April 11, 2016 - View this as a web page - View eblast from April 4, 2016

Upcoming MEP Meetings

System Update Meeting: Agenda and informational webinar.
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. In addition, we will also hold the MEP Advisory Board meeting the following day on Thursday, May 19th. This meeting is open to all interested in attending. For more information about the event, and hotel click here. We have a draft agenda available and you can view it by clicking here.

We are also holding a webex next Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 2:00 PM EDT to walk through the Update meeting and discuss ways to get center input on topics and presenters. Webinar Details: Link | Pass: Mayupdate2016!.

Save the Date: Buy America Transit Supply Chain Connectivity Forum. NIST MEP, along with the Arizona Commerce Authority, and the Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration will be hosting an upcoming Buy America Transit Supply Chain Forum in Phoenix, on June 23, 2016.

The objective of the Transit Supply Chain Connectivity Forum is to bring large transit OEMs and smaller, qualified and interested U.S. manufacturers together in an effort to facilitate the use of a higher percentage of domestic suppliers in transit products and systems. The Forum will offer a venue for smaller manufacturers to learn what products are needed and find out more about investments they need to consider when entering the transit industry.

This event will be held in conjunction with the American Transportation Association’s (APTA) Rail Conference at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix, 340 N 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ. More information including registration will be provided shortly.

If you have any questions about either events, please contact Samm Bowman at samm@nist.gov or 301-975-5978.

NIST MEP Staffing Update

Beginning May 2, 2016, Cheryl Gendron will join NIST MEP as the Event and Board Coordinator.
Cheryl has more than 12 years of experience managing meetings, events, and communications. She is a Certified Association Executive as well as a Certified Meeting Professional! Cheryl comes to NIST MEP from her role as the Director of Communications and Events at the National Environmental Balancing Bureau in Gaithersburg, MD where she has managed multiple conferences, meetings, and tradeshows. Cheryl has been the liaison to its Board, as well as managed many other marketing and communication responsibilities.

Also Beginning May 2, 2016 Sunni Massey, Southeast region FPO will be on a one year detail rotation as part of the White House Office of Management and Budget Professional Development Exchange & Training Program. Sunni wil be working with the Budget Systems Branch on the management of OMB MAX and the Budget Formulation and Execution Line of Business. During her tenure, Gloria Solomon will be taking over the Southeast region, and Mellissa Ayala will be taking the Mid-Atlantic Region in addition to her current Midwest region.

Lastly, on April 4th, Heidi Sheppard started her detail assignment for six months at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). While on detail Heidi will be working as a project manager for the NEA in the Visual Arts Division with the Design Program team. She will be conducting research on the current state of industrial design work within small and medium sized manufacturers. Heidi will write a report that addresses her findings, including recommendations for the MEP program based on the study for furthering work amongst industrial designers and small and medium sized manufacturers. During Heidi's detail, you can contact Mark Troppe with questions. Feel free to contact Heidi about her new work.

MFG Day 2016

The MFG DAY 2016 site is now launched and includes the theme of “Opening Doors and Minds” with key materials updated by the national team of co-producers. Please sign-up as Endorsers in recognition of your support and outreach efforts. You may also be interested in co-marketing your involvement with this flier. Thanks for your work in getting 3,000 official events registered and making this year’s MFG DAY a tremendous success! Please contact Mark Schmit or Zara Brunner for more information or questions.

What NIST MEP is Reading

2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, Deloitte

The 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (GMCI) report is the third study prepared by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) Global Consumer & Industrial Products Industry Group and the Council on Competitiveness, with prior studies published in 2010 and 2013. This multi-year research platform is designed to help global industry executives and policy makers evaluate drivers that are key to company and country level competitiveness as well as identify which nations are expected to offer the most competitive manufacturing environments through the end of this decade. The 2016 study includes more than 500 survey responses from senior manufacturing executives around the world. View Report

Passenger Rail & Transit Rail Manufacturing in the U.S., Environment Law and Policy Center and BlueGreen Alliance

A new report from the Environment Law and Policy Center and the BlueGreen Alliance shows that in addition to economic growth and environmental benefits, transit and passenger rail systems also support extensive manufacturing businesses and jobs across the country—both in communities local to and far from the transit systems themselves. This report mapped out the transit and passenger rail manufacturing footprint and found more than 750 companies in at least 39 states manufacturing components for transit and passenger rail today. View Report

Noteworthy News

• You may know West Elm as the store with cool affordable home goods, bud did you know they also have a blog? Front & Main is dedicated to sharing the inspirations and works of its most creative minds and last week MANEX and FuzeHub were featured! This is the first of a 3 part series they will run. The first blog post was titled "How to Write an RPF + Vet Suppliers for Your Small Business". To learn more click here.

• Just for Fun. A project coming out of the M.I.T. Media Lab last Monday seeks to make the value of government data available to a wider audience. The project, called Data U, bills itself as “the most comprehensive visualization of U.S. public data.” It is free, and its software code is open source, meaning that developers can build custom applications by adding other data. Check out the Manufacturing Profile