IMEC partnered with Fusion to host the Cobots: Solving the Manufacturing Labor Challenge event. The fun and informative afternoon featured educational sessions led by cobot vendors and experts, all in the name of helping manufacturers understand the benefits of implementing cobots at their facility: improved productivity, safer working environment, and more efficient installation than traditional automation.
This is an original article from NIST's Blogrige, the official Baldrige Blog, written by Christine Schaffer.
The national Baldrige Performance Excellence Program's website is the source of the regularly updated, widely validated leadership-and-management-strengthening tool known as the Baldrige Excellence Framework (which includes the Criteria for Performance Excellence).
Are you already using this comprehensive self-assessment guide to strengthen your organization’s performance?
If not, would you like to benefit from improvements and innovation in your approaches to leadership, strategy, customers, knowledge management and performance measurement, workforce, operations—and get better results in all these areas?
Written by Andrea Belk Olsen, MSC and CEO of Pragmadik
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olsonandrea1/
Most "predictive rundown" articles that kick off at the beginning of the year focus on big technologies, major disruptions, or massive breakthroughs that will upend your market. While these possibilities may manifest at some point, there's something to be said for going back to the basics. They say, "what got you here, might not get you there", that doesn't mean as an organization you toss out the good with the bad. More importantly, you don't lose sight of the practical essentials that make a business successful - customers.
Written by Marie Hale of At Revenue.
Globally the manufacturing industry has undergone a massive transformation in the past decade. Recessions choked demand, employment continues to fall and the floors and lines don’t have the same consistent flow of work to be done. With all of the nuances between each manufactured product and the manufacturers themselves, what is to be done to start to right the ship and save one of the most critical industries to America’s economy?
Written by Andrea Belk Olsen, MSC and CEO of Pragmadik
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olsonandrea1/
We often over simplify what we believe a customer’s need is, often due to the fact that many organizations view customer needs through an internal lens.
“Because we sell widgets, our customer must need widgets. Our customers must want them to perform reliably, have them delivered on time, and at least meet a minimum quality standard.”
Written by Ashley Beaudoin, IMEC Technical Specialist
Are you planning to implement, or have you recently deployed, an employee engagement survey to your workforce? Are you unsure of what to do next or are seeing little to no improvement? From my involvement with companies as they implement and evaluate aspects pertaining to engagement levels, I have witnessed many hurdles and successes. Based upon my findings, here are five lessons I have learned for leveraging organizational success through an employee engagement survey.
Technology and business processes are advancing and changing – but are manufactures adapting to the changing sales environment to maintain their competitive edge? No matter if you are in a dedicated sales role, or if you occasionally promote your company’s products and services, it is essential to adjust your sales tactics.
Written by Andrea Belk Olson, MSC and CEO of Pragmadik
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olsonandrea1/
As successful business leaders, we feel we have a handle on what our customers want. Leveraging anecdotal feedback from the sales force, formal studies by the marketing team, data capture from customer service, and overall competitive research, there's a strong level of confidence of what customers are needing and how we can serve them.
Or are we secretly in the dark?
Greenwood Plastics Industries is a woman-owned, fourth generation manufacturer serving custom thermoforming needs and the deathcare industry since the early 1970s. As a true contributor to the Danville community, it was important for GPI to continue to improve their business processes, making the company a great home for employees and a leader in customer service for the next generation.
Written by Andrea Olson, MSC and CEO of Prag’madik
We all know change is inevitable. There's also been a lot of talk, especially in the manufacturing sector, about impending disruptions, or creating disruption to transform the industry. No one wants to be disrupted, or caught off guard when something new comes along and upends your business. You can't predict the future, but you can protect your organization from disruption through change.
What do we mean by change? Change doesn't have to be massive. Change can be small. Incremental. Change is the basis for which every successful business operates. Finding new ways to do things simpler, faster, and easier. Identifying and acting upon new customer and market needs. Modernizing the way you do business. Staying open to new ideas.
