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| In order to better serve our clients, Manufacturer's Edge recently developed a framework for assessing an organization's needs. The five-part gear model allows us to clearly illustrate where a company is experiencing pain and it also directly ties into a self-assessment tool that has produced phenomenal results since we started using it a year ago. We invite you to watch this video to get a better sense of how the five-part gear model can better serve you and then email us at [email protected] to request a copy of the free self-assessment tool to see how Manufacturer's Edge can help your company achieve success through optimal alignment. |
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 Manufacturing Day 2019
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Join us in celebrating Manufacturing Day 2019 by attending an event or hosting one of your own
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Every October, we take time to celebrate MFG Day and show our appreciation for our friends and neighbors throughout the manufacturing community. Here are a few ways you can participate in this annual tradition:
Step 1: Celebrate with us
Step 2: Plan your own event
It can be anything. An open house, a Q&A, a tour of your facilities, a coffee hour, a webinar, a workshop, a classroom demonstration, a mixer...you name it!
Still looking for ideas? Visit
MFGDAY.com for more inspiration.
Step 3: Register your event at MFGDAY.com
It's quick, it's easy, and it gives your organization and your event more visibility.
Step 4: Promote your event
Step 5: Contact Manufacturer's Edge
We are happy to help and we can walk you through the process from start to finish. Does your organization have any needs that you would like to address? Perhaps you are looking to fill some staffing gaps and could host a job fair? Maybe you are looking for good interns and want to inspire the next generation through a school demonstration or facility tour? Regardless of your circumstances, Manufacturer's Edge can help you plan and register an event that would help your organization while helping us put Colorado manufacturing on the MFG DAY 2019 map!
Email us or contact Ali Recek at 720.353.7101 for more information.
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Colorado's Most Innovative Companies Are Global Companies
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By Karen Gerwitz, President, World Trade Center Denver
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| Karen Gerwitz, President & CEO, World Trade Center Denver |
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As we look back on last week's Denver Startup Week, where we revel in the innovation of startups mainly in the technology sectors, it's easy to lose sight of the Colorado manufacturers that are innovating and competing year over year on the global stage. In today's difficulties of constantly changing trade policies, tariff barriers, and unfair trade practices, companies that can remain competitive on the global stage, must, by definition, be continuously innovating.
Here are some of the innovative ways Colorado manufacturers are expanding globally:
Product Modification - This strategy is what manufacturers do best. By engineering a new flavor, a new use, a new size, you can find new market needs or preferences that will help expand market share. Before investing into re-engineering a product though, companies that are most successful understand the product's and company's true value proposition and how that deep true value story translates into a new culture, language and preferences. One example is the success of green tea flavored Kit Kats in Japan.(...)
Read the full article on our website
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Manufacturer's Edge Quick Hits & Highlights
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 Just a few highlights from the Manufacturer's Edge team. We have had a busy couple of months!
Top left: Manufacturer's Edge hosted a manufacturing roundtable discussion with Senator Cory Gardner at MSU Denver.
Top right: In August, we facilitated a tour of two manufacturing facilities in Northern Colorado for our colleagues from NIST.
Bottom left: The 32nd Annual Member Gathering, hosted by our friends and partners at the World Trade Center Denver, was held on September 11th at the Museum for Nature and Science.
Bottom right: Members of the MEP National Network gathered for our national summit in Atlanta, Georgia last week to share best practices. All 50 states and Puerto Rico were represented as we enjoyed presentations from NIST Director Dr. Walt Copan, NIST-MEP Director Carroll Thomas, and feasted on some delicious southern cuisine!
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Simply Cyber (vol 19): Back to Schooling and Retooling
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Jennifer Kurtz, Cyber Program Director, Manufacturer's Edge |
So much excitement around the first month of school! Assembling the essential tools: glue stick, pencils, erasers, pens, notebooks (analog and digital). Catching up with schoolmates that you've missed. The National NIST MEP Summit (September 15 to 18) had that same back-to-school feel: reboot of MEP initiatives, and new tools and techniques shared.
MEP Cyber Security Initiatives Reboot
NIST and DoD have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will provide follow-on funding for the MEP network's work to promote responsible and safe use of technology among our manufacturers. The funding is for three phases of activity, some of which will be concurrent:
- Awareness and education for 500 to 1000 companies by 31 December 2020
- Training will cover risk management, requirements for fulfilling DFARS requirements, and evaluation tools.
- Delivery will be through a combination of in-person and online formats.
- Technical assistance for 10 companies by 31 December 2020
- Assistance will take a DoD-selected company from inception through implementation of its plan of action and milestones (POAM).
- Criteria for company selection include small to midsize manufacturer that receives and works with Controlled Unclassified Information/Covered Defense Information (CUI/CDI); organizational commitment to maintaining cyber resiliency (after the funded implementation); regional, minority supplier, armed services branch, and manufacturing process diversity.
- Use case development on operational technology for two companies by 31 December 2019
- NIST Labs is the client, which opens up the selection criteria to include non-DoD manufacturers and those outside the cyber security program.
- The goal is to create an assistance guideline, for example, with respect to securing operational technology that cannot be replaced reliably. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework Manufacturing Profile, NISTIR 8183 (as revised May 2019) discusses the 98 security control objectives identified as a starting point for securing manufacturing facilities and processes.(...)
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The CAMA Conversation
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by Dave Jeffrey, Chair of the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Association
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| Dave Jeffrey, CEO & Owner, JPM Prototype & Mfg, Inc. |
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I was recently reminded of a logging competition involving two loggers who set out to win a large logging contract. Both were sent into the forest and were told that the one who cut down the most trees in one day would win the logging contract. As the two loggers started feverishly cutting down trees one logger noticed that the other would stop for a 5-minute break every hour or so. As the day wore on the logger that never stopped knew that he would win the contest by sheer strength and endurance for he knew that there was no way his competitor could continue to take breaks and still win the contest.
At the end of the day the logger that never stopped was dumbfounded to find out that he had lost the competition and the large contract. He asked the other logger how he could possibly win by taking a break every hour or so. He said the key to his success was not that he took the break but that he was sharpening his axe every time he stopped so he was always working with a sharp tool.
How often do we find ourselves working long hard days and weeks only to find that our competitors have won the contract? How can we sharpen our proverbial axe to stay ahead of the competition? By taking advantage of the resources around us, knowing what advances in manufacturing are available and connecting with others in the industry to succeed in ways we have not thought.
Get out and see what organizations like CAMA, Manufacturer's Edge, the local chambers and others have to offer. It could be as simple as a networking event to see and hear what others are doing in the industry. Or, you can continue to slave away day after day, week after week thinking you are winning the race only to find that your competitors have won the contracts that you thought for sure you would win.
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Virtual Job Fair
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In support of Manufacturing Month, join the Metro Denver Workforce Centers for a month long Manufacturing Virtual Job Fair
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Why do a virtual job fair?
* Manufacturing focused 24/7 all month long
* Will save you time and money recruiting
* You can interact with job seekers right from your desk
* Promote your positions to all job seekers throughout the state
To participate, email the following to [email protected]
* Logo-Electronic Copy
* Link to job site or job posting
* Paragraph about company
* Links to any videos you would like to promote
* Job Description for each position you would like posted
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Upcoming Events
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Visit our
website for a complete calendar of
manufacturing events taking place around Colorado
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Merritt Aluminum Products MFG Day 19
Oct 4 @ 10am-3pm
Fort Lupton, CO
Join Merritt Aluminum Products in a celebration of Manufacturing Day. Come for the factory tours but stay for the food and fun! There will be factory tours, 3-D printing demonstrations, a virtual welder, contests, prizes, games, and food.
Find out more
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NOCO Mfg Networking Night: Do Robots Make Better Bartenders?
Oct 23 @ 5-7pm
New Belgium | Ft Collins
Join us for an evening of connecting and collaborating while enjoying appetizers and have Universal Robots pour some of New Belgium's best brews!
Find out more
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Manufacturing Roundtable: Grants & Resources in JeffCo
Nov 12 @ 8:30-10:30am
Denver West Business Park | Golden
Are you a manufacturer in Jefferson County? Are you aware of the numerous programs, resources, and even funds that are available to help you with everything from workforce and consulting to layout and lean training?
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