April 4, 2016 - View this as a web page - View eblast from March 28, 2016

NIST MEP System Update Meeting

The next System Update Meeting will be held in Charleston, SC on May 17-18, 2016 at the Charleston Marriott, 170 Lockwood Blvd. Charleston, SC 29403.

Registration: $267 per person with catering.  (Please note that there are two different registration fees because it is now a legal requirement from the Department of Commerce to offer a non-catering registration fee for any attendee who does not want any beverages or meals). 

In addition, we will also hold the MEP Advisory Board meeting on the following day, Thursday, May 19th. This meeting is open to all interested in attending.

For more information about the event, hotel and agenda click here. If you have any questions, please contact Samm Bowman at samm@nist.gov or 301-975-5978.

NIST MEP Staffing Update

Beginning April 18th, two Regional Managers will be joining NIST MEP for the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions.

Jeff Lucas (Mid-Atlantic) is rejoining us. For those of you who don’t know Jeff, he had been working in the Manufacturing Policy and Research group prior to taking his most recent job with the Veterans Administration.

Jose Colucci (Southeast) joins us from the U.S. Patent Office where he was a Patent Examiner. Previously he was the Director of the R&D Center at the University of Puerto Rico where he oversaw several external industry initiatives while acting as the Chemical Engineering Department Director and holding other academic management positions at the University.

Make it in America Challenge Update

Save the Date, May 4 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST. In honor of the upcoming Make it in America Interim report (and two years of excellent grant work), Make it in America representatives from Maine MEP and NEPIRC will present on their activities as part of these awards. Stay tuned for more details. For questions contact Megean Blum

Recent Marketing Activities

Save the Date: May 11th at 3:00 PM EST - Building and Leveraging Brands

Heidi Shultz, Executive Vice President of Agora, Inc, and a lecturer in Northwestern University’s Department of Integrated Marketing Communication will talk about the role of brand in driving value for organizations and their customers. This webinar will focus on brand concepts such as: what is a brand, how they create value, identity vs. image; and will be followed by a discussion about about how individual brands can work together to use branding tools to be better able to deliver on the mission. Add to Calendar

Two marketing questions have been asked to the system on MEP Connect and through MEIS Communities of Practice. If you have any answers to them, please respond to Cindy Orellana, so we can make it available to the entire system. Thanks!

Question 1: Successful Webinars by MEP Centers: We (FloridaMakes) are planning a series of webinars and webinar topics - and would like to hear from other MEP centers who have done webinars as part of your programming and outreach. Specifically: What topics have been most successful? What's been your greatest learning in doing them?​ And any other insights or lessons learned that you'd like to provide.

Question 2: We (Dakota MEP) are looking for options for our e-newsletter. What tool/software do you use? Looking for information on cost, ease of use, features, likes/dislikes, etc.

What's Happening Around MEP and Manufacturing

Call for Nominations: Excellence in Economic Development Awards

IEDC's Excellence in Economic Development Awards program distinguishes the world's best economic development programs and partnerships, marketing materials, as well as the year's most influential leaders. The awards honor organizations and individuals for their efforts in creating positive change in urban, suburban and rural communities. Winners will be recognized at the 2016 Annual Conference in Cleveland, Ohio Sep. 25-28. To submit an application, click here.

2016 American Energy & Manufacturing Competitiveness (AEMC) Northeast Regional Summit

The Council on Competitiveness (Council) and the U.S. Department of Energy, invites you to attend the 2016 AEMC Northeast Regional Summit, the fourth premier, annual, event dedicated to building momentum around American innovation, progress and competitiveness in energy and manufacturing. The Summit will galvanize public and private sector leaders to take concrete actions to enhance U.S. productivity and prosperity – with a particular focus on regional success stories from the Northeast. Learn More.

What NIST MEP is Reading: Productivity Dynamics in U.S. Manufacturing: An Industry-Based Analysis

This paper is the first in a series of MAPI Foundation studies whose goal is to shed light on productivity dynamics in the manufacturing sector from the perspective of questions that are unique to the present-day economic and technological climate. The current study makes use of an expanding dataset on productivity growth in detailed manufacturing industries to analyze the industry pattern of the U.S. manufacturing productivity evolution. Read More

MEP in the News

• Making Great Workplaces, manufacturers share their stories at the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership Summit. Read More
• MANTEC, The Fortress Initiative and SCPA works have led an effort to secure funds for workforce training. Read More
• On March 23-24, MEP Director Carroll Thomas and Mark Troppe spoke at the National Minority Business Enterprise Manufacturers Summit in Atlanta. The event was convened by DOC’s Minority Business Development Agency and numerous co-sponsors including Georgia Tech/Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership; BMW Group/Plant Spartanburg; Ingersoll Rand, Grady, Novant Health, Wells Fargo, and others. Participants heard from inspiring speakers like Derreck Kayongo, founder of the Global Soap Project and a CNN Hero of 2011 who talked about entrepreneurship and the importance of never giving up. The summit featured panels of business leaders and leading educators and researchers on the cutting edge of innovations in manufacturing as well as opportunities for businesses to meet in “fast pitch” sessions that explored B2B supply chain opportunities. All in all, it was a terrific and inspiring day!
  
  In case you want to use it, one of the panelists is a very successful businessman, Joseph B Anderson, Chairman of TAG Holdings, LLC, who is a Vietnam Veteran whose leadership is detailed in the 1967 Academy Award-winning documentary, “The Anderson Platoon.”
  

Vacancies around the MEP System

• The newly formed PA IRC Network Foundation is searching for a Director to oversee all operational aspects, including fiduciary functions and contract compliance. If you are proactive and a self-motivated administrator with analytic and strategic planning skills who is able to travel up to 25% of your time within PA, please go to Director PA IRC Network Foundation - US: Harrisburg, PA to apply.