IMEC's parent organization, NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is helping American manufacturers innovate, increase productivity, and create new jobs. Hear from those manufacturers on what the MEP program means for them and the industry.
Connecting interested and capable prospective suppliers with the builders of Next Generation rail equipment is the focus of a complimentary event on February 14th at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare. The “Next Generation Rail Supply Chain Connectivity Forum” will bring together executives from several leading rail equipment manufacturers with the leaders of small and mid-sized firms interested in expanding into the growing rail equipment supply sector.
The MIT Enterprise Forum on Advanced Manufacturing will be held in Chicago, IL on January 17, 2012. The forum will address ways manufacturing contributes to the country’s economic growth and what is being done to rebuild America’s manufacturing sector. Johnston will act as moderator.
But even though the company’s products are complex, demanding tight tolerances and precise engineering, RBS leaders were wary of becoming commoditized and vulnerable to low-cost foreign competitors. The economic downturn was a wake-up call that perhaps the family-owned company needed to re-focus, not just its products services, but in the way it managed the business.
David Boulay, president of the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC), is a featured presenter at fourth annual Illinois Financial Forecast Forum, hosted by Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies Civic Leadership Academy and the Illinois City/County Management Association. The event will be held at NIU’s Naperville campus on Friday, January 27, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Enercon Engineering, an IMEC client, hosted a roundtable discussion focused on the Central Illinois manufacturing industry and highlighting the company's success. A group of Central Illinois lawmakers attended the meeting along with experts from the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC) and Enercon leadership.
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.
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.
The NGM Study provided an optimistic outlook on the process improvement capabilities of manufacturers. An overwhelming majority of manufacturers recognize the importance of process improvement and approximately 43% report that they are near or at world-class improvement. The study identified three elements necessary for world-class process improvement. They are strategy, talent and talent-development programs, and capable business systems and equipment.
