Kick Down the Door!

Cindy Bernosky & Gretchen Schultz of the Government & Education Group here at Tooling U headed to Minnesota earlier this month to participate in the “Kick Down the Door: Building Bridges to Connection” conference organized by the MPMA (Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association).

The conference, held April 29th through May 1st, provided a forum to understand the needs & concerns of everyone involved in the manufacturing industry. Cindy said the meeting was really productive, stating that “the group just wants what is best for the industry overall. It was great to have secondary and post-secondary educators with industry in the same room.”

The overall goal of the conference was to find ways to improve technical education throughout the state of Minnesota. Some of those improvements include getting educators and industry on the same page, and understanding the needs of students, employers and instructors. The conference included break-out sessions to discuss these needs, and what should happen as the manufacturing industry moves into the future.

Rumor has it the casino night of the conference was also quite a good time. Reportedly, Cindy was the highest bidder for a bottle of wine, but we haven’t seen the bottle around the office, so we don’t know where it ended up.

Toni Neary

Government & Education Specialist

Photo Courtesy The Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association

The New Face of Manufacturing

Times are tough in manufacturing. Anyone even casually following the news lately knows a lot of companies are struggling. For companies in some of the hardest hit fields like the auto industry, business is drying up. But if there’s one thing I’ve seen, it’s that a good company will always pull through. Manufacturing companies rely on innovation to get through tough times, and now is no different.

A lot of smaller, contract-based manufacturing companies have found that diversifying the industries they work with is key to getting by and even possibly growing. To help them out, Tooling U recently sponsored Industry & Innovation: The New Face of Manufacturing to discuss how to do this effectively. This symposium in Cleveland, OH focused on moving into the energy, medical and aerospace industries. This conference was also a great opportunity for Tooling U to meet with manufacturers looking to continuously improve their businesses. TU’s Chad Schron, James Vickers, and I went to the event to meet with the wide variety of companies that are dealing with the challenges of diversifying.

Jack Schron, CEO of both Jergens Inc. and Tooling U, came to speak in two different sessions on March 17th regarding the importance of training a workforce to become a more flexible company. These “early bird” sessions drew nearly 200 people to hear Jack discuss the pros and cons of different training. Jack explained that the best option with training programs is a blended approach. Using theory-based training to back up hands-on practice helps people learn more quickly, and retain that knowledge on the shop floor. Having knowledgeable people in a company makes diversification a ready option in tough times.

Sarah Wering

Marketing Manager

IMTS

Phew! IMTS 2008 is over! For those of you who missed the show, there’s simply no way to describe it. The best I can think of is 1.2 million square feet of robots, CNC machines, conveyer belts and salespeople! We were lucky enough to be located at the entrance to the North Hall, which provided the perfect opportunity to demonstrate our product to the entire show. I
got a chance to meet a lot of great people over the course of the week – and managed to get a few laughs when I showed them my personal Tooling U test scores.





I think the picture that best sums up IMTS, though, comes from Chris Pinner’s desk. Chris is one of Tooling U’s dedicated writers – and IMTS’ dedicated snatchers. Let’s face it, we all like free stuff. And as trade shows go, IMTS is a free stuff paradise. Chris? Well, he strives for excellence. I think you can tell from the picture below that he made his way around the entire show.

I suppose it’s a good thing that IMTS is every two years. These companies would go bankrupt if they had to supply Chris with new desk decorations every year. See you in 2010!

Sarah Wering

Marketing Manager