What It Takes to Innovate

Modern engineering is constantly shaping the way the world lives, works and plays—and each new innovation can be powerfully influenced by out-of-the-box ideas, applied learning and collaborative thinking. Mike Deppe, Vice President of Global Product Development at Molex, was recently interviewed for The BOM Podcast. Taking its name from the familiar manufacturing term “bill of materials,” The BOM engages the world’s leading innovators to explore how the latest product engineering advances are built and brought to market. During his conversation with podcast host Majenta Strongheart, Mike discussed his perspectives on optimizing innovation opportunities in today’s rapidly evolving global technology landscape.   

Q: What are some of the key opportunities and challenges of working at a company like Molex, a global organization with a customer-first approach? 

A: I’ve been with Molex for 21 years. We get to work with so many customers across an extensive range of applications—automotive, data management, medical and many more. We have over 100,000 different products, ranging from connectors to cable assemblies to printed circuit board assemblies. We cover numerous product solution aspects, so understanding where to focus and prioritize can sometimes be a challenge. I think that particular consideration can always be very challenging in both big and small companies.  

Q: Given your organization’s extensive coverage across multiple verticals and industry applications, how and what does Molex prioritize from a product development perspective? 

A: That’s what makes it really exciting—that we touch on so many different markets. Automotive, industrial, medical, consumer, datacom—we get to be involved with all of it. There are really three main areas we prioritize in terms of product development:

1. Knowledge sharing. We have talent and expertise in so many different areas across the organization; and we’re consistently trying to understand how to leverage that across our teams and various markets to create value. An example in the automotive sector would be our expertise with signal integrity and considering how we bridge, reapply and standardize that expertise to deliver benefit in other areas to maximize impact.
2. Talent management. Specifically, how do we leverage the talent associated with a given area of expertise in terms of mobility, contribution and career development? How can we put the right resources on the right customer projects to create a differentiated experience? Our goal is making sure that we’re collaborating with our talent to effectively apply the knowledge we already have—and also recognizing and rewarding efforts that support our success.
3. Leveraging capabilities. This involves building out our capabilities and creating the right roadmaps to anticipate customer needs and help our teams do their jobs more effectively. We regularly consider how we work with our business allies to achieve this. We want to enhance our future capabilities around global product development in ways that accelerate time to market while optimizing efficiency—all on behalf of our customers.   

Q: With groundbreaking innovation occurring across so many industries today, what types of skills and qualities does Molex look for in its engineering team?

A: There’s definitely a level of “traditional” mechanical and electrical engineering expertise that still represents the core of what we look for based on our product breadth and complexity. But being able to work in a collaborative space with broader teams is also really important to achieving our goals. Molex is a global company, so you can’t just put several engineers in a room and have them crank through some of the problem-solving aspects we need to address. That’s why we really value the ability to be flexible and agile—to work with different groups around the world while taking advantage of global perspectives. It’s truly the communication and collaboration of our teams that allows us to optimize. 

Q: How do design innovations like simulation, modeling and digital twins currently help you innovate?  

A: If we can get to the point where we’re creating our products digitally before we physically create the molds, fixtures and prototyping—that’s the end-game we’re trying to achieve. So we’re constantly exploring ways to incorporate simulation and modeling into our design process early on, because that creates a continuous loop. In other words, we’re designing, iterating and applying all those learnings we gain after we test and qualify. Then we’re pulling that back into later design cycles upfront, so we can reduce time to market and make sure we’re leveraging the right expertise. 

I can’t overemphasize that these feedback loops are absolutely critical to our learning process. As we test, we realize that something didn’t perform as anticipated, so we factor that back into the equation—and simultaneously, we’re doing our best to incorporate that same awareness into our requirements management practices. For example, we leverage lifecycle management software to see how we can apply these learnings to future designs, instead of reinventing the wheel every time. Ultimately, this cyclical learning process helps us address customer requirements as effectively as possible.

Q: How much collaborative customer feedback gets incorporated into your design cycles?

A: The closer we’re able to work with our customers, the more successfully we can achieve their requirements and exceed their expectations. We’re constantly working with our sales teams, product managers and suppliers to capture the voice of the customer and feed that into our product development process. We also have technical experts who examine market trends and focus areas to determine what’s transforming and changing. We incorporate that awareness into subsequent design cycles, so we can anticipate customer needs instead of just reacting to requests.

Q: With diverse Molex global teams addressing so many evolving applications, how do you encourage a culture of innovation to help anticipate those customer needs? 

A: As a technology company, innovation is definitely at the forefront of what Molex aims to achieve. We start by understanding and defining our organizational vision for innovation, which is making sure we’re creating and capturing value in new and different ways. There are two key elements built into that definition:

1. Capturing value. We can create value, but if we don’t actually incorporate that value into our commercialization efforts by improving the employee and customer experience, then value wasn’t necessarily captured. So we want to shape an environment for our employees that encourages them to experiment, explore and contribute.
2. New and different ways. We often think of innovation as the need to invent something new to the world, but it doesn’t have to be entirely new. For example, maybe we were manually doing something before and now we want to automate it—essentially improving and enhancing a process that already exists. Constantly exploring where new value can be added is also a level of innovation.

Q: Based on your personal manufacturing experience, are you surprised or inspired by recent industry developments like simulation and digital twins?

A: Both. Is it what we all thought would happen? Not necessarily—but it’s certainly exciting and exhilarating, and it’s where Molex is headed. We recognize that being able to design something isn’t always the same as being able to produce it. When you bring CAD drawings into the real world, sometimes they just don’t hold up. Occasionally, the iteration process can be fragmented—engineering transitions their work over to manufacturing; manufacturing realizes it can’t be made and passes it back for an engineering redesign. These are some of the barriers we’re trying to break down and they motivate our efforts. Understanding upfront what the customer expects and requires of their product helps us efficiently leverage our supply chain, manufacturing capabilities and other relevant proficiencies to make those expectations a reality—often with faster and higher quality results. 

Q: In terms of technology, which Molex focus areas are you most excited about right now? 

A: We’re involved in so many different markets that we’re encountering exciting new technologies everywhere. In the medical industry, for example, we’re seeing wearable innovations and new ways to approach remote patient monitoring. In the automotive sector, we’re seeing electrification, experiential elements like in-vehicle infotainment, and safety elements like sensors and cameras being incorporated to support more autonomous driving. In telecommunications, we’re seeing the groundbreaking transition to 5G. All these areas and more represent tremendous information and data access enhancements.

We’re also seeing transformations in additive manufacturing. The Printed Circuit Solutions (PCS) Business Unit I previously led remains focused on using flexible hybrid electronics and thinner, more lightweight materials to eliminate bulky cable bundles. We’re incorporating flexible technology into traditional printed circuit boards used in space-constrained automotive and medical wearable applications, for instance. Including these types of innovations in additive manufacturing leads to enhanced capabilities, like 3D printing on different metals or resins.

Q: Revisiting the process barriers you mentioned earlier, which factors are most important for addressing those challenges and facilitating innovation?

A: Innovation certainly goes back to manufacturing techniques and capabilities, which are essential to product development. Yet it’s people and process that fundamentally allow innovation to happen, because they enable the careful evaluation of design and development criteria. This ensures that the right materials, technologies and equipment are being used to facilitate and enhance the end result—helping to automate, eliminate waste and accelerate time to market. Putting the right people and processes in place upfront makes all the difference—and that starts by having the right talent making contributions, assessments and recommendations, with a clear vision of what we’re trying to achieve. At Molex, this is what creates mutual benefit for our employees and customers around the world.

Q: With people and process in mind, let’s briefly talk about your personal career path to date. You have a background in engineering. What first got you interested and involved in engineering for the electronics industry?

A: As a kid, I was constantly building and creating things. I was also inclined to take damaged items and fix them. For example, I had a wagon that broke—so I went to the hardware store and bought wheels for a lawnmower, and put those on the wagon. Instead of buying a new wagon, I wanted to repair the wagon I already had. I guess that goes back to my previous point about looking for ways to improve and enhance something that already exists. 

As I got older and recognized my interest in engineering, I considered whether I should become a mechanical engineer or an electrical engineer. By the time I reached the university level, it became clear that mechanical engineering was my core area. That’s because I could visually see the gears and components as they worked. Now at Molex, I get the best of both worlds. I’ve been fortunate enough to work in mechanical engineering and help shape processes at an electronics company that’s leading global transformation in each of these vital areas. 

Q: Can you describe your journey from starting at Molex to assuming your current role? It seems to perfectly illustrate everything you’d previously mentioned: knowledge sharing, talent management and leveraging capabilities.

A: As mentioned earlier, I’ve been at Molex for 21 years. If I had the chance to preview my career trajectory two decades ago, I would have never believed it. I started out in customer service and technical support assisting Molex automotive customers—and because of that, I learned to work through some very challenging situations. I remained interested in engineering design work due to my background, so I eventually moved into that type of role. 

After a few years working in that capacity, a plant manager asked if I’d be interested in manufacturing. He thought Molex could benefit from my design experience on that side of things. I figured it might be a great way to round out my skills—so I took the role and wound up staying in it for about a dozen years. It was a great experience that got me involved with planning, materials management, procurement, and operations management. Since I was Director of Operations leading a global team, I was able to interact in a very different space. It still required problem-solving, so I was able to use my engineering background—yet at the same time, I was supporting the Molex business side using economic thinking for decision making.

Following that very positive experience, I came back into formal engineering as Director of Engineering. I did that for a few years, also bringing project management into the process. I was then asked to lead the Printed Circuit Solutions (PCS) Business Unit and did that for several years. About a year into that, I added the Radio Frequency (RF) Business Unit. So I was leading dual business units at the same time—which were impacting and building on each other—before the role I currently have, where I’m in charge of the Global Product Development Team. Through it all, I’ve had consistent opportunities to leverage and expand on my core engineering experience.

Q: What’s your favorite part of the job?

A: I love what I do—every day, I’m motivated and excited to work on global product development. That’s mainly because I get to work at a company with talented individuals who are not only involved with new market applications and technologies, but also with legacy products. What’s most satisfying is seeing that “value capture” in action—that constant drive to inspire, engage and enable employees to reach their highest potential. I get to help provide the tools and process improvements that allow our Molex team members to maximize their personal aptitudes and contributions. There’s nothing more rewarding than that. 

Q: What personally inspires or motivates your creativity—what’s at the top of your personal BOM, so to speak? 

A: One of the main line items on my personal BOM would be music— because it has the power to influence emotion, passion and energy. When things feel chaotic, the right music can help induce a sense of calm. When you’re needing some energy or inspiration, a different type of music can galvanize your creativity and motivation. There are lyrics and melodies to suit every occasion. I think that’s why we often remember them over the course of our lives.   

About Mike Deppe

Serving as Vice President, Global Product Development, Mike Deppe is part of the Molex Global Leadership Team and leads the Molex Global Engineering Council. Mike and his team help improve the Molex customer and employee experience by working to transform global product development capabilities. He ensures that Molex’s digital transformation efforts are aligned and connected across development organizations, and that these initiatives provide a differentiated end-to-end experience for customers and employees alike.