By Ken Voytek Every January, I take some time to look at what our MEP clients are saying about the future and the challenges they face. It’s usually part of my New Year’s resolution to rack up the responses. I’ve been writing this basic story for eight years....
By Carroll Thomas, Director of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership The revolution will not be televised—but it will be digitized! Taken from a famous poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron first recorded in 1970, this was a popular slogan in the African-American...
By Mark Schmit, NIST MEP National Accounts Manager Summer is a great time to catch up on reading. I suppose that’s why there’s such a thing as summer reading; it starts in grade school and extends a lifetime (or so goes the theory). My initial attempt at summer...
By Dave Cranmer, Deputy Director of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Make (n) – to bring into existence by shaping or changing material, combining parts, etc. Manufacture (n) – the...
By Ben Vickery, Senior Technical Advisor with NIST MEP. A manufacturer can be innovative in various ways beyond the use of technology. Innovation can include the utilization of new business models, the development of new processes and services, and the enhancement of...
Have you ever found yourself going to a movie because the starring actor was an Oscar winner? After the Grammy Awards, are you more inclined to download a song because of the results? You’re not alone. It’s human nature to embrace credibility. Which brings me to the...
Recently there has been an increasing appetite for information and results around working with the smallest manufacturers. Not just the generally defined small manufacturer with under 500 employees, but the very small manufacturers with under 20 employees. MEP is...