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Providence Business News: Five Questions with Phil Ward
By Erin Read "There are resources out there to help maintain worker safety and manufacturing productivity despite COVID-19 cases. For manufacturers who haven’t reached out for a Polaris MEP COVID Facilities Assessment yet, the coming of cold weather may be just the...
Providence Business News: R.I. State Incentives for Manufacturers
With a sizeable unemployment pool and a renewed push to reshore production, Rhode Island is offering tax credits, incentives, and manufacturing training and jobs placement programs. Manufacturers can leverage these resources to upskill the labor pool and fill open...
ISO 9001 – A Key to Cybersecurity for Manufacturing Companies? (Part 1)
By MEP National Network Partner Andy Nichols, Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center Not a day goes by without our news feeds sharing details of yet another cybersecurity breach. It seems large businesses tend to be the main victims, with Target, Equifax, Marriott...
Manufacturing Leaders Learning the Lessons of Testing Times
By Mark Schmit, Partnerships Manager, NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Polaris MEP is the Rhode Island Center for the MEP National NetworkTM, which is here to help U.S. manufacturers through these unprecedented times. Our mission is to strengthen and...
Infographic – The Emergence of Digital Manufacturing
Digital manufacturing is not a new concept but is continuing to evolve. From robotics, additive manufacturing and augmented reality to big data, simulation and cybersecurity, technologies can be found in manufacturing facilities across the country. The use of these...
Business Continuity Planning – There is an ISO Standard for that
Does your manufacturing company have a business continuity plan (BCP)? Hint: we are not talking about a list of phone numbers taped to the wall. According to the global consulting firm Deloitte, greater than fifty percent of businesses without an effective business...
How to Protect Warfighters AND Your Defense Supply Chain Contracts
"Thousands of our neighbors, friends and families in New England are serving in or working for the military," says Polaris MEP cybersecurity Jean Lehman. "There are aggressive attacks aimed at stealing information to kill our warfighters, to destroy our military...
From “Following Billy” to Following Standards – A Job Instruction Case Study
In my last post, I told the story of stumbling across a methodology called Training Within Industry (TWI) which routinely showed 25 - 50% reductions in manufacturing training times when the Job Instruction method was implemented. I knew that if I could achieve these...
Creating a Culture of (Cyber) Security
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Many Rhode Island manufacturers may feel "spooked" about this month, as in their minds awareness = training and training = snoozefest. Celia Paulsen of the MEP National Network™ has written about how cybersecurity...
Key Hires and Staff Moves Strengthen the Position of the URI Research Foundation in Supporting RI Economic Growth
Providence, RI – September 28, 2020 – The URI Research Foundation (URIRF) is evolving and expanding with the hiring of two executives and the transition of two leaders into new roles. The moves will strengthen URIRF’s initiatives including Polaris MEP, Rhode Island’s...
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