70. Applying the Minimill Playbook: A Conversation with CEO of Norsk Titanium, Mike Canario

Many students of Clayton Christensen’s will be familiar with the US Steel case that he wrote as a graduate student in the 1990s, one that is still used today in the BSSE curriculum at Harvard Business School. The case tells the story of the minimills’ low-end disruption of US Steel, entering the market with rebar and then steadily moving up-market to bars & rods, then on to structural steel, and finally to sheet steel at the high end of the market. The incumbent, US Steel, was caught in a classic example of what Clay called “the innovator’s dilemma”, losing its position of leadership precisely because management made logical and competent decisions along the way. In this episode, we highlight another great example of a low-end disruptor, Norsk Titanium. The company successfully entered the low end of the metal manufacturing market and now, like the minimills before it, is planning its disruptive march up-market. Hosted by Katie Zandbergen, Mike Canario, CEO of Norsk Titanium, tells the story of Norsk’s humble beginnings in Norway; how it came to build the largest 3D printing factory in the world; the many benefits of its innovative and enabling technology, Rapid Plasma Deposition; and how management is looking to the minimill playbook as it charts its course to higher levels of the market.  Mike offers lessons in management, innovation, and low-end disruption that we hope you’ll find inspiring and useful!