Tech Trends e-Newsletter

Building For Tomorrow

MTI’s Accelerate! program can help cultivate and strengthen relationships between large OEMs and their smaller manufacturing suppliers.

By almost any measure, OEMs and their manufacturing company suppliers have a complex relationship these days. OEMs typically have high expectations—they need reliable suppliers, ones that can consistently produce quality products on time and on budget. On the flip side, domestic suppliers face a quandary. The prospect of a relationship with a large OEM offers the possibility of long-term contracts, reliable pay, and the prestige that comes with listing a big company on your client roster. But getting and retaining a larger firm’s business typically requires a supplier to trim prices and make a full-scale commitment to improve its operations—both of which can be difficult to muster when you’re already under tremendous competitive pressure to push down prices and sustain decent margins.

In short, it’s the type of relationship that requires cooperation and flexibility to function effectively. But that sort of cooperation—between a pair of companies attempting to do business together—can be a delicate thing to achieve. A new service, Accelerate!, offered jointly by MTI and the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) can help with that. It’s designed to produce results in supplier performance while helping build that cooperation—and creating collaborative and mutually productive relationships between suppliers and OEMs.

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News, notes, and information from all over.

Mark your calendars now for an MTI Business Event that will focus on: “Planning for an Aging Workforce: What Demographic Shifts Will Demand for Businesses to Succeed.” The event, which is sponsored by RJF Agencies Inc., Eide Bailly LLP, Larson King LLP, and Open Systems, will take place on Jan. 16, 2008, at the Tech Plus Center in Mankato. For more information or to register, call Kelly Mireault at 612-455- 4239 or go to www.minnesotatechnology.org/training/index.asp.

A new survey, “Understanding the Worker Needs of Manufacturers,” by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) also offers insights into the state’s manufacturing environment. The survey (which was supported by a number of organizations, including MTI) queried Minnesota manufacturers with 250 employees or less. Some key findings:

66 percent of respondents noted that a “high-performance workforce” is the number one factor for firm success
52 percent had positions unfilled due to lack of qualified applicants and also indicated a moderate or serious shortage of workers overall
Respondents expected the workforce shortage to be more significant three years from now.

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A monthly roundup of tips, data, and ideas.

MTI Offers Lean Office Simulation

Lean is not only for manufacturers. Next month, MTI will offer a one-day simulation that teaches the use of lean tools in office environments. The event’s learning objectives include:

The use of Lean tools to help gain and sustain improvements in office (non-production) value streams;
The link between Value Stream Mapping and the tools used to implement the future state design;
The power of workload balancing, leveling work, flow and pitch to meet aggressive
Customer objectives
Linking the tools back to individual office environments.

The event will take place on Jan. 23, 2008, at 8 a.m. at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina. Cost is $350 and lunch will be provided. For more information or to register, go to: www.minnesotatechnology.org/training/JAN23_08_form.asp or call Karen Jeal at 612-455-4207.

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