Business Opportunities Made Easy (admin posted on January 17th, 2012 )

“U.S Manufacturing Index hits six month high“
Institute for Supply Management, 1/2012

This welcome news has been supported by a number of recent state indices showing that the various manufacturing labor markets across the country with slight increases or a leveling in the deterioration of their overall manufacturing employment levels. Subsequently we have now seen similar changes in the number of operating manufacturing establishments as the preliminary 2011, first quarter, census of Employment and Wages indicated a two-percent increase in the important manufacturing category of “factories of over 1,000 employees”.

All of these changes have been recognized in the Mass database with preliminary census results showing the first overall quarter over quarter increase, with twenty- seven additional factories in over a decade. Employment, in 2011, for Massachusetts manufacturers has shown the first year over year employment increase in a decade with an average increase of 3,000 additional new employees. This is not an insignificant increase when you consider that close to $800,000 million dollars in sales was probably added to our economy to support such employment increase.

What has caused these changes? Obviously there are a number of operating factors and economics associated with these changes. One such factor in many of today’s hypercompetitive industries is the Time to Market requirement. Time to Market requires the need for the manufacturer to be close to the customer in order to better respond to market changes. This growth of Time to Market enterprises has opened a whole new series of opportunities for new capable suppliers to connect and support the responsiveness requirements of this growing sector of manufacturers. One of the easier ways to connect with these new manufacturing opportunities are through Digital web sites, such as www.buymass.org. BuyMass is a public / private collaboration between AIM and the Patrick – Murray Administration’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development commitment to create jobs through the growth of the state’s regional economies.

This initiative maintains a statewide supplier directory called BuyMass that is supported with focused manufacturer to supplier match making events throughout Massachusetts between global companies and best-in-class supplier. The need for these focused business-to-business meetings came as a direct request, to AIM, from a number of leading manufacturers such as Raytheon , Procter and Gamble, General Electric, Solutia and Mestek who are now supporting and advising the BuyMass initiative.

The simplicity of the BuyMass process was best described by a Worcester based CEO who stated that we “looked all over for a part and were about to buy it from China when we learned that a company twenty minutes away could supply this same part very economically.”

Organizations interested in listing their firms products and services on BuyMass , can do so by contacting RPaine@aimnet.org.

www.USAInnovation.org

The National Innovation Marketplace is the Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s (MEP) Free national registry connecting manufacturers to technology and business opportunities resulting in new markets and new products necessary for success in the global marketplace. In partnership with other organizations the MEP program is developing the National Innovation Marketplace (NIM) which facilitates connections between technology requestors (OEMs) and potential suppliers, and encourages technology translation and adoption. As a clearinghouse, the NIM, the MEP and their network of partners are facilitating the building of a technology based supplier networks. The registration for the NIM is straight forward and does not cost anything. The NIM’s registration process does require that registrants think through what makes their products meaningfully unique to any buyer as well as the key words that will highlight the core capabilities of their respective company. While the instructions for registration are listed on the NIM web site, MassMEP will provide NIM registration assistance to any interested manufacturer. Please contact MassMEP Innovation Program Manager, Greg King, at gregoryk@massmep.org.

The recent Manufacturing Performance Institute’s 2011 Next Generation Manufacturing Survey indicated that only “20% of the manufacturers indicated that strategic suppliers and customers represent a competitive advantage to their supply chains”. The NIM portal is part of the National MEP initiative, supported by MassMEP, to promote a network of resources to allow for the connection of strategic suppliers and OEM’s to help to address this deficit. The NIM portal also provides any of our state’s small manufacturing enterprises with a minimum of resources to easily reach a national audience of buyers.

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Increased Productivity is the Sole Source of a Nation’s Wealth (admin posted on December 15th, 2010 )

Adam Smith’s words as written in the Wealth of Nations are as true today as they were in 1776. The importance of a continually productive economy however, is more important in today’s hyper- competitive marketplace than it ever was in 1776 when it was just a theory that very few could understand. We, as a nation, have been very fortunate to have the amazing capability to have a manufacturing base that has continually led the world in productivity and has contributed mightily to our nation’s wealth.  This outstanding productivity trait was amply demonstrated by  the Advanced Manufacturers who opened their companies to enter  the “Next Generation Manufacturer Award Contest”  and  whose overall  achievements  are ensuring their company’s  long-term competiveness into the next generation.

brownFrom this group, Tegra Medical of Franklin Massachusetts was selected to receive the 1st Annual Next Generation Manufacturing Award as an exemplary representative of advanced manufacturing practices in Massachusetts.  The Award was presented at the Associated Industries of Massachusetts Executive Forum.   U.S. Senator Scott Brown, the Forum’s featured speaker, presented the award   in front of an appreciative gathering consisting of many manufacturing leaders who understood that the need for continuing productivity is the reality of today’s manufacturing.

In accepting the award, Bob Roche, CEO of Tegra Medical, stated, “Without out people’s passion for the customer, their desire for excellence and commitment to accomplish those things that other companies cannot or are unwilling to do, we wouldn’t be standing up here today.”

This Next Generation Manufacturing Award (NGM) was established by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts Manufacturing Institute, the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP), and McGladrey to recognize a Massachusetts manufacturer for its performance practices as measured against 21st century manufacturing standards, and to elevate awareness of what it takes to succeed as a manufacturer in today’s extensively competitive world.

Tegra Medical, founded in 2007, is the combination of four trusted firms that today focuses exclusively on precision machining and contact manufacturing services for the medical device industry, and the production of components and assemblies for leading surgical and interventional companies. Tegra Medical  employs 300 people, has 200,000 sq. ft. of ISO 13485-compliant manufacturing space and is headquartered in an 80,000-sq.-ft. facility built to its specifications in 2009.

The NGM Award is based in part on an in-depth survey of more than 2,500 manufacturers including firms in the Bay State that identified six key performance measures that, if addressed, should position firms to be competitive in the 21st century. The measures include:

  • Customer-focus innovation – the capacity to deliver new and better customer solutions at a faster pace that the competition
  • Advanced talent management – the use of systems and technologies to better recruit, hire, develop and retain talent 
  • Systemic continuous improvement – the ability to realize annual productivity and quality gains through a companywide commitment to continuous improvement
  • Extended enterprise management – the implementation of a flexible network of supply chains and partnerships to achieve competitive advantage in speed to the market, cost of goods and quality of output
  • Sustainable product and process development – the design and incorporation of waste and energy-use reduction measures that produce tangible cost performance advantages while increasing customer value.
  • Global engagement – the capacity to integrate people, partnerships and systems capable of engaging global markets, talents and resources

The eight finalists who were also considered to receive the NGM Award were subject to an onsite evaluation, a process which determined that the cumulative economic impact of these firms alone to the commonwealth’s economy reached more than $673.2 million. 

 During the review process, the sponsors’ evaluation team was particularly impressed by how Tegra measured up to several of the performance measures, including:

  • Consistently defining new equipment and processes to stay on the leading edge of the market, and establishing an 18,000-sq.-ft. Genesis Tech Center to help support new product launches
  • Comprehensive measures to retain employees and building pipelines to recruit new talent  
  • Systematic daily and weekly operational reviews at all levels
  • Supplier summits and reviews to communicate expectations and track progress
  • Specific recycling programs geared towards metals, plastics, papers, and water
  • Opening of offshore operation to meet customer demands 

It was obvious to all that the practices carried out by the people at Tegra Medical and the seven other award finalists highlight what manufacturers must do every day to meet the challenges of an ever growing and competitive world marketplace. The adoption of these best practices can serve to help other manufacturers to identify strategic goals to ensure they will be able to grow and prosper in the future.

In addition to Tegra Medical, the 2010 Next Generation Manufacturing Award Finalists included:
Barry Controls, located in Hopkinton, is a manufacturer of a wide range of motion control and anti-vibration products and systems used by the aviation/aerospace, defense and transportation industries. The company is part of the Hutchinson Group, a market leader in the industrial rubber sector and a division of Total Chemicals. 

Checkerboard LTD, located in West Boylston, is a family owned and operated designer and printer of invitations for every special occasion including weddings, parties and special events. The firm prints 100 percent of its products in the United States and sells them in both domestic and international markets.  

FIBA Technologies, founded in 1958 and located in Millbury, is a leading supplier of gas containment equipment and services for the industrial gas, chemicals, specialty gas, offshore oil/gas exploration, and alternative fuel industries around the globe.

Incom, Inc., founded in 1971, is a privately held company headquartered in Charlton. It is a leading manufacturer of commercial rigid, fused fiberoptic faceplates, tapers, and microwell arrays. Incom’s diverse products are used by customers in the dental, medical, defense, life science and homeland security sectors.

MTD Micro Molding , established in 1972 as Miniature Tool & Die, quickly established itself as a leading manufacturer of miniature connector injection moldings for the electronic industry. Today, MTD continues to grow and designs and manufactures microscopic components for the medical device and electronic industry in its precision clean room facilities located in Charlton. 

John Matouk Company, Inc. was founded in Italy in 1929 to export Italian linens to the United States.  Forced to move production to the United States with the outbreak of World War II, the firm moved to Fall River from New York in 1985. Today under the third generation of family stewardship the company remains committed to designing and manufacturing the world’s best made linens for discerning clientele around the world.  

Savage Arms, Inc., organized in 1894, has been owned by numerous public and private firms throughout the years. However, since 1995 the firm has been owned by Savage Sports Corporation. Headquartered in Westfield, the company designs and manufactures centerfire rifles, rimfire rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders and shooting sports equipment. 

Commenting on the NGM Award finalists, Jim Byman, a partner at McGladrey, a public accounting and consulting firm said, “The breadth and scope of the finalists involved in manufacturing advanced products ranging from firearms to nano-components used in aerospace and medical device applications underscore how important manufacturing is to the Commonwealth’s economic wellbeing, and the competence of our manufacturers is one reason why the Commonwealth is ranked as one of the ten top states in terms of merchandise exported to foreign markets, despite our rather modest population.”

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The New Regulators:
Corporate America Takes the Responsibility for Environmental Improvement (admin posted on May 27th, 2010 )

By: Jack Healy, Director of Operations, MassMEP

One of the more improbable business changes of our times, has been caused by a number of corporations , such as Walmart, General Motors, IBM and others , who have taken on the direct responsibility for improving the environment by ensuring that “ sustainability” is implemented throughout their respective supply chains.

Sustainability is a term that describes the goal that much of Corporate America is starting to take on that establishes the goal to increase share holder and social value through the reduction of the environmental impacts by the decreased use of materials and energy in both their operations and supply chains.  The seriousness of these efforts are reinforced in what are game changing goals which have been heralded very publicly in the press e.g. :

Walmart has announced that it will cut some 20 million metric tons of green house gas emissions from its supply chain by the year 2015 —- the equivalent of removing 3.8 million cars from the road for a year.  The company plans to achieve this goal by pressing suppliers to rethink how they source, manufacture, package, and transport their goods.  Essentially, suppliers are now being asked to examine the carbon life cycle of their products from raw materials used in manufacturing all the way through to the recycling phase.  Walmart, with its market strength, is very serious about this implementation and their  suppliers are reacting seriously as well.  In a survey reported in Forbes one of the Walmart suppliers responded that he “fears Walmart more than he fears the EPA “.

General Motors  (GM), automotive suppliers have joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in formal  “Supplier Partnership for the Environment (SP) in order to increase the competitiveness of the companies while reducing environmental impacts.  SP is a forum for sharing environmental best practices throughout the automotive supply chain, especially for the benefit of the smaller manufacturing enterprises.  Unlike a number of past initiatives GM is actually practicing sustainability methods and not merely passing it on to their suppliers.  Sixty – two GM plants are now zero waste facilities by recycling or reusing more than 97 percent of the materials left from the manufacturing process that would otherwise be sent to landfills.  The roughly 3 percent of the remaining manufacturing waste is converted to energy at waste to energy facilities to help replace fossil fuels. GM’s sustainability commitment is world wide as they have joined and are active in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and is looking to have half of its major manufacturing facilities world wide to attain zero waste status by the end of this year.

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) has launched a sustainability scorecard and rating process to measure the environmental performance of its key suppliers.  The new scorecard will access P&G suppliers environmental footprint by measuring energy use, water use, waste disposal, and green house gas emissions on a year to year basis.  P&G says that the scorecard will be “open code” for use by any organization to help determine common supply chain evaluation processes across all industries.   Just as Walmart’s scorecard has had a large effect on its suppliers, P&G says its rating system has the ability to encourage environmental improvement across the global network of suppliers— which represents approximately 75,000 businesses and $42 billion in spending each year.  Suppliers are also being encouraged to use the scorecard with their own supply chains.
IBM has made a significant step in cleaning up their global operations and is now requiring suppliers in 90 different countries to install management systems to track environmental data like energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste and recycling levels.  All suppliers set their own environmental goals and publicly report their progress.  All suppliers will need to have these systems installed by early 2011 or IBM will cease to do business with them.

Given the near monopolistic clout that these and other large corporations now have on their reduced supply bases, there is little doubt that these environmental improvement requirements will be sustained for many years to come.  But unlike government regulations there will be much that the manufacturers will have to figure out for themselves as well as for their suppliers before they can start to implement their own sustainability programs

According to a recent Aberdeen Group survey sustainability has now become one of the top five market pressures facing today’s manufacturing operations, as noted in the chart below.   The report describes that many manufacturers today struggle with defining the scope of sustainability initiatives, i.e “ should such initiatives be facilities focused, product focused or operations focused —- or all of the above “

Despite the current lack of uniformity, there is little doubt that the Sustainability Movement, like the preceding “Quality” and “Lean Manufacturing” movements, will be changing the way we do  business.   Companies interested in meeting this change and who need in assistance to develop their own Green Supplier Networks can do so by contacting Mike Prior at 508-831-7020.

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CATEGORIES: Lean Manufacturing

Next Generation Manufacturing Award (admin posted on March 29th, 2010 )

By Jack Healy, Director, MassMEP

One of the more amazing outcomes of the past recession, at least to my own observation, is that so many manufacturers survived this downturn, with sales declines of 40% to 50%.  There are manufacturers who attributed their ability to survive to the fact that they moved their organizations into Lean manufacturing prior to the recession.  Whether Lean or not, all manufactures who lost significant amounts of business during the past year, primarily survived by applying a prodigious amount of cost cutting strategies.

Manufacturers have and will continue to face managing cost in their operations as one of the inherent parts of their business. While there is nothing wrong with such continuing cost management, it must be combined with a more strategic approach for ensuring Manufacturing Excellence. Cost cutting by itself does little to improve the knowledge base so critical in the improvement of operations and ultimately in world-class performance.  Unless there is a transition for organizational growth and improvement in the knowledge base, there will not be a transition to superior performance that is essential to an organization’s continued survival  in today’s competitive environment.

To assist in the promotion of  this transition, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts  (AIM), the Massachusetts  Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP) and RSM McGladrey have partnered to launch the “Massachusetts Next Generation Manufacturing Award.”

Next Generation Manufacturing (NGM) refers to a framework of strategies developed by leading manufacturing industry thought leaders and the Manufacturing Extension Program, as to what are the essential  strategies  to drive growth and achieve competitive world-class performance.  The NGM award will recognize manufacturers who have undertaken the necessary strategies that position their operations to compete in the 21st century in any of the following six strategic areas:Deliver new and better customer solutions at a faster pace than the competition.
Advanced talent management : Secure a competitive performance advantage by having superior systems in place to recruit, hire, develop, and retain talent.
Systemic continuous improvement:  Record annual productivity and quality gains that exceed the competition through a company-wide commitment to continuous improvement.
Extended enterprise management: Leverage a flexible network of supply chains and partnerships to provide competitive advantages of speed , cost and quality.
Sustainable product and process development:  Design and implement waste and energy-use reductions at a level that provides superior cost performance and recognizable customer value.
Global engagement:  Secure business advantage through people partnerships and systems capable of engaging global markets, talent, and resources.

Customer-focused innovation:

In addition to recognizing manufacturing excellence in any of the above areas, the NGM Award was also established  to serve as a catalyst to help Massachusetts’ manufacturers improve their operations. Completing the NGM self-evaluation and scheduling the onsite assessment will provide participating manufacturers  with a gap analysis relative to their strengths and weaknesses.  

As a result, there is good value in competing for the NGM Award, since the process of completing the questionnaire amounts to the starting point on the road to improvement by comparing your performance to the new standards of competition as well as the opportunity for a performance assessment of your manufacturing strategy.

Click here to fill out the application

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CATEGORIES: Next Generation Manufacturing