Maker Faire 2012 Applications Now Being Accepted

February 21, 2012 By KCMN
Fellow Makers, Hackers, and DIYers, Today is the Day! 
Maker Faire: Kansas City 2012Call for Makers is officially open, and you are invited to participate!Now is the time to reserve your booth at this year’s expanded Maker Faire: Kansas City, June 23-24, 2012 at Union Station.

We want all types of Makers to apply to participate in this weekend creativity extravanganza. Art, Music, Creative Foods, Urban Gardening, Science, Math, Technology, Young Makers, Robotics, Hacker Space, Crafters, Woodworkers, Power Wheels, and more … Maker Faire: Kansas City is your chance to demonstrate your ideas, inventions, and creations. All applications must be submitted no later than 5 pm CST, Friday, March 30, 2012, Your application will be reviewed by a panel looking for diverse ideas and a good representation of makers in all categories.

Tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and other makers you know to check us out and apply to participate, or plan to attend this year’s event to experience the fun and excitement of Maker Faire: Kansas City. If you know someone who wants to exhbit at Maker Faire for the first time send them to www.makerfairekc.com/makers!

Connect with us on Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube using the tag makerfairekc. Like us on Facebook, too!

Questions? Visit us on the web at www.makerfairekc.com for FAQs and general information, or contact us directly at info@makerfairekc.com.

If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring this year’s Maker Faire: Kansas City, direct inquiries to sponsors@makerfairekc.com.

Happy Making! See you at the Faire!

Filed Under: News

Marketing: It’s not just about the ads

February 20, 2012 By KCMN

KCMN’s  February meeting featured two speakers who discussed the role of marketing in a successful manufacturing company.  Speaker Rich Delaney, of 20/20 Marketing made the point: marketing is not just about running an ad somewhere, it’s about having a plan to respond to your customers, and to spread the word about what makes your company valuable.  Rich noted that too many times marketing is ‘what those people in the marketing department do’.  He believes that in order to successfully grow your top line, that all aspects of the company need to be involved in promoting the company and responding to customers.   He gave the example of a company who wanted to spend $100,000 on a new customer service tool, but had never asked their customers whether this tool would benefit them, or result in their spending more money with the company.
Steve Hasty, with A & E Custom Manufacturing talked about the factors which have led to their growth over the past five years:

  • Have a plan.  Don’t be piecemeal in your efforts and understand how all of the things you do tie together around your brand or message.
  • Have a website.  Make sure the site reflects the image you want to convey, make it easy to reach a real person, and make sure you are able to measure your site metrics.  (Can’t manage what you don’t measure)
  • Ask your customers where they want to go, and then help them get there.  Rather than focus on what you can sell them, make sure your solution is the best solution for them.  This may mean re-training or rethinking your sales team.
  • Use current technology.  A & E has all but eliminated the use of brochures for video and live demonstrations and utilizes ipads for communication across all levels of the company.
  • Network, network, network.  Being involved in organizations both in and out of your industry gives you many more opportunities for collaboration.   No one can do everything, so knowing how to work with other firms to offer your customers a complete solution is a win for both companies.
  • Use the media.  Public relations is more critical today when reporting and research budgets are being slashed, and reporters are increasingly looking for content to help them tell the story.  A & E’s exposure in industry publications has brought them new opportunities, as well as re-enforced a positive image they have with current customers.
  • Go to your customers.   Steve stressed the importance of looking to current business for growth, not just trying to find new customers.   Make sure you have regular and open communication, and serve as a resource.   One example is A & E has started looking at trade shows  not only in their industry, but at shows that their customers are attending.

Of course many of the headlines revolve around social media.  Social media can be a great vehicle for staying in touch with customers, but is not a panacea, it is just another channel.  Ad Words campaigns typically have little value, unless they can be focused around a particular competency, skill or product that is unique or in high demand.     Bottom line, the value of a particular marketing tactic is only as good as the overall plan that is developed with all functional areas of the company’s input.

Filed Under: News

A & E Custom Manufacturing Technologies Featured on NBC Action News

February 13, 2012 By KCMN

KCMN members A & E Custom Manufacturing Technologies was featured in a story highlighting some of the many themes we have discussed in recent meetings:

- the opportunity to grow your business with shorter lead times

- the need for skilled workers

- the trend towards work returning from overseas

You can view the video by clicking here!

Filed Under: News

Education and Training for Manufacturing Success

January 16, 2012 By KCMN

KCMN’s January 2012 Education Forum featured four higher education institutions, and for manufacturing companies, who discussed their approach on building a 21st century manufacturing team.

The four presenting schools Johnson County Community College, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Metropolitan Community College – Business & Technology, and Pittsburg State University, all emphasized their desire to be responsive to the needs of the region’s manufacturers.  For example, Pittsburg State utilizes an industry review board to look at ways to improve the curriculum and respond to changes in the marketplace.  KCK Community College, JCCC and MCC can tailor customized training programs for even small employee groups.  The community colleges emphasized that a program of study could be developed outside of a traditional degree program, which traditionally has more appeal to a working adult with additional responsibilities.   For employees looking to take their careers to the next level, Pittsburg State has developed a program to work with students who have earned a technical associates degree to earn a Bachelor’s degree that includes both technical and managerial coursework.

One area of discussion was improving front line supervisory skills.  Torotel was very pleased that their partnership with JCCC greatly improved all measures of behavior and leadership skills of their supervisory people, as measured by a pre and post training employee survey.  As a result of better supervisory behavioral and leadership skills – communication, problem solving, delegate, interpersonal skills, feedback, change, authority, and accountability the percentage also improved in 25% and better in five months.  This was accomplished despite a limited budget for training.

Cost of training programs is always a concern in an era of tight budgets. JCCC works with KS Workforce Partnership and can help you determine if training funds from the state are available.  The school also can serve in partnership with MCC when there is a cross state need identified, and they are working towards more cooperation.  KCK Community College’s Rich Piper will identify the right institution for your needs, and will recommend another institution if the in-state tuition makes the program too expensive.  Pittsburg State offers in-state tuition to MO residents in counties in the Metro KC area.

An extended discussion focused on the needs to increase the worker pipeline.  Ben Boone of ATK Small Caliber Systems says that going through the process of Lean increases stress on the labor force, and increased skills attainment by the workforce is critical to making the effort successful.  Forty percent or more of skilled workers are eligible or approaching eligibility for retirement.  Rich Piper noted the declining state of shop classes and other hands on programs at the high school level.  In schools without these kinds of outlets, there is a much higher rate of drop-outs, especially among boys. Tom Goodpasture of Pride Manufacturing stated that getting involved in education and the development of the next generation of workers is critical as well.  He noted that ‘If you are not at the table, you are likely to end up on the menu”

All of the manufacturing company panelists agreed that having a plan for both current and future workers was important.  As Dr. John Iley of Pittsburg State noted, classroom work can only cover so much.  Students also need co-op and internship opportunities to apply what they are learning.

Jason Grove with Dimensional Innovations has hired and continues to hire Pittsburg State interns and grads, and has been very happy with the results.  Developing and running an intern program is challenging, but it also carries many rewards, including new perspectives on the business and new enthusiasm from the younger workers. He stressed the importance of forming a two-way relationship with your educational partner. When both sides benefit, the outcomes are greatly improved.

Tom Goodpasture with Pride Manufacturing has had an active training program in his facility in order to respond to growing demand for skilled workers.  It is vital to cross train employees, and to utilize training as way to keep workers engaged. Tom also strongly recommended involvement in both the national and local dialog.  Elected leaders need to understand the concerns of industry, and appreciate the feedback.

Ben Boone emphasized that it is critical to capture the knowledge of older workers, and a key way to do this is by training them to capture their processes.  For example, MCC offers a course in digital literacy where older workers can learn to use excel and other technology to help document their work.   The manufacturing panelists strongly emphasized talking up education to your workers, and making sure that the culture values those who continue to improve their skills.

All of the speakers emphasized that the worker shortage is only going to get worse.  It is important to do what you can to encourage both improved skill sets/cross training of current workers, but also finding ways to advocate for earlier involvement, at the high school and even junior high level.  As a nation, we have avoided tracking kids into particular areas, but a range of skill sets is being ignored at the peril of our future competitiveness in manufacturing in the US.   If all of the jobs that went to China returned to the US, we would not have the workforce to fill them.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: education, KCMN, training, workforce

Robbie Receives 2011 Best of Lenexa Award for third consecutive year

September 29, 2011 By KCMN

For the third consecutive year, Robbie has been selected for the 2011 Best of Lenexa Award in the Flexible Printer for Bags, Pouches & Films category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Nationwide, only 1 in 120 (less than 1%) 2011 Award recipients qualified as Three-Time Award Winners. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2011 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Robbie Flexibles

Sales and Operations Planning – What Is It? And Why You Should Care

May 17, 2011 By KCMN

KCMN’s May meeting featured John Boyer, President of J.E. Boyer Company, and Eric Krichbaum, Vice President of Operations for Milbank Manufacturing discussing the benefits and process of Sales and Operations Planning.

John described Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) as:

The activity for effectively balancing demand and supply on a regular and formal basis.

It can also be referred to as:

Top Management’s handle on the business.

While the discipline of Lean focuses on the business’s execution, the effectiveness of the execution is limited by the effectiveness of the planning process.  Plans for both the supply and demand side of the business require a balance to avoid too much inventory vs. too many out of stocks.  The primary problem with accurate plans is the lack of the right data needed and communicated across functional areas.

The Eight Steps To Sales and Operations Planning Are:

  1. Day 1 – collect actual data – orders shipped, inventory, production, etc. by demand manager
  2. Day 1 – sales demand/forecast by sales force submitted
  3. Day 1 – sales data aggregated
  4. Day 2 – corporate sales review by VP of Sales
  5. Day 3-4 – sales and operations analysis by the demand manager
  6. Day 4 – Pre- S&OP meeting by VP of Operations
  7. Day 5 – S&OP meeting by President
  8. Daily/weekly – communication and feedback with the demand manager

The expected and/or realized benefits of the S&OP process were measured in a survey of manufacturing companies across the US.  Among the benefits were improved cross-functional communication, fact-based management decision processes and better labor and capacity planning.  The survey results are downloadable at www.jeboyer.com

Eric Krichbaum shared Milbank’s impetus for undertaking a better S&OP process:

The old process was labor intensive, elements were disconnected, and the company viewed planning as an important business process.  Their goals focused on reduction in inventory, increased stock availability and process efficiency.   The process took a little over a year to implement, beginning in January 2010; the first full S&OP review took place in February 2011.

The benefits Milbank has realized from their improved S&OP process included:

  • Improvement in the level and accuracy of information for both sales and operations (“VP is learning things they didn’t know before”)
  • The monthly load plan that used to take 2 days to prepare now takes 2 hours.
  • Production plans are aligned with sales forecasts.
  • Improved communication between the demand and supply side of the business.

Eric also shared Milbank’s ‘lessons learned’ from the process, which were tied closely to John Boyer’s four keys to success:

You must have active and visible participation from the executive team – this is key for keeping people engaged and on timeline

Get knowledgeable expert help – if you are self-taught you don’t always know what you don’t know

Change management is important (The only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper)

Create a cross-functional design team

Don’t short-change the IT resource – you will likely need IT resources to improve data quality

Publish an annual calendar – a rolling 12 month S&OP meeting schedule ensures that key participants are at the meetings

While Eric acknowledged that the process was neither cheap nor easy, he was a strong advocate for the process as a way to stay competitive in what is an increasingly competitive and demanding marketplace.

Filed Under: News

KCMN Member Milbank Manufacturing in the news

April 21, 2011 By KCMN

When Milbank’s traditional product line was impacted by the construction industry slowdown, they developed a new product offering  – wind turbine components.   To highlight their new product line, Milbank has installed a wind turbine at their training facility – the first wind turbine to be installed in Kansas City.   Milbank’s efforts were recognized with a feature story on NBC Action news.   To view the clip, click here.

Congratulations to Lavon Winkler, CEO, and Eric Krichbaum, COO and KCMN advisory board member, and the team at Milbank!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Milbank, wind energy, wind turbines

Robbie Recognized for Innovation

April 21, 2011 By KCMN

KCMN congratulates member company Robbie Flexibles for their  prestigious Highest Achievement Award in Technical Innovation from the Flexible Packaging Association.

Robbie was a Gold Award Winner for both Packaging Excellence and Technical Innovation for their recently released  Fresh N Tasty Produce Pouch.
Fresh N Tasty Produce Pouches, designed with freshness in mind, offer processors and retailers an opportunity to brand their produce and to increase repeat sales by improving the consistency of the produce quality throughout its shelf life. And, consumers love the resealable zipper and easy carry handle. The added sustainable benefits this flexible package demonstrates over other packaging formats includes saving fossil fuels, reducing CO2 emissions and the weight of solid waste being introduced into landfills.

To learn more visit Robbie on the web.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: packaging, Robbie Flexibles

KCMN Social Media Recap

January 13, 2011 By KCMN

Social Media- It’s no Longer Just About a Feel-Good Message
KCMN’s January meeting featured three speakers who shared their insights on both the social media landscape, as well as providing practical suggestions for how other manufacturers can utilize social media themselves.

Doug Richard, of RH & Associates discussed social business, which is the use of social networks, like Linked In and Facebook, combined with social media, which are content sites such as YouTube. He suggested that if you Google yourself and you don’t have a presence on the first page, you are missing the opportunity to connect to your customers. Today’s web presence mandate is that you are both discoverable, and credible instead of just maintaining a ‘feel good’ image on the web. Your company’s web presence is no longer the sole domain of IT or marketing but instead should be a cross functional representation of the company. This ensures broader content and increased likelihood that your social business strategy is consistent with your overall strategy.

Doug stressed that formation of a company wide communicated social business policy should always be the first step in your strategy. From there, Doug’s 7 steps to social business development are as follows:
1 Identify your team – cross functional and include management
2. Listen – observe what others in the industry are doing in the space, what is being said about you on other sites
3. Participate in your communities
4. Respond to situations in real life that impact your customers
5. React – response to both positive and negative mentions
6. Grow your network
7. Research – monitor your feeds, sites, and presence

Lisa Sizemore, of Hit Resultz, described her work with Torotel Products to launch their social business campaign. Following company-wide rollout of a social media policy, key members of their social business team came together. Key themes were transparency – that customers can see inside the company (with some limits due to military contracts) – and credibility. Two goals were established: recruit qualified employees and increase number of sales prospects. To accomplish the first goal, the company’s Facebook page features footage of company recognitions, and prospective employees can get a sense of the company values and goals. Due to the success of their social business strategy, Torotel has been able to eliminate the use of headhunters and locate a broader more qualified employment base. Some interviewees even remarked that Torotel’s online presence was a determining factor in their application. To accomplish the second goal using tools such as LinkedIn and Jigsaw, the sales team reports an increased quality of new leads and can find additional leads based on geographic location. Since the sales lead time can be several years, the current measurements are the increased number of new proposals and contacts. Monitoring the online awareness of Torotel has proven to be positive and widespread. While they are pleased with their results, due to the long sales cycle the impact on the business bottom line cannot be measured yet.

Chris Vering, Executive Vice President of Knit-Rite emphasized that the key to their success is the perspective that social business is not advertising, it is relationship building. The company has sent product samples to influential bloggers and site owners that target communities who can benefit from their products, and asked for reviews. The company engages users by creating Facebook pages around their product lines, then uses the page to build dialog with customers. Customers who have a favorable experience then become fans, and talk about their products with other prospective customers. Dialog ranges from giving customers a sense that they are ‘real people building real products here in the US’, to responding to questions or problems, to sharing new product lines or developments. The company has seen dramatic sales increases in their product lines due to the additional exposure. Knit-Rite’s online presence is also tied to the success of their retail partners. Some ecommerce retailers have shared data on increased sales as a result of tying in to Knit-Rite’s online social business presence.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Knit-Rite, manufacturers and social media, Torotel

TBM names Milbank Seventh Annual “Perfect Engine” Site

September 30, 2010 By KCMN

– Electrical Meter Socket Manufacturer Recognized for Operational Excellence –

Durham, N.C. – September 28, 2010 – TBM Consulting Group, a leading global consultancy for the manufacturing and services sectors, presented Milbank Manufacturing Company, the industry leader in the manufacture of electrical meter sockets, with the seventh annual “Perfect Engine Site” award, recognizing the Milbank Kansas City plant for its commitment to “lean” excellence in manufacturing.

“The Perfect Engine” refers to the precision interworking of human resources and physical assets to achieve outstanding productivity results that create business agility, growth and profitability. It is also the title of a book authored by TBM Consulting Group’s CEO Anand Sharma, who has consulted with hundreds of companies worldwide in implementing the principles, tools and management process of the Toyota Business System.

“The Perfect Engine Site” award recognizes individual plants or offices that have successfully implemented a LeanSigma® transformation and demonstrated innovation and outstanding teamwork. LeanSigma is the fusion of the two most powerful business systems from Toyota (Lean) and GE (Six Sigma).

Anand Sharma Chairman and CEO for TBM, presented the award to Eric Krichbaum, Senior Vice President of Operations and Chief Operating Officer at the LeanSigma Global Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Mr. Krichbaum accepted the award on behalf of Trace Tandy, the plant manager at the Milbank Kansas City facility.  The Kansas City plant began its LeanSigma journey in 2005 after creating an overall vision and direction that required the facility to focus on operational excellence in order to become more agile and efficient.  Over the past two years, the Kansas City facility conducted over 30 kaizen events focused on critical shop floor and business process areas.

“We committed to a cross-functional approach for achieving our strategic objectives. By focusing on lead times, set-ups and stock availability, we are now able accommodate customer needs for variety.  At the same time, we reduced inventory and significantly improved our cash position in spite of the recent recession.  I am inspired by our accomplishments and humbled by the improvement opportunities that lie ahead.  Most importantly, we’ve invested in the development and retention of people to continuously improve our value delivery system,” said Krichbaum.

“We are very proud of Milbank because they defined a management vision and drove that vision throughout the organization by engaging employees at all levels.  Consequently, the site achieved its objectives by embracing LeanSigma tools and rapidly driving sustainable improvements in quality, cost, and delivery.  Milbank is mastering the challenge of sustainment and leveraging lean to achieve their important breakthrough growth initiatives,” said Anand Sharma.

About Milbank Manufacturing Company

Milbank Manufacturing Company is one of the largest manufacturers of electrical meter mounting equipment, including sockets, enclosures, power outlets and pedestals. Its lineup of 10,000 plus items also offers circuit breakers, test switches, and safety switches. Manufactured at five plants, products are channeled through a network of manufacturer’s representatives to electric utility companies, contractors, industrial distributors, and OEMs across North America. The family owned company was founded in 1927 by Charles A. Milbank, and is led by the third generation of one of Milbank Manufacturing’s entrepreneurs.

Filed Under: News
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