The Competitive Edges
  The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership                                        January 2012 
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Study Finds Correlation between Exporting and Company Health

World Trade Day & Manufacturing Matters!
zero to hero
Zero to Hero in Three Steps
Three Wisconsin manufacturers share how they're growing export revenue at World Trade Day in Milwaukee

 

On Tuesday, May 8, World Trade Day will feature an afternoon program devoted to helping small and midsize manufacturers export.  "Zero to Hero in Three Steps" is a featured session at this event.

 

On Wednesday, May 9th, the Governor will kick off Manufacturing Matters!, a conference featuring two keynote speakers, tracks on Innovation,
E-business, Food Processing, and Continuous Improvement,  as well panels focusing on issues related to talent development and much more.

Manufacturers that attend both events will receive $70 off the combined registration cost.  

 
Greetings!    

Manufacturing is starting to receive the news coverage it deserves as the driver of economic growth; and at WMEP, we're working to focus this interest to find solutions to the issues facing manufacturers in Wisconsin.

WMEP will be sponsoring regional lunchtime panel discussions on the central issue of finding, training and retaining skilled workers, and we invite manufacturing leaders to participate. We look forward to working with you to identify solutions to this problem.
My fellow Wisconsinites, the state of manufacturing is strong, but ... 
From Wisconsin InBusiness 
Buckley Brinkman
Buckley Brinkman

 

It's been a week of high-profile "state of" speeches, but while people of goodwill can disagree about the state of the nation and Wisconsin, there is no question the state of Wisconsin's manufacturing industry is strong, according to Buckley Brinkman, executive director of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership.


Now if the state's elected and appointed officials can work with industry to help change its outdated "dumb, dirty, and dangerous" image, Brinkman said the future will look even brighter.

 

Author to Share Insights on Innovation
"Innovate Like Edison" author focuses on methods that work
Sarah Miller Caldicott
Sarah Miller Caldicott

During her 25-year career in marketing, Sarah Miller Caldicott became concerned that America was losing its innovation leadership, so she went back to her roots, researching the methods that made her ancestor, Thomas Edison, so successful. She found that Edison's five-step system is a process that can lead to breakthrough success for businesses today.  

At the May Manufacturing Matters! conference, Ms. Caldicott will share "innovation best practices"-
a discipline that successful companies use to sustain innovation over time.

Make: An American Manufacturing Movement
Report Cover
Recently, at a landmark summit in Washington, D.C., the Council on Competitiveness released its manufacturing strategy entitled: MAKE: An American Manufacturing Movement

Under the leadership of Council Chairman and Deere & Company Chairman and CEO Samuel Allen and a steering committee of 60 CEOs, university presidents, labor leaders, and laboratory directors, MAKE was released to Congress, the White House, and all 50 governors. The recommendations are the result of hundreds of interviews conducted over nearly three years by Deloitte, as well as dozens of dialogues when Council members and national thought leaders came together to discuss specific manufacturing topics.