New Centers in South Dakota and Kentucky
MEP has awarded cooperative agreements to South Dakota Manufacturing Technology Solutions and Advantage Kentucky Alliance to become the MEP affiliate centers of South Dakota and Kentucky.
MEP invited proposals for the establishment of two MEP centers earlier this year through a Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) announcement in the Federal Register. The FFO (2012-NIST-MEP-SD-AND-KY-01) was open to all nonprofit organizations, as well as existing MEP centers.
Center Details:
South Dakota Manufacturing and Technology Solutions
Is a South Dakota based resource for South Dakota's manufacturers to address today's highly complex business challenges.
Center Director: Wes Kelly
Advantage Kentucky Alliance
Strengthens manufacturing in Kentucky by accelerating its transformation toward innovation making a more efficient and powerful driver of economic growth and job creation.
Center Director: Scott Broughton
For more information, please contact Mellissa Ayala at mellissa.ayala@nist.gov or 301-975-5771.
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MEP System Update Webcast
Join us on January 15th at 2:00 pm est for the MEP system update webcast. We will be providing updates on a number of topics, including the federal budget, changes to our innovation service offerings, lessons learned from the e-car / t-car projects and new other agency collaborations. The webcast will be recorded and posted to MEIS.
For more information, please contact Karen Lellock at Karen.lellock@nist.gov or 301-975-4269
Webcast Details
Webcast Link
Call in number: 1-866-469-3239
Meeting Password: welcome
Meeting number: 739 894 356
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MEP Update Meeting - Registration and Room update
Room rate ends January 8th: $104/night
Click here to place reservations online. This link is already generated with the group discount code. Once on the website select your arrival and departure date and the Group/Convention Code will automatically populate to say “January Update Meeting.” To place reservations by phone please call 855-271-3620 and reference “January Update Meeting.” You must reference the room block in order to receive the discounted rate.
Registration and Agenda
If you haven't registered yet, please do so before January 21,2013. Click on the "registration" button in the bottom right hand corner of the Update Meeting website. Registration cost is $250 per person. You can also view the schedule meetings by clicking the Agenda tab of the event site.
Highlights of the Agenda include:
- MEP system year in review; preview of next 12 months
- Lessons learned from high performing centers in CORE
- Peer discussions about innovation practice success
- (New!) Learning Lab: presentation and discussion of new system capacity building effort
The January Update Meeting will be held in in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Union Station DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel starting at 1:00 pm on January 29 and ending by 2:30 on the 30th. Many centers have started registering and are sending multiple staff to the meeting. We look forward to good discussion and networking opportunities for center leadership and all levels of staff.
Any questions related to the January MEP Update Meeting, please contact Kari Reidy at kari.reidy@nist.gov or 301-975-4919.
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Edison Nation Live Product Search
Edison Nation®, an idea-to-shelf product developer and innovation platform has partnered once again with the NIST MEP on their Made in America Program. This program gives U.S.-based manufacturers the first chance to bid on producing new products for large, established retailers. Read Announcement.
In the first step of this program Edison Nation gathers new and innovative product ideas from its inventor network through “Live Product Searches.” The first retailer to participate is Belk, the nation’s largest privately owned department store company. Belk has teamed up with Edison nation to find innovative ways to re-imagine men’s gift assortments. Belk’s Live Product Search went live on December 18, 2012. To view the Belk Landing Page, please, click here. Please send this live search out to your company networks. With the reach of the MEP network we can help U.S. companies create new opportunities to manufacture products for large retailers.
In early 2013 Belk will select their favorite new product ideas. We will then be posting the requests for quotes to make these new products so that you can send them to your manufacturer networks.
For questions, please contact Dave Cranmer (David.Cranmer@nist.gov | 301-975-5753) or Caroline Ranghel Ashley (Ranghel@rti.org | 919- 541-6822)
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What's Happening Around MEP
Department of Defense Program – Connecting American Manufacturing (CAM)
The DoD has launched the “Connecting American Manufacturing” initiative to allow the government to more easily and efficiently connect with both small and mid-size U.S. manufacturers that have the capabilities they need; and to make it easier for manufacturers to identify and secure government opportunities that match their capabilities.
As part of the initiative efforts, mfrsearch.com, an online communication portal and database for buyers and sellers of manufactured parts and machining services has been chosen as part of the Connecting American Manufacturing initiative. This secure interactive website connects manufacturing businesses to each other. The site specifically meets the needs of small-to-mid-sized manufacturers eager to take advantage of Department of Defense and other commercial RFQ postings. mfrsearch.com automatically matches RFQs that fit manufacturer’s profiles and e-mails opportunities directly to them. Suppliers can set RFQ filters and create company profiles that alert prospective buyers of the supplier’s expertise and capabilities.
Mfrsearch.com is powered by TechSolve, Southwest Ohio’s MEP. Contact Doreen Stanley at 513-948-2041 to discuss how mfrsearch.com could be utilized in MEP Centers. To learn more about the tool please visit the mfrsearch website or watch the introductory YouTube video.
Upcoming Webinar: Offshore Wind – Atlantic Coast Manufacturing Opportunities
Wednesday January 23, 2013 at 1:00 Eastern/12:00 Central
This webinar is the first in a series of monthly webinars by the Clean Energy Manufacturing Center to provide MEP system staff information about manufacturing growth opportunities in clean energy markets. These will be held monthly - the fourth Wednesday of the month at 1:00 Eastern/12:00 Central. Upcoming industries will include solar, energy storage, mass transit, natural gas etc. If there is a specific market you would like to see addressed, contact Linda Nielsen at lindan@bgafoundation.org or (612) 466-4506.
Webinar Details
Webinar Link
Call in number: 1-866-469-3239
Meeting Password: CEMC
Meeting number: 730 783 016
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MEP in the NEWS
IMEC partners with Calumet Area Industrial Commission for Expanded Manufacturing Outreach The partnership will provide manufacturing companies located in its region with improvement opportunities. The CAIC focuses primarily on the Greater Calumet Area of Chicago and strives to provide an environment in which manufacturers can grow and prosper... Read Article
Made in America is Back! In 2011, we introduced you to our partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal government arm that supports small business and U.S.-based manufacturing. The result was our Made in America searches, an LPS series that works much like a typical search – but with a patriotic twist!... Read Article
Read the Latest from the 
Apple's Return
This past Spring, I wrote a blog posing the question: “What Would it Take For Apple to Make ‘Em Here?” At the time, Apple was coming under fire for the use of over 700,000 contract manufacturers in nations such as China and Taiwan to produce their most popular products such as the iPad and iPhone. While Apple continues to produce these products overseas, some of Apple’s production is coming back home.... Read Blog
Top Five Manufacturing Trends of 2012
As 2012 came to an end, let’s take a look at some of the most notable manufacturing themes of the past year... Read Blog
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 Send us your News Clips! Email us at mepeblast@nist.gov
Upcoming Events of Interest
Lean Product Development Webinar – What Does Success Look Like?
January 14, 2013 from 2pm-3pm EST
Hear about the latest framework, tools, and methods of Lean Product Development and how MEP centers can sell, deliver, sustain, and succeed using this powerful improvement methodology. Understand what LPD materials and support are available through the National MEP system and how LPD synergizes with the current suite of consulting products available to MEP centers, including Innovation Engineering. NIST MEP will provide Lean Product Development master practitioners and fund them to kick start your LPD practice with visioning events to prospective clients, staff training and first client engagement facilitation. For more information, click here or contact Brian Lagas at brian.lagas@nist.gov , 301-975-5043.
Webinar Link
Password: mep
Call in Number: 1-866-469-3239
Meeting Number: 737 121 740
NEW!! Blueprint for Action I: Workshop on the Design of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI)
January 16, 2013
U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama
This regional workshop, first in a new series of workshops by the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO), provides a forum for the AMNPO to present to stakeholders the proposed design of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI or “Network”) and its regional components, Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs or “Institutes”). The workshop will allow for public review and discussion of the proposed NNMI and IMI design, an initiative proposed by President Obama. For more information visit the manufacturing.gov webpage or contact Mark Troppe at mark.troppe@nist.gov.
Registration link
Workshop Fee: A $50 event fee
Toyota Kata Workshop and Summit hosted by Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions
January 16-17, 2013
Little Rock, Arkansas
Learn from Mike Rother, the author of "Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results"
- Obtain a basic understanding of the Toyota Improvement Kata Trajectory (i.e. Vision/Challenge, Current Condition, Target Condition, Obstacles, PDCA)
- Recognize the value of the Coaching Kata Methodology (i.e., how the Value Adders, Learner and 1st and 2nd Coaches interact via the 5 Questions)
- Gain a practitioner’s view of how the Toyota Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata can be used in conjunction with the Lean 101 “Buzz Electronics” simulation to help enhance the learning of these methodologies
For more information, click here or contact Brian Lagas at brian.lagas@nist.gov , 301-975-5043.
Principles of Lean & Green Manufacturing Workshop hosted in Delaware
January 18, 2013
A revised version of the LE101 workshop Principles of Lean Manufacturing with the Buzz Electronics simulation will be delivered by the Delaware MEP on January 18, 2013. The 'classroom' materials now include "green" related concepts including green wastes, the interrelationship between "lean and green", and specific "green".
Event Details
Location: Delaware Technical & Community College (Stanton Campus)
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Cost: $395
To register, click here. For more information, contact Sara Collins sfcollin@demep.org
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