July 2014 - In This Issue:
Kids Connection: How one 9-year old boy is making a difference around the world
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Logistics & Supply Chain Management
July 22 @ 12-1
World Trade Center Denver
Educational Series
Webinar
This webinar will cover: What it's like to manage a global supply chain. Selecting and interfacing with a freight forwarder. The importance of understanding Incoterms. Tips and tricks for logistics
Protecting Bioscience intellectual Property in the Global Marketplace
July 30 @ 12-1
Webinar
This webinar is part of the Overcoming Bioscience Export Challenges Educational Series hosted in collaboration with the State of Colorado's Advanced Industries Export Accelerator Program. 
Invitation to Participate in the Citywide Denver Public Schools 8th Grade Career Fair
October 22
National Western Complex

The primary objective of the event is to expose the students to the vast scope of careers available and to help them plan for their future. Only one person from your business/organization needs to register for your entire group. The registration will prompt you to list all of the individuals that are planning to attend.

Kids Connection
The Difference Maker

This is a story about a young man and how one small idea can snowball beyond anyone's imagination. This story is about Kylan, a 9 year old boy, who when he was 4 wanted to be in a book, who when he was 5 got a pen pal in Uganda through the World Vision Organization to learn about the challenges around the world, and who at 6 decided to start a "business" to save money for his pen pal's village. Kylan is not a normal 9 year old. He is ambitious and inspiring (now I may be a little biased, as I am his mom) but everyone I tell his story to gets so excited and wants to help. 

 

So here it is for you: after getting to know his pen pal and challenges in Uganda, we encouraged Kylan to save a little bit of money to help out, to make a small sacrifice to help others. He started with a lemonade stand, which wasn't quite as profitable as he was hoping (even though he did it in a suit and top hat). His next idea was to recycle scrap metal. He printed out flyers and sent them around the neighborhood, and before long we had scrap metal just showing up. Over the course of the last two years, he was able to save around $200/year and not only be able to send a gift each year to his pen pal but also to buy a goat, sheep, or chickens for the village. But for Kylan that wasn't good enough. 

 

Kylan thought that if he could get his school involved that he could do more, so he, like any 9 year old would, made business cards for his "company" he called Metal Mission, and requested a meeting with his principal. He took his new cards and a copy of the article that Mark Schmit wrote about Making the Kids Connection (click here the read the article) and told his story. His Principal, Ms. Lauth, was so impressed that she asked him to speak to the PTO. They all said they would figure out how to help. Everyone started telling his story and it spread like wildfire. 

 

Carrie Morgridge, who runs the Morgridge Family Foundation, caught wind of the story and asked to interview Kylan for a book she is writing about giving where she will feature Kylan in a chapter about starting small. She wanted to tell others about how one little idea can change so many lives and how even a gift as small as $200 makes a difference. But what story is good when it is only half told, so Carrie is sponsoring Kylan to fly to Uganda in August to meet his pen pal to tell how this one idea has changed his life. This entire experience will be turned into a documentary, which will be shared with kids at Kylan's school and get others interested in helping. 

 

Carrie also made some incredible connections to several local schools to get them involved, including an organization active in Uganda called the Global Livingston Institute. This one idea now has so many people inspired that STEM Launch (Kylan's school) will connect their students with 100 students in Uganda to all be Difference Makers.

 

You see, STEM Launch uses a learning method called Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a teaching model in which students learn about a subject or challenge through the experience of problem solving. They apply different disciplines to find a solution to the problem. Through this connection the hope is that these STEM students can help solve problems that the Uganda students face every day, things like access to clean water, disease from exposure (such as malaria from mosquitos), safe cooking techniques, etc. Manufacturer's Edge, the Colorado MEP under the Department of Commerce, is connected to a number of innovative manufacturers that have already offered to help produce and commercialize viable products that these kids develop. Which leads me to our ask: if you are interested in setting on a panel to review these kids amazing ideas and/or possible commercialization opportunities please contact me at: [email protected]. Industry involvement will be key in making this story a true Difference Maker.

 

Now back to Kylan. At age 9 he has accomplished his first life goal of being in a book. When asked what his new goal was he responded with, "change Uganda". I have a feeling he just might do it.

Manufacturing Day 2014 Coming Soon!
Join the movement and find out how you can participate in MFG DAY 2014 on Oct 3
MFG DAY is a celebration of what 12 million people around the United States experience every day-pride at working in manufacturing.
 

THE MFG DAY MISSION:

MFG DAY addresses common misperceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show, in a coordinated effort, what manufacturing is - and what it isn't. By working together during and after MFG DAY, manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry.

 

Supported by a group of industry sponsors and co-producers, MFG DAY is designed to amplify the voice of individual manufacturers and coordinate a collective chorus of manufacturers with common concerns and challenges. The rallying point for a growing mass movement, MFG DAY empowers manufacturers to come together to address their collective challenges so they can help their communities and future generations thrive.

 

Find out more about MFG DAY 2014

 

Export Training Designed For You
Training for Colorado manufacturers
Interested in smoothing out your business cycles due to seasonal demand or sales trends? Need to diversify your client base? Dream about making sales while you sleep?

 

These are the main reasons companies big and small, begin to export as a way to grow their businesses, create new jobs, and boost the economic development of the state of Colorado by bringing international money into our economy. 

 

Manufacturer's Edge is pleased to partner with the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade as well as the World Trade Center Denver on a series of export training programs designed specifically for Colorado manufacturers, coming this fall. These trainings will be offered in the Denver Metro Area, in four rural counties, and online. As a direct result of the State's Advanced Industries Export Acceleration Program passed by the Colorado General Assembly last year, the State offers several tools to encourage those operating in Advanced Industries to engage in exporting. These tools include business development grants for expanding internationally to new markets, a number of consultants strategically placed in key export markets to support growth, and specialized export training programs offered by the World Trade Center Denver. These export training programs will concentrate on the specific challenges you face as manufacturers in Colorado. 

 

As a strategic partner, Manufacturer's Edge would like to hear from you. Tell us the specific reasons why you have chosen not to export, why exporting remains a challenge to you, and which geographic markets and international opportunities you would like to learn more about. Click here to tell us your thoughts.

If you can't wait until fall, consider the following online training programs the World Trade Center Denver currently offers:

-        Incoterms (Shipping and Payment Terms - FOB does not mean FOB internationally!)

-        Trade finance (Letters of Credit, Credit Insurance to cover international A/Rs up to 90%)

-        Finding and qualifying an international Distributor

-        Export Documents, including specific documents for Free Trade Agreement countries

-        Developing an Export Strategy versus the shotgun approach of responding to hits on a website

 

We invite you to join the over 5,000 exporters in Colorado who operate across a wide range of industries and currently enjoy over $8 billion of new sales from international markets. We look forward to helping you succeed!

Westone Laboratories
CompanyWeek and Manufacturer's Edge Innovative Manufacturer
Jason Lockwood / photos Becky Hurley
By Becky Hurley

Founded:  1959 

www.westone.com

CEO and President:  Jason Lockwood 

No. of employees:  200 


Audio-expert for the stars: Westone counts Air Force pilots and rock stars as loyal customers, audiophiles who trust Jason Lockwood's team for custom ear apparatus.
 

What do an 80-year old grandfather, British rock band Def Leppard and a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot have in common?  All three have used an ear apparatus manufactured by Westone Laboratories. 

 

Westone has sold between 14 million and 15 million hearing health, sound protection and musician's in-ear sound-enhancing products since the company was founded in 1959 by Colorado Springs' native Ron Morgan. 

"Our process is half art, half science," explains Westone CEO Jason Lockwood, adding that human ear canals, like fingerprints, are completely individual.  As a result, custom earpiece manufacture, unlike one-size-fits-all ear buds or hearing aids, involves a laser-mold design process, hand tooling/finishing and scrupulous quality control.

 

Read the full article

 

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