October 2015 - In This Issue:
UPCOMING
EVENTS
For a complete listing of events, visit our website 
CAFR ANNUAL MEETING
October 21 @ 9:30am-2:30pm
Dick's Sporting Goods Park


This annual event is a networking meeting for CAFR members and people interested in recycling. Learn about what's going on in recycling in Colorado and the recent activities and accomplishments of CAFR. The agenda includes the State of CAFR, introduction of Board of Directors candidates and Colorado Recycling "Lightning Round."

Registration
  • CAFR Members - $55
  • Non-members - $65
Register now. Seating is limited; there will be no on-site registration the day of the event. Groups of three or more people registering together with the same registration type receive a discount of $2.00 off registration fees for each person.

COMING SOON...
Fall Beers & Gears in Arvada, CO

Stay tuned for more details!
A sad goodbye... or semi-goodbye... or maybe not a goodbye at all
by Tom Bugnitz, Manufacturer's Edge CEO  
Manufacturer's Edge CEO
Tom Bugnitz
It is with very mixed feelings this month we say some form of goodbye to Aleta Sherman, the Regional Director for the Boulder and Denver North regions, who is transitioning to a role of active impact and will be delivering client programs. Aleta has been with the MEP system from the original days of MAMTC onto CAMT and now finally with Manufacturer's Edge. Over the years she has touched many manufacturers and partners, most of whom have become close personal friends to her, and contributed immensely to the growth and stability of all three organizations. We are very happy for having her a part of the client services team.

Aleta was hired in December of 1999 and has been with the MEP system since then, aside from a brief stint at CU. Aleta has worked in a number of rolls, from account management to trainer to consultant to client services. She has supported marketing efforts, new program development, and project management. That is to say, she has done everything you can do in a small organization like Manufacturer's Edge.

One of her great values is as our human repository of historic institutional information. There's an old joke about a guy going to prison, and the first night after lights-out he hears someone yell out "seventeen", and the entire cell block laughs. Later, someone yells "forty two", and again the cell block bursts out laughing. He asks his cell mate what's going on, and the cell mate says "Well, we've heard all the jokes so many times, we just gave them numbers. So now instead telling the joke, all you have to do is say the number, and everyone knows what the joke is." Aleta had such a wealth of information about the MEP system, our clients, and our business, that we too gave her a number...twenty three. Whenever Aleta wanted to help us with some piece of information from previous times, she would say "twenty three", which meant "hey, listen up, we've had this problem before", or some variation of that theme. Her insight about what worked before, what didn't, what other nuances of a problem we were missing, and all manner of experience helped us all get through some interesting times, as the Chinese say. (Oh, the punch line of the joke...the new guy yells out "twenty seven", and nobody makes a sound. After a few seconds his cell mate says, "I guess you just can't tell a joke".)

This is not really goodbye, but more of an evolution in presence. Aleta will remain very much connected to Manufacturer's Edge, as a client consultant and working on whatever other projects we can convince her to take on for us.

Thank you Aleta for 15+ years of excellent service to the manufacturers of Colorado. Your impact on them, and us, has been enormous, and we are looking forward to more hard work, and brightly colored stockings. So from all of your friends at Manufacturer's Edge,

Twenty Three.
Recapping Recent Events
A brief recap of some of the exciting events that took place in September and October
As part of celebrating Manufacturing Day across the United States last Friday - American manufacturers opened nearly 2,000 factory doors to showcase the story of 21st century advanced manufacturing and making. It's the story of state-of-the-art scientific and engineering processes that command next-generation light weight composites to power the cars of tomorrow. It's the story of the assembly lines spinning conductive fibers so that the next generation of textiles can monitor your vital signs when you're going for a run or injured in the field. And it's the story of manipulating light
to power computer chips at speeds never before realized, while saving energy along the way. And in the end, it's a story of people - hard working American entrepreneurs and their teams - building a path forward for this country, together. (...)

Read more here 
SOCOM 2015 Recap from the District 49 website:
Hundreds of students from District 49 middle and high schools exited classrooms Oct. 6 to meet employers representing several engineering specialities.
The day started with a trip to the Southern Colorado Manufacturing Expo at the Mortgage Solutions Financial Expo Center in Colorado Springs. Presented by the Pikes Peak Manufacturing Partnership, nearly 100 employers awaited students with exhibition booths.
"It's pretty cool to see the different parts of engineering, from welding to robotics," said ninth-grader Bruce Smith, 14. He's currently enrolled in an introduction to engineering class at Sand Creek High School. He's learning about applying problem-solving skills in design processes.
At the expo, Bruce met with Aaron Monroe, a field automation engineer for MSI Tec, which is headquartered in Centennial. As an example of increasing productivity with technology, Monroe brought a manufacturing robot. He explained its production and distribution.
"I think it's crazy how technology has evolved so much," said ninth-grader Jennisa Potage, 14. "Everything is getting more efficient and starting to cost less, too. I'm seeing a lot of opportunities for getting into an engineering career." (...)

Read more here

Watch this recap of the SOCOM EXPO on News 5 

Colorado Apparel Manufacturing Summit Recap from Company Week: 
The second annual Colorado Apparel Manufacturing Summit took place at the Fashion Design Center Denver on Sept. 24. Over 150 attendees engaged in the ongoing conversation about the state of manufacturing apparel in Colorado. The Summit was sponsored by CompanyWeek, Colorado State University's Department of Design and Merchandising, and Manufacturer's Edge.
This year's Summit took place amid strong demand for U.S.-made goods, including those companies leveraging the world-class lifestyle attributes and global cachet of the Rocky Mountain West. And there was, indeed, an underlying buzz about apparel manufacturing, which left the U.S. in waves for more than two decades. (...)

Read more here
Kids Connection: RK Mechanical Foundation
Local foundation shows support for STEM classroom redesign
 
The RK Mechanical Foundation recently awarded Adams 12 STEM Launch K-8 School a grant in the amount of $2,500 for a 5th grade project aimed to redesign the classrooms for a more positive learning environment. 

Manufacturer's Edge would like to thank the foundation for their generosity and commitment to education and Colorado youth.


Five Critical Steps to Securing Small Business Capital
Take steps to secure small business capital
By Stanley Nakano, Acting Region VIII Administrator

Cash flow constitutes the life blood of all small businesses, allowing ventures to make payroll, pay suppliers, and keep its doors open.
The way entrepreneurs secure capital has changed dramatically over the last 10 years, however.  The use of crowdfunding, instant online loans, peer-to-peer financing as well as the emergence of lender-agnostic marketplaces has changed the way small firms seek and secure money. While some say that traditional bank financing is a thing of the past, commercial bank lending remains a strong and viable option for most start-up and growing businesses. In fact, lending backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration guarantee programs hit record levels in 2014 and should exceed those levels this year. 
Over the years, I have tapped into the knowledge and experience of our lending partners to create this list of the top five steps to securing small business capital:
  1. Borrowers must become credit worthy. Borrowers should deal with negative financial issues, including poor or inaccurate credit reports, and must resolve all business and personal tax issues. A negative credit report and/or credit score can be a "deal buster" for many lenders. Back taxes, liens, garnishments, multiple bounced checks all show increased risk for a lender. Borrowers should deal with recent bankruptcies by providing an explanation of why it occurred. Address all of these issues prior to applying for the business loan.  
  2. Build a better business plan.  Lenders stress that a business plan must be well thought out, and realistic. The business plan should outline the money, management, and marketing of a business. One lender stated "I need to understand that you understand what you are getting into." Borrowers must explain how the money will be used, and how  it will be repaid, Repayment ability is the critical factor. Without repayment ability, no traditional lender will make the business loan and few will provide 100 percent financing.

Read the full article