The Competitive Edge for Wisconsin Manufacturers

According to the latest Institute for Supply Chain Management - Chicago Barometer Report, business dropped toward neutral, indicating decelerating expanding economic activity, but posted a twentieth month of growth.

New orders and production posted their largest declines in several years, but remained positive;
Inventories accelerated buildup;
Breadth of employment expansion softened but remained strong.

WMEP Announces New Executive Director

Buckley Brinkman brings more than 25 years of transformational manufacturing leadership to WMEP

WMEP has named Buckley Brinkman to serve as the organization's executive director and chief executive officer.

In this role, Brinkman will oversee the operations and management of WMEP, a nonprofit consulting organization that provides services to help Wisconsin's small and midsize manufacturers grow and succeed. He'll also lead WMEP's advocacy efforts on behalf of state manufacturers, which include research studies, educational programs and initiatives to promote competitiveness, exports and sustainability.

WMEP Announces 2011 Wisconsin Next Generation Manufacturing Study
Study open until June 21st

The new survey is an update of Wisconsin's 2008 landmark study of more than 500 state firms that set a benchmark for the global competitiveness of state manufacturers.

Manufacturers who complete the study's confidential questionnaire will receive a comprehensive Next Generation Manufacturing Performance Report that will allow them to see how they stack up against other firms surveyed. The free, web-based Next Generation Manufacturing 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.

For more information, click here.

ACH Foam Technologies Finds Energy Savings in Heat Recovery Project

Results from a Wisconsin Profitable Sustainability Initiative Project

For more than four decades, ACH Foam Technologies in Fond du Lac has been an industry leader in providing expanded polystyrene (EPS) products for the construction, geotechnical and packaging industries. The company's focus on sustainability is reflected in environmentally friendly products that contain recyclable materials. The EPS insulation produced by ACH is used in nationwide LEED certified projects because its higher R-Value helps to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the past seven years, WMEP has worked with ACH Foam Technologies on workplace safety, quality and ISO 9001 certification projects. The company was eager to learn about the Wisconsin Profitable Sustainability Initiative (PSI) pilot program developed by WMEP and its partners last year.

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Talent-Building Strategies that Work

Guest blog by Mary Isbister, president of GenMet

In a survey of US manufacturing execs, a skilled, educated workforce is the single most critical driver of a nation's competitiveness in the new global manufacturing landscape - and the hardest to acquire.

Further, the executives rank the difficulty of finding high-quality talent among their top "pain points", citing a lack of skilled workers at both ends of the spectrum from engineering to the basic-skills level.

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