This article is written by Webit.
Running a business has always been a challenge, but the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape has made it even more so. Every day, newer, more sophisticated cyberthreats emerge, putting businesses at risk of significant data, productivity, and financial losses. Implementing a proactive cybersecurity strategy is an effective way to keep these threats at bay and ensure continuous operations. Here’s how to do it.
IMEC is proud to recognize Stacey Curry Lee, Technical Specialist in Workforce Development, who recently achieved the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach (ACC) reinstatement.
Cash-flow strategies are imperative in manufacturing because the cash-conversion cycle can be quite lengthy. Here are several strategies to consider for your business:
Track Your Cash Flow
The only way to know where your cash is going is by monitoring your cash flow biweekly or monthly.
Global supply chain disruptions pose unique, unprecedented problems and opportunities for small manufacturers.
The problems are bigger for small manufacturers than large companies and the worst case is production disruption. At the very least, increasing costs lead to compressed margins or even outright losses; yet opportunities abound. Disruptions make small U.S manufacturers more valuable to big companies that are pivoting to domestic sourcing.
In the spring of 2021, IMEC, Illinois Manufacturers Association (IMA), Technology & Manufacturing Association (TMA), and Valley Industrial Association (VIA) partnered with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research to survey manufacturers about their adoption of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies and processes, achieving a phenomenal 87% response rate.
How do you view partnerships? At IMEC, we believe partnerships help shape the vibrant ecosystem of manufacturing in Illinois. In honor of IMEC’s 25th anniversary, we explored the concept of partnerships in this video, “Celebrating Manufacturing Partnership.”
This article first appeared on the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog and is written by Samm Webb, Project and Resource Coordinator with the NIST MEP Extension Services Division.
The persisting crisis in the global supply chain has disrupted many small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) and put a premium on problem solving and short-term solutions for getting parts and supplies. While there are no easy answers to untangling these global supply chain challenges, the dynamic has created opportunity and momentum for supplier scouting. It is possible to see how the focus on supply chain management strategies and total cost of ownership will lead to more reshoring of manufacturing.
Written by Matthew Inniger of Manager of the Advanced Technology Program of CIFT, part of Ohio MEP. This article first appeared on the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.
This is an exciting time in the food manufacturing industry. The innovations and technology associated with Industry 4.0 are making it easier for small and medium-sized manufacturers to overcome obstacles in ways that at one point would not have been considered. While manufacturers have previously been slower to move toward incorporating advanced industry technologies due to the high level of regulation and biologically complex products with which they work, innovation is becoming more widely accepted as a key to industry sustainability. Two examples of such Industry 4.0 technologies are automation and augmented reality.
