Three good reasons why smaller manufacturers should innovate (and IMEC should help them).

Before I share my three reasons let’s define innovation and give a couple statistics from the Next Generation Manufacturing Study.  Here’s the study’s definition of innovation:  Develop, make, and market new products and services that meet customers’ needs at a pace faster than the competition.   According to the 2011 study, 57% of small to mid-sized manufacturers rated the importance of innovation as highly important for their success over the next five years.  Of those same manufacturers, only 12% felt they were world-class (where they needed to be) when it comes to innovation. Clearly, manufacturers know they need to innovate, but many of them seem unsure of the best way to do it.

Carrie Hines, Executive Director of the American Small Manufacturers Coalition (ASMC), recently appeared on C-Span to discuss the results of the Next Generation Manufacturing Study and the actions small manufacturers should take to remain competitive both domestically and globally.

Overall, the message is positive. According to the NGM study recently released by ASMC, small manufacturers continue to face challenges with the pending retirement of baby boomer leadership, and shortages of qualified employees .

IMEC Colleague Mark Baer and I recently attended a three day training session in Kokomo, Indiana focused on Internal Auditing of ISO 50001, the Energy Management System standard.  The basic principles for auditing ISO 50001 are the same as for the ISO 9001 Quality Management System, and the ISO 50001 standard is structured similarly to ISO 9001.  The key difference for ISO 50001 is the requirement to measure and audit energy performance.

Energy savings and cost reductions are on the minds of many companies as they look to save money and the environment.  These companies are reaching out to third parties for support in implementing energy saving solutions but ISO 50001 is not a tool for simply reducing energy costs.  A key aspect of ISO 50001 is better management of energy consumption.