Written by Mary Hallock, IMEC Technical Specialist

October is National Fire Prevention Month -- a great time to ensure your workforce is prepared for all types of emergencies. Start by reviewing any emergency procedures and documentation you have for the organization. Are they up-to-date? Do your staff know how to respond in the event of an emergency?

Fire in a business setting can cause an interruption in production, loss of revenue, and even worse, it could put your team at great risk. Understanding a few simple preparedness techniques may save you from a future catastrophe.

Written by Lawrence Bouvier, CMRP, Vice President – Fuss & O’Neill Manufacturing Solutions

Is equipment downtime holding you back from achieving Lean Manufacturing success?

We all have heard of the seven wastes addressed in Lean Manufacturing, but did you ever consider that if you applied similar principles to equipment health, you’d want a discipline to create Lean Maintenance?

Overproduction, Inventory and Waiting are three of the seven lean wastes that can come as a result of equipment failures.  A good maintenance process will keep these to minimum levels.  So, how can we achieve this?  The only way is to minimize the amount of maintenance and repair that we perform on machines!

Written by John Remsey, IMEC Senior Technical Specialist

Cybersecurity has become a hot topic within manufacturing over the past months, especially for the Defense supply chain with the federal government increasing their emphasis on addressing threats to the security of information.  In December 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) released a rule to the Defense Acquisition Federal Regulation Supplement (DAFRS) that requires government contractors to implement the requirements of National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171 by December 31, 2017.  With this deadline fast approaching, conversation, and urgency, to become compliant is increasing.

Written by Gretchen Clifton, IMEC Technical Specialist

The new ISO 9001:2015 standard places more emphasis on understanding our processes; how they impact our business from an individual process standpoint as well as how they integrate with other processes. The key to success is creating processes that are efficient and effective, integrate well with others for a cohesive flow from start to finish, and ultimately, provide the results we need.

Many companies have a high level process map that fulfills the requirements of ISO or TS, or perhaps as an outcome of a value stream mapping activity. They created it, but has it really been used for anything?

Written by Mary Hallock, IMEC Technical Specialist and OSHA Authorized Trainer

Posture, Positioning and People Movement

When we focus our time and efforts on making safety corrections we often focus on machine guarding, lockout/tagout and some of the other programs that require written programs, and regular documented training. However, a good deal of injuries and costs are caused by injuries on walking surfaces or due to ergonomic issues in our work. 

How do you prioritize your safety program and improvements?

As a business leader, you understand the strict focus that's often required to make and keep your employees and the work environment a safe place. But sometimes it's hard to figure out how to focus the training and documentation efforts of your safety program. There is so much to do to make sure your employees understand the best safe practices.

Every year the US Department of Labor publishes the OSHA Top 10 Citations and violation categories. This is for your consideration and benefit!

Now is your chance to help mold the future of cyber security research in the Energy Industry. Contribute to needs, gaps, and paths towards addressing the challenges that face the industry today and in the future.

Look to the Genesis Movement, powered by IMEC, to achieve excellence, competitiveness, and a skilled, adaptable workforce. ASK Power is a manufacturer for electrical connectors for big power.

The Southern Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Day Conference celebrates its 15^th Anniversary on October 29, 2015.  The annual event provides expert occupational safety and health management resources for employers of all sizes and industries.

The conference offers breakout sessions and networking opportunities with speakers and vendors from industry, higher education and regulatory agencies.  It is a venue to learn about best practices and ask questions of peers and compliance agents about how standards are practically applied.

When confronting the serious risks posed by industrial cyberattack, today’s manufacturers need a comprehensive set of capabilities—best-practice standards and compliance as well as workforce training and education.

The International Society of Automation—the worldwide professional association of automation professionals and an IMEC partner—has developed proven industrial automation and control systems (IACS) standards (ISA99/IEC 62443) and a widely recognized compliance and testing program (ISASecure™) to ensure IACS device and equipment conformance to the standards.