broader view of product requirements to ensure they meet the end-customer’s needs. Notably, a significant portion of the workforce comprises engineers, making it crucial for them to take a step back and approach problems from the customer’s standpoint.
Developing a company-wide innovation culture
The team at ZF also came to the realization that to sustain a robust culture of innovation, they had to revamp their existing innovation process, as well as unlock a company-wide innovation culture that would engage people and allow them to live their passion by working on ideas they believe in. Seeing that innovation needs the right culture to thrive, the team needed a tool that would allow them to empower their employees holistically and, in a bottom-up way.
The solution
Launching an Employee-driven innovation program to develop customer-centered products
To combat these challenges, ZF launched an employee-driven intrapreneurship program to support innovation. The program enables all employees - regardless of title or location - to develop ideas using a gamified methodology, with no prior innovation experience required. In the starting phase, participants receive a budget of €1,000, 20% of their work hours, expert support, and the KICKBOOK guide to validate their idea. Promising ideas then progress through to next phase (the pilot phase) and eventually the third phase (implementation). Based on a stage-gate approach, each phase helps to de-risk concepts through real feedback and validation.
ZF’s goal was to shift engineers from purely technical problem-solving to addressing real customer pain points. The pilot began in the US and Germany, with 15 innovators per region, supported by coaching cohorts and internal campaigns like newsletters and Demo Days.
As Manuel Leichtle of ZF put it, “The program helps us balance technical excellence with true customer need. Bottom-up innovation gives every idea a chance—because understanding the customer is no longer optional, it’s essential for survival.”
