This is an original article written by Jon Berbaum, President of Highland Solutions.

As a business or technology leader, you’re probably aware of the supposed virtues of “design thinking” these days. In my unofficial metric, it may soon surpass “digital transformation” or even “agile transformation” as the business strategy du jour.

In most businesses, the one common but fundamental skill that is much needed, yet mostly lacking, is the skill of Problem Solving. Where this becomes rather apparent is within those companies pursuing a continuous improvement journey. It isn’t a stretch to say that all continuous improvement tools/practices are built around some form of problem solving. Ironically, many of these companies have devoted time and resources to the task of training their associates but pervasive success is elusive.

Two Illinois companies are working together to provide consumers with an exceptionally useful product. Technical Publication Associates (TPA) from Morton, Illinois and Plano Synergy (Plano) from Plano, Illinois are working together for the benefit of the consumer. Plano manufactures molded plastic cases to hold and protect a variety of sporting and/or hunting goods. TPA develops simple, yet effective, consumer instructions on how to use a product. “Our two companies working together has resulted in a high-quality product (Plano) with simple, effective instructions (TPA) on how our gun case can be customized, used, and maintained”, says John Whalen, Plano Engineer.