Tuesday, 31 May 2011 15:07
VMEC Refreshes Next Generation Manufacturing Study
2011 Study will update the state’s manufacturers progress on world-class manufacturing
practices and strategies. State manufacturers encouraged to participate.
DUE TO INCREASED INTEREST,THE STUDY DEADLINE DATE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO JULY 25, 2011.
RANDOLPH CENTER, VERMONT (May 31, 2011) — A 2009 research study, presented by the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC), has been refreshed and launched to reassess state manufacturers’ strategies that win in the global economy.
The 2011 Next Generation Manufacturing Study provides a framework for understanding Next Generation Manufacturing (NGM) by identifying competitive performances, corporate best practices, and company attributes for achieving world-class status in the 21st century.
The web based NGM Study questionnaire can be accessed at www.NGMStudy.com. Any manufacturing owner, CEO or senior-level executive is eligible to participate. Participation in the Study is confidential or anonymous and takes 20-25 minutes to complete. The deadline for participation is June 21, 2011.
Study participants who participate confidentially will receive a FREE comprehensive Next Generation Performance Report showing how their organization compares to other manufacturers (all participants as well as groups of manufacturers similar to their organization) in the key strategic areas. This Report can be valuable in helping companies manage their operations for success.
The strategies explored by the Next Generation Manufacturing Study are Customer Focused Innovation, Superior Processes/Improvement Focus, Human Capital Management, Supply Chain Management and Collaboration, Sustainability, and Global Engagement.
“A focus on the six Next Generation Manufacturing strategies strongly correlated with success in the first version of this Study,” said John Brandt, CEO of the Manufacturing Performance Institute (MPI), a global research firm that is conducting the Study. “Two years later, we’re interested in finding out what’s changed for U.S. manufacturers in a post-recession economy.”
According to VMEC Director and CEO Bob Zider, “The NGM Study results will provide valuable data for manufacturers, business leaders, and state and national policy makers. Participating manufacturers will be able to see how they rank against world-class performance benchmarks and can target improvements where needed. It is our hope that policy makers will be able to strengthen and improve programs and services supporting manufacturers knowing where the critical needs are. This study provides a scorecard, and the scorecard tells us what we need to do to improve. It will also assist VMEC in its planning for the new products and services that we need to be offering Vermont manufacturers.”
The national sponsor of the Study is the American Small Manufacturers Coalition (ASMC), an organization composed of all of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers in America. VMEC is the NIST MEP-affiliated Center in Vermont. MPI Group, an internationally recognized research firm that specializes in manufacturing issues, is conducting the Study and compiling the Reports. For more information on the 2011 Next Generation Manufacturing Study, call VMEC at 802-728-1432 or email [email protected].