Tapping Into a National Network

NIST-MEP helps manufacturing industry access new resources and fresh ideas from across the country.

Many manufacturers who have used Lean to increase efficiency and reduce waste are left looking for resources that improve their business in some other way.

MEP tries to help them. Throughout more than two decades, the National Institute of Standards and Technology - Manufacturing Extension Partnership, known as NIST-MEP, or just MEP for short, has developed a network of 59 centers across America that help connect manufacturers with the latest tools and innovative resources to help them grow. Enterprise Minnesota is one of those centers.

While Lean Enterprise was MEP's first highly successful program offering, the network of centers is constantly developing other tools to assist manufacturers

Enterprise Minnesota, for one, developed its own network of Peer Councils that connects like-minded business executives to discuss their similar challenges and successes. Likewise, the South Carolina MEP developed a Business Process Review, and Wisconsin MEPAccelerate! as a program to improve the supply chain. The Central New York Technology Development Organization, another MEP, resurrected Training Within Industry to help sustain lean improvements.

All of these tools, developed in different parts of the country, are available to Minnesota manufacturers by way of Enterprise Minnesota's affiliation with MEP. John Connelly, director of product management at Enterprise Minnesota, says that this type of national network of centers in each state creates real value for the manufacturing industry.

"MEP is focused on bringing federal assistance to states to leverage success in manufacturers," Connelly said. "It's an inherent focus in productivity improvements, then looking at revenue, new products, and more."

There are resources from the national level too, available to all MEP affiliates, says Connelly. The Green Supplier Network and Eureka! Winning Ways (TM) are both examples of tools used across the nation and supported by the MEP system. Later this year, Enterprise Minnesota plans to bring another national resource, Profit 101, to the state's manufacturers for the first time.

Manufacturers can access all of these resources from other centers across the country and from the national program. A recent MEP report states that, "While headlines and news stories focus on the current impact of the difficult times faced by particular firms or industries, missed are the significant transformations achieved by others, and the potential opportunities and rewards that accompany these changes developed ."

Connelly says that the major differentiation for MEP is its commitment to business results measured through an ongoing survey. After receiving help from an MEP center, a manufacturer participates in a survey conducted by an independent party. The survey asks questions relating to revenue, cost savings, investment, and jobs created.

The purpose of surveying companies is to provide measurement for impacting economic growth, and to also help individual companies better understand their own progress towards improvement.

"There are things that make MEP credible like no others," Connelly said. "The survey shows our results of having a focus on economic impact like revenue, cost, investment, and jobs."

For more information, contact Enterprise Minnesota.

Boost Work Performance Through New Safety Solutions

When: June 24, 2009, 8:00am - 11:00am
Where: RJF Agencies (map)
Cost: $110, or Group Rate 4 for $237
Continental breakfast provided.



Who should attend:
CEOs, General Managers, CFOs, CIOs, VPs, Mid Level Managers, & Supervisors

What to expect:
Discover how best practices for safety affect your bottom line and deliver Return on Investment (ROI). Accidents cause injuries, damages to equipment, scrap, lost time, and decreased morale. Hear from industry experts about how to engage employees in identifying and eliminating potential hazards, and analyzing the chain of events that lead to accidents and hazardous situations.

Presenters:

Register online today!

For questions or more information email events@enterpriseminnesota.org or call our events line at 612.455.4239.