Learning to Change Opportunities to Improve the Performance of Smaller Manufacturers (1993) / Chapter Skim
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3 IMPROVING MANUFACTURING: SOURCES OF ASSISTANCE FOR SMALLER COMPANIES
3 IMPROVING MANUFACTURING: SOURCES OF ASSISTANCE FOR SMALLER COMPANIES
Pages 51-72
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From page 51... ...
With some regional variation, assistance is available in both the private sector consultants, equipment suppliers, customers and in the public sector- educational institutions, state industrial extension services, and various federal programs. The availability of public assistance, which is usually dependent on funding by state and local government, tends to vary with Me perceived contribution of smaller manufacturing firms to the well-being of the local economy.
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From page 52... ...
Some manufacturing assistance organizations, including the Manufacturing Technology Centers (MTCs) , have developed a cadre of third- party consultants and are able to help firms identify and select appropriate experts.
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From page 53... ...
For example, when presenting the final report on an Air Force project that developed automation technology for small subcontractors, a senior R&D engineer with a leading machine tool company frankly admitted that his company preferred to market the technology to larger original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
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From page 54... ...
In general, smaller manufacturers often need help finding the right equipment and vendors for their operations, as well as help implementing it; some industrial assistance providers are filling this role in various ways. For instance, the Great Lakes Manufacturing Technology Center (GLMTC)
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From page 55... ...
Virtually all of these groups are not-for-prof~t corporations, governed by boards elected from Heir membership. At the national level, most of these organizations have relatively modest operating budgets and a small paid staff; locally, Here is typically no paid staff, but a rotating cadre of member volunteers who plan and implement local activities.
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From page 56... ...
· Educational programs are offered in a wide range of forms, including seminars and tutorials, correspondence courses, audio and video cassettes, books, and informative articles in newsletters and magazines. Some associations and societies sponsor courses through local chapters in conjunction with community colleges or other educational institutions.
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From page 57... ...
The Association for Manufacturing Technology operates a comprehensive information service for its member companies, staffed by professional research librarians. Even associations with less formalized information services will usually attempt to respond to the requests of members for sources of obscure standards or technical information.
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From page 58... ...
With varying success, nearly all of Be industrial states have launched programs that offer business practices and technical assistance to local firms. The majority of these efforts draw substantially on university science and engineering faculty to support technology transfer programs modeled after the Cooperative Extension Service supported by Be agriculture community for the last 70 years.
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From page 59... ...
When involved in state-sponsored technical assistance programs, faculty are more likely to focus on issues of advanced technologies in contrast to applying off-the-shelf, state of the market technology, although the same is not true for engineering extension specialists. In addition, some university-based assistance efforts use engineering students as field agents, or assistants to field agents, working directly with local firms.
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From page 60... ...
Some European engineering schools address this shortcoming by requiring professors to take periodic sabbaticals for relevant experience in industry in order to maintain their credentials. Technical Schools, Community Colleges, Apprenticeship Programs Two-year colleges have become a major source of job training and education for American manufacturing companies.
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From page 61... ...
For instance, the Small Business Administration (SBA) addresses many general business issues that may be of interest to manufacturing firms, but its capacity and abilities depend on regional leadership and the variability of its services reflects frequently shifting priorities.
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From page 62... ...
For instance, all of the DoE national laboratories now have full-time technology transfer staff and have begun to place some emphasis on reaching smaller firms. A National Technology Transfer Center has been established as an information clearinghouse on technology transfer opportunities in the laboratories and other federal facilities.
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From page 63... ...
Most defense manufacturing initiatives, however, have been managed through the Manufacturing Technology Program, known more commonly as ManTech. All of the service branches plus the Defense Logistics Agency have ManTech programs that concentrate on helping the defense industry investigate the feasibility of production technologies considered too risky or DoD-focused to be undertaken by manufacturers on their own.
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From page 64... ...
Most programs concerned with manufacturing competitiveness are located in the Technology Administration, established under Me 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act. The Technology Administration consists of three components: the National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
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From page 65... ...
The program has evolved somewhat since the first awards of $1.5 million were made in 1990 to help nine state programs establish mechanisms to access federal technology for smaller businesses. In 1991, awards were made to help eight states develop strategic plans for state-wide industrial extension programs.
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From page 66... ...
NCTPC plans to place a teaching factory in a facility to be built by He university. Shared Manufacturing Facilities/Teaching Factories Shared manufacturing facilities, also referred to as teaching factories, are an increasingly popular concept among the various approaches to industrial modernization.
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From page 67... ...
Smaller companies who have the opportunity to use the teaching factories as subcontracting sources may have little motivation to change their low-cost advantage by actually buying their own equipment and weaning themselves from the subsidy. The teaching factories themselves, in the absence of broad acceptance by smaller companies, may be reluctant to turn away the few repeat cash customers that take advantage of the available service.
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From page 68... ...
WISCONSIN Kenosha Valencia Community College Boise State University Rock Valley College Manufacturing Technology Consortium (Rock Island Arsenal) Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility Hagerstown Junior College DemMaTec, University of Missoun Camden County College New Mexico State University Rochester Institute of Technology Loraine County Community College Northampton Community College National Institute for Flexible Manufacturing Micro-Teaching Factory Robert C
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From page 69... ...
Established in 1914, agricultural extension has developed into a nationwide system employing more than 9,600 county field agents and 4,600 land-grant university specialists to transfer new agricultural techniques to farmers and to stimulate community development. One-onone contacts between extension agents and farmers, publications, electronic media, and workshops and training sessions are among the methods used to disseminate information and provide technical assistance.
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From page 70... ...
At the very least, the agricultural extension model needs adaptation to be useful in the manufacturing sector. But it is also possible that other, quite different approaches to manufacturing technology dissemination need to be considered and tried.
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From page 71... ...
To encourage adoption of new technology, government financial assistance has been available in the form of direct loans for operating funds or plant and equipment investment, favorable leasing arrangements or installment sales to individual manufacturers or cooperatives of manufacturers, and substantial tax relief that in 1984 allowed smaller firms the option of taking a first year depreciation of 30 percent.3 In addition to We system of financial assistance for smaller firms, Japan has a nationwide public system of support that encourages technology adoption and development. An important component of this system is the network of 170 Kohsetsushi centers, many founded in the 1920s and 1930s.
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