Our Company
Innovation in Action consists of experts in the art of innovation.
We deliver cutting-edge innovation training and workshops for customers who wish to turbocharge their innovation culture and effectiveness. IIA uses a series of structured, systematic Innovation tools and processes to tackle the complex business and engineering challenges of today’s environment.
Our Methods
IIA works with companies to customize a fully developed training program.
IIA works with companies to customize a fully developed training program that will efficiently utilize participants’ time with specific learning modules that allow application of the IIA innovation tools and methodologies to accomplish product development tasks and activities based upon IIA’s unique structured innovation training process targeted to clients’ specific needs.
SEMINARS
We deliver short or long-term seminars on the innovation tools and processes​.
WORKSHOPS
We perform workshops to tackle your toughest problems or high-level strategic developmental needs.
COST REDUCTION ACTIVITIES
We work with your engineers and/or your supply base to vastly increase the number of cost reduction ideas and opportunities.
Our Clients
Testimonials
'As Technical Cost Reduction and Innovation Lead while at Chrysler LLC, I was given the great opportunity to be trained and work alongside the best innovation company IIA, Inc.
The two U of D Mercy Mechanical Engineering professors,[Jonathon Weaver/Darrel Kleinke] lead by the visionary Duane Spytman is an absolute recipe for success. The depth and background of the innovation technical leadership is exemplary. The applied learning techniques that IIA institute is the backbone for any company’s future and achievement within innovation. Having served within the automotive industry, Duane and the professors understand and anticipate the hurdles OEM’s and tier suppliers undergo daily with cost and weight management, so their leadership, guidance and attention to detail to innovate within this aggressive segment is absolutely visionary. The training and workshops that IIA provide will drive towards cost/weight reduction and innovation targets that any company or department would strive to meet.'
Sean T. Coghlan
U625/U611 Systems Integration Engineer, Ford Motor Company
I have been through a lot of workshops in my 20 years in the automotive industry, none had such an impact on my thought process as this workshop. It was tiring, intense, and filled with learning opportunities. It was essential to starting back in academia as it changed your mindset. If you apply the concepts learned in this workshop to work, life, and school, you can see actual change happen. Many of the concepts learned in this workshop I took back to my team of engineers and they also saw change in how they approached engineering concepts and projects. Overall the workshop was a great addition to the program, I wish I had more time to spend with Jonathan Weever.
Pedro Chavez,
Director of Engineering, FutureMotiv Inc.
PRESIDENT
Duane Spytman
BSME Oakland University
MBA University of Detroit Mercy, Director of Chassis Engineering Chrysler LCC, Director of Masters of Product Development and Masters of Engineering Management, University of Detroit Mercy.
Duane is dedicated to improving America’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing world.
Specialty: Marketing, Innovation, Technology, and Product Develop Implementation
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
Darrell Kleinke
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Detroit Mercy
Dr. Kleinke has worked as both an instructor and as a practicing engineer. As an instructor, he has taught all levels of mechanical engineering courses, ranging from freshmen courses such as Introduction to Engineering, up to graduate courses in Engineering Architecture. His specialization is in machine design. As a practicing engineer, he has over 25 years of automotive engineering experience and holds three United States Patents. As a promoter of the engineering profession, he has worked with the Engineering Society of Detroit to deliver licensing review seminars over the past 15 years. His research interests include collaborative projects with health care professionals to develop assistive technologies for the disabled community. He is also investigating techniques to foster innovative design methods and to encourage innovation in corporate settings.
PROFESSOR
Jonathan Weaver
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy, teaches a variety of courses – including courses on innovation/creativity, systems engineering, systems architecture, design of experiments, robotics, computer aided engineering, and the product development process. He holds a BSME degree from Virginia Tech, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He serves as the co-curriculum director for the Masters in Product Development Program and is a Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network Fellow. His consulting work through Innovation in Action involves helping to practice engineers learn systematic innovation techniques that enable them to routinely generate and implement high-value, innovative ideas.
PHD
David Pistrui
David Pistrui, Ph.D., is an executive, entrepreneur, and educator with over 30 years of experience serving the corporate, nonprofit, and education sectors. Dr. Pistrui has held corporate leadership positions with VideoCart, MediaOne, Parade Publications, Time Incorporated, and Purex Industries. He has worked with a wide range of organizations including Ford, GM, FCA, Tenneco, Siemans, Dentsu, FedEx, KPMG, Motorola, Wrigley, IBM, Comarch, GrubHub, Minnetronix, and Cleversafe among many others.
Currently, Dr. Pistrui is leading a consortium of eight southeast Michigan universities and their industry partners in a multi-year research project focusing on Industry 4.0 (the fourth industrial revolution). Dr. Pistrui has also served as an economic advisor to the states of Michigan, North Carolina and Illinois, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance, AutoCluster Styira, and the Family Firm Institute.
As an educator, he has held faculty appointments at the University of Detroit Mercy, Fayetteville State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, DePaul University, and Alfred University. Dr. Pistrui has co-authored over 60 publications in the areas of technological innovation, strategy, family business, and engineering education.
Dr. Pistrui holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics (Cum Laude) Entrepreneurship and Strategy, from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, and a Ph.D., in Sociology from the University of Bucharest, Romania. He earned a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from DePaul University (Chicago) and a Bachelor of Business Administration, in Marketing and Economics, from Western Michigan University.