Creating a Manufacturing Nexus

Every time I meet someone who doesn’t associate Enterprise Minnesota^®, the magazine, with Enterprise Minnesota, the consulting organization, I am reminded that it never hurts to share with your audience who you are and what you do – especially when you are uniquely situated in a marketplace as we are. So here goes.

At our core, Enterprise Minnesota is a business consulting organization that helps medium and smaller sized Minnesota manufacturers implement business solutions to compete and grow profitably. We have a team of 21 consultants, who live and work in communities throughout the state. Through our operational and business growth expertise, our customers become well positioned to strengthen their businesses (increase revenue) and improve productivity (control costs) and other efficiencies. As a result, manufacturers grow and continue their commitment as employers of good, sustaining jobs that contribute to local economies and thriving communities. Enterprise Minnesota also collaborates with education, government, granting organizations and economic development professionals in support of the industry.

Our old friends remember that Enterprise Minnesota began as a quasi-state agency – one getting its full (and robust) funding from the coffers of the state government. That funding gradually diminished over the years until a decade or so ago, when it was eliminated altogether. To their great credit, the then board and staff decided to transition into a fee-based organization that paid its way through the work they did. It forced us to lean up our operation and face the same open-market pressures that our manufacturers face. In all, it proved to be a valuable transition.

At the same time, Enterprise Minnesota is privileged to be one of 59 centers throughout the country that represent the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a program housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce that helps manufacturers achieve top-line and bottom-line growth.

Our search to offer relevant, leading-edge business solutions for clients is enhanced by input from 12 executive Peer Councils. These daylong monthly meetings consist of 10 CEO Peer Councils and two additional Peer Councils devoted to operations managers. We also produce a dozen half-day business briefings each year in which manufacturing executives candidly share their experiences and expertise in diverse issues ranging from supply chain management to company valuations.

For us, the byproduct of all this has been that we play a valuable role as the connector, the nexus, of all things related to manufacturing in Minnesota. Our efforts have helped manufacturers communicate with each other, with their communities, with educational institutions, and with elected officials who can have an impact on the marketplace.

No place is this more evident than in our annual State of Manufacturing® survey research project, which is now about to enter its fifth year. It has become the go-to barometer gauging how manufacturers view their industry, their state, and their nation. We’ll begin our survey interviews and 20 focus groups across Minnesota in February.

And, oh, yes. Enterprise Minnesota^® magazine is published by Enterprise Minnesota to solidify these relationships by always telling the good news about Minnesota’s manufacturers.