If you think Newell Rubbermaid is just about plastic storage bins, think again.

From Graco diaper pails to Calphalon cookware to Irwin hand tools to Goody styling brushes, the consumer products maker is looking to turn around results by boosting investment in consumer research and using that knowledge to develop innovative products.

Here are excerpts from a recent Q&A with Mark Ketchum, a 30-year veteran of Procter & Gamble who was named Newell Rubbermaid chief executive in early 2006.

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Q: What is innovation?

A: Some people get confused and think that innovation is invention. To me, an invention isn’t innovative unless it actually is commercially successful. Innovation is the middle part of a three-part process of understanding, turning that understanding into something and then successfully commercializing it.

Q: Do all the businesses (Newell has 20-plus global units) understand the focus on innovation?

A: They all understand this in concept, and now it’s about going out and doing this detailed work. This consumer understanding costs millions of dollars per brand to do right. We had been spending much much less than that.

Q: What did you learn at Procter & Gamble?

A: I think I learned a lot about bench-marking. I think one of the things that Procter & Gamble realized, especially in the last 10-15 years of my career there, was that it needed to get more external in its focus. As a company, P&G started encouraging executives to start going out and doing bench-marking trips (of other companies).

So, I actually learned from other companies.