Employers: Find New Talent with MAGNET’s Summer Work-Based Learning Experiences Program

By Judith Crocker, Director, Workforce & Talent Development, MAGNET

Judith Crocker, Director of Workforce & Talent Development, MAGNET

Now is the time for Northeast Ohio manufacturers to step up and become part of the skills-gap solution by taking part in a unique summer work-force development program coordinated by MAGNET.

MAGNET’s 2013 Work-Based Learning Experiences program (WBLE) offers work-based learning experiences to high-school students who will enter their senior year next fall.  Students from Mahoning County Career Technical Center, Polaris Career Center and Lorain County Joint Vocational School are participating in this “earn and learn” program.

This program allows Northeast Ohio manufacturers to be part of the solution and help attract and engage young people in engineering and manufacturing careers. Manufacturers can contact me, Judith Crocker, by phone (216.432.5386) or email to participate.

Prep: One- and Two-Day Shadowing Events

MAGNET student interns learn by doing under the supervision of senior product development engineers.

In addition, in preparation for the summer WBLE program, MAGNET is currently seeking companies that will welcome a student to shadow an employee for  just one or two days, to learn about the company’s products or services. This will give them the opportunity to see for themselves how what they are studying in school relates to the “real world” experience of a manufacturer.

It is our hope that employers who participate in the “shadowing” program will see the student’s potential and go on to offer that student a chance to participate in the summer WBLE program.

About MAGNET’s WBLE Program

Participating employers provide up to 150 hours of work and learning experiences related to the students’ programs of study. These include:

• Electronics & Alternative Energy
• Welding
• Engineering Technology.
• Precision Machine Technology
• Computer Design and Drafting

Manufacturers: Where Will You (And the Workforce You Need) Be in Five Years?

By Mary Ann Pacelli, Senior Consultant, The Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network (MAGNET)

Mary Ann Pacelli, Senior Consultant, MAGNET

For nearly 30 years, MAGNET has been working with small- and mid-sized manufacturers here in Northeast Ohio.  We help companies shore up quality, improve productivity, train their current workforce, and develop new products.

Lately, we have focused more on growth planning—asking our clients where they want to be in three to five years.

As a workforce specialist in an engineering-focused organization, I sometimes feel people mistakenly assume that “if you build it, they will come.” Managers who focus on the bottom line often don’t consider workforce needs to be burning issues.

I’ve met some manufacturers who simply assume that they’ll be able to find the people they need when their business grows. They don’t understand in any detail the competencies required for a given manufacturing position, or how an individual with specific training can add distinct value to the manufacturing process.

But the reality is, considering the skills gap apparent today, and the time it takes develop a future pipeline of skilled talent, workforce development needs to be brought to the forefront of growth planning projects.

New Research Supports the Positive Effect of Co-locating Production and Innovation

A Preview of the MIT Production in the Innovation Economy Report, released February 22, 2013

The preliminary results of a new research report on innovation in manufacturing caught our eye here at MAGNET recently.

In 2010, MIT’s President, Susan Hockfield, launched the MIT Production in the Innovation Economy (PiE) research group  to answer the question: “What kinds of production do we need–and where do production facilities need to be located–to sustain an innovative economy?”

The PiE group also worked to answer these questions:

“How do production capabilities here and abroad contribute to sustaining innovation and realizing its benefits within our own society?”

“How did this new global economy of fragmented research, development, production and distribution come into being? And what does this mean for the future of the U.S. economy?”

The group analyzed these questions in relationship to large U.S. corporations, start-ups companies that had achieved commercialization, and small- and mid-sized U.S. manufacturers (referred to as “Main Street Manufacturers”).

In late February, the group released its thought-provoking preliminary report (the final report will be published in the fall).

The report’s conclusion:

“What’s held manufacturing in the United States…was the advantage firms gain from proximity to innovation and proximity to users. Even in a world linked by big data and instant messaging, the gains from co-location have not disappeared.”

Since the U.S. share of the world market has declined from 34 percent in 1998 to 28 percent in 2010, the PiE group identifies a key danger point to be the declining weight of the U.S. in the global econonmy, even though the output of U.S. high-tech manufacturing is still the largest in the world.

The group also reports it’s fear that “the loss of companies that can make things will end up in the loss of research that can invent them.”

Nimble Manufacturer Achieves ISO 9001:2008 Certification in Eight Months

MAGNET Senior Consultant Dennis Rosa (center) is flanked by Rick Huskey, Nova Films & Foils Managing Director (left) and Larry Meinen, Plant Manager (right). The flow chart on the wall behind them is a visual representation of the company’s newly ISO-9001-certified processes.

When a major customer pressured Nova Films & Foils, Inc. to implement a formal quality management system on a short deadline, management reached out to MAGNET to make it happen

“At the beginning, I really thought achieving ISO 9001 certification was just going to be a daunting task,” says Rick Huskey, managing director of Nova Films & Foils, Inc. based in Bedford, Ohio. “I thought it was going to be like swallowing an elephant!”

Instead, with the assistance of MAGNET Senior Consultant Dennis Rosa, Nova Films’ staff aggressively tackled each step of the certification process, mapping 18 different processes.

Within six months of kicking off the project in mid-January 2012, Nova Films was ready to receive an ISO auditor and ace the inspection. By September, they could proudly display their ISO Certification plaque in their front lobby.

View from the mezzanine of the Nova Films warehouse.

“When we first met with them, they said they needed to be certified within six months,” recalls Rosa with amusement. “Normally we’d take at least nine months or a year. Because of their small size (less than 15 employees), we realized they probably could move that fast.”

In short order, Rosa was elbow-deep in flow charting Nova Films’ existing processes—all 18 of them.

To find out how this small but nimble manufacturer made such fast progress in achieving its quality management goals, view the latest success story on MAGNET’s web site.

Dennis Rosa, Senior Consultant, MAGNET

“We really liked Dennis; we like that he’s local and we think he’s our kind of person,” Huskey says.

“Certification enhances our industry reputation,” observes Meinen. “We’re already known for really quick service and reliability. This is why we continued to grow during the recession even though we’re in a mature industry. If our certifications wins us some more major customers, we may need to invest in another coating line.”

Crowdfunding Opportunities Multiply for Savvy Entrepreneurs

By Dave Crain, Director, Entrepreneurial Services, MAGNET

Mycestro™ is a 3D mouse that fits on the index finger and allows you to control your computer with hand gestures and mouse functions.

A year or so ago, I met Nick Mastandrea, who had invented a “wearable, wireless, 3D mouse”.  Even though I’m sure he cringed whenever I said it, I called it the finger mouse.

Allowing for control of computer software and hardware from up to 30 feet away, the product seemed to be an obvious solution for any number of problems.  It also allowed for some very interesting future technical scenarios, from controlling aircraft with a glove to “Minority Report”-style information control.

Nick, like many entrepreneurs, had trouble lining up sufficient capital to move forward into early commercial production. While there are a number of early-stage loan and grant programs around the region, sadly there simply isn’t enough money to fund everyone.

With the recent passage of the Jumpstart America bill however, these are interesting times and a number of crowdfunding sites have sprung up around the Internet.

In a display of just how effective such sites can be for early stage entrepreneurs, Nick’s Kickstarter campaign still has about a month to go (at the time of writing), and is overfunded almost 150%!

Kickstarter is only one of the popular crowdfunding sites around these days with Indiegogo, Rockethub, Gofundme, and Crowdrise among the many sites available to entrepreneur’s these days.  Each site has its own particular plusses and minuses, but one thing I like in general is that they aren’t just limited to technology startups.  In fact, the Oscars of last weekend saw a Kickstarter-funded film take home an Oscar!

Dave Crain, Director of Entrepreneurial Services, The Incubator at MAGNET

So if you’re having trouble getting your funding together and haven’t considered venturing online to crowdfund it, maybe it’s time to reconsider.

What do you think about crowdfunding? Want to get some advice on taking your innovative idea to the next step? Drop me a line and I’ll be happy to talk with you about the many services and facilities available to entrepreneurs at The Incubator at MAGNET.

Is This Our “Sputnik Moment”?

By Fatima Weathers, Executive Vice President, MAGNET

Fatima Weathers, MAGNET Executive Vice President

At a recent conference I attended in Washington, D.C., panelists from industry, academia, and labor gathered to discuss Manufacturing’s Next Step.

Several panelists described the current manufacturing environment as being on the edge of a new era that is being driven by widespread and affordable access to 3-D printing and cloud computing.

Only mentioned in passing were the usual barriers to growth like unfair trade, taxes, labor costs and access to capital. Indeed, much of the discussion focused on the debate surrounding immigration laws. Many attendees and panelists agreed that access to highly skilled talent is the factor that will tip the scales for gaining the competitive edge in the U.S.

One panelist challenged manufacturers by describing the current environment as our “Sputnik Moment”—either grasp this fleeting window of opportunity to lead through innovation and talent or forever miss the moment to be the global leader in manufacturing.

What do you think? Is this our “Sputnik Moment?” What do you think is the most important factor manufacturers face right now? Respond below, or email me at fatima.weathers@magnetwork.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

Regional Economic Development: “Greater than the Sum of our Parts”

By Michael R. Morgenstern, Chief Development Officer, MAGNET

The next time you stop by MAGNET’s Manufacturing Innovation Center (MIC), I hope you will take a minute to linger in our lobby and view our new Donor Wall acknowledging the many partners and supporters that make MAGNET’s work possible.

This floor-to-ceiling display recognizes the dozens of organizations and individuals who have helped bring manufacturing success to Northeast Ohio by supporting MAGNET in many ways over the years. See the complete list on MAGNET’s web site.

The new Donor Wall in MAGNET’s Manufacturing Innovation Center lobby recognizes the dozens of organizations and individuals who have contributed to fulfilling the vision of Manufacturing Success for our region.

As I reviewed the many entities listed on the wall, the phrase “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” came to mind. I wondered where the phrase originally came from. The phrase’s etymology goes back to Aristotle, has been incorporated into Gestalt theory, and is even used as a fundamental assumption of Buckminster Fuller’s “Synergetics” theory about geometry and design.

“Greater than the sum of its parts,” perfectly describes the way MAGNET and its economic development partners work together. Our joint innovation efforts advance the mutual goals of growing jobs and transforming the region’s economy. Put simply, no one organization can do it alone. Together, we are so much greater than just the basic impact of our individual programs.