This is an original article by Scott Rempala, President of Mighty Hook and member of IMEC's Board of Directors.
It’s fashionable these days to promote corporate culture as a means to ensure long-term business growth. Promoting is one thing, but making culture a priority requires a systematic approach that permeates everything a business does. We refer to our systematic approach as PTP—Process, Training, and People.
With the release of version 1.0 of the CMMC framework, the DoD will being to include these certification requirements in new DoD solicitations, beginning in the fall of 2020.
The inforgraphic below provides a high-level look at what the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) means for DoD contactors. It offers steps contractors can take to prepare for CMMC, important dates and descriptions of practices and processes required to achieve each of the 5 levels of CMMC certification.
This article is contributed by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Exporting opens a literal world of opportunity for Illinois manufacturers as 95% of global consumers are outside of the United States. Despite this fact, only 1% of America’s small businesses are active exporters.
“The idea of selling products outside of the U.S. can be daunting for many companies that may have negative perceptions about foreign market opportunities, the export process, and funding resources,” said Margo Markopoulos, Director of the Illinois Office of Trade & Investment. “Fortunately, the State of Illinois has a robust international trade network that companies can tap into for confidential, customized, and complimentary services created to help Illinois manufacturers successfully promote and sell their products overseas.”
IMEC is helping to bridge the manufacturing skills gap through an innovative new approach. The recently launched Skills Gap Analysis project is expected to help participating manufacturers plan their future workforce requirements and strengthen their communities. Recognizing the urgent need for a project like this in many Illinois manufacturers, IMEC’s president, Dr. David Boulay explains: “One of the biggest issues for managers in the manufacturing sector today is knowing what knowledge and skills workers will need beyond today’s work. We’ve seen the same series of events occur across many of our client companies: changing customer preferences lead to new products, which then leads to changing the way the work is done.”
This is an original article written by Stephanie Neal, Director of DDI's Center for Analytics and Behaviorial Research.
As we kick off 2020, expectations are high for the changes the decade ahead will bring. According to top HR and leadership influencers, this year will challenge leaders to face a new level of workplace transformation. Hot leadership topics for 2020 will continue to be shaped by accelerating technology change, increasing consumer expectations, and hyper-connectivity.
This is an original article written by Shekhar Chandrashekhar of California Manufacturing Technology Consulting, part of the MEP National Network.
Today, most manufacturers are engaged in activities that could be considered part of “Industry 4.0.” (70% according to the World Economic Forum’s [WEF] white paper, “Fourth Industrial Revolution: Beacons of Technology and Innovation in Manufacturing”).
This is an original article by Aaron Fox, President of Oregon MEP.
If industrial manufacturing had a buzzword of the decade, it might be “Industry 4.0.” The concept is inescapable, yet it can be hard to define, especially for small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs). After all, SMMs’ capabilities, needs, and budgets look very different from the large companies who often drive the latest innovations and trends. However, Industry 4.0 is so pervasive that many smaller manufacturers know more about the technologies than they might think. Below, we define Industry 4.0, then explore ways that SMMs can and do implement it already.
This is an original article by Robin Friestad of Quality Time Consulting.
I’ve recently taken the plunge into starting my own business. Part of what I’m learning to do is to “sell” what I love best. Twenty years ago, I would have been dumbfounded to predict that I would want to make a living out of ISO 9001 implementations and Internal Audits. I mean – I had been through a major implementation, several surveillance audits, and a couple re-registration audits at a Fortune 500 company. They were never pleasant. Oh, it wasn’t the external registrar, it was my upper management fretting about whether we would “pass” or not. I even came into work during my maternity leave to lend some confidence to my General Manager that it was going to be ok.
This is an original article taken from the NIST Manufacturing Innovation blog.
Productivity matters. It matters a lot. Yet it often seems that folks talk about productivity, but don’t do anything about it. At least, it feels that way to me when I go outside of the MEP National Network™, where we’re always focused on enhancing manufacturing productivity. And you could say that productivity is a personal crusade for me, as is evident in blogs I’ve written over the last few years.
