AMT- The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA- The American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association Announce Merger

AMT- The Association For Manufacturing Technology and


AMTDA- The American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association Announce Merger





Orlando, Fla. ... AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA-The American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association today announce the merger of the two associations that will integrate their products and services to better serve the members of both associations. The announcement was made at The MFG Meeting (Manufacturing for Growth) being held in Orlando, Fla., which is a gathering of hundreds of manufacturing leaders.


The new AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology will be headquartered in McLean, Va. All current employees of AMTDA will be joining the new AMT immediately.

This merger marks the beginning of a more powerful voice for the industry and an unparalleled scope of benefits for AMT’s members. The numerous advantages of this new organization include:
•Strengthened and expanded products and services;


•Access to powerful business intelligence systems;


•Data and information from industry economists and analysts;


•A focus on the priorities and needs of the industry;


•Networking and collaboration through expanded membership; and


•Education and “smartforce” development.

AMTDA Chairman Steve M. Wherry said, “This merger is a logical evolution for the manufacturing technology industry. We are uniting the entire manufacturing technology supply chain from engineering and building machines, to integrating automation and support, to distribution services, which will well serve the users of manufacturing technology for their future.”

Eugene R. Haffely, Jr., Chairman of AMT added, “This move exponentially increases member benefits and services to both organizations. We are now a stronger, more complete organization, representing the entire value chain of the manufacturing technology industry. Most important, this will give our industry a more clarified and unified voice.”

Both Boards of Directors voted unanimously for the merger, and an unprecedented percentage of the combined membership participated in the vote to approve the move.

As a result of the merger between AMT and AMTDA, the organization took on an intensive process to design a new logo, and hence, a rebranding of the newly conjoined group. The logo was inspired by the Al Moore Award, which recognizes extraordinary service to the industry. The design is a mathematical Lissajous curve suggestive of a three-dimensional knot. This pyramid style shape is evocative of a solid base with stability and strength.

“It has always been our goal to find better ways to serve the manufacturing industry,” said Douglas K. Woods, President of AMT. “This process, upon which we embarked two years ago, is a natural partnership that will help both organizations as we seek to advance manufacturing in the United States.”



AMT- The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA- The American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association Announce Merger

Manufacturing Rebound To Outpace GDP Growth In US In 2012-MAPI

“Manufacturing production should outperform GDP growth…”

The U.S. manufacturing recovery continues on track and should outperform overall GDP growth through 2013, according to the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) U.S. Industrial Outlook (E0-103), a quarterly report that analyzes 27 major industries.

Manufacturing outlook is positive.

“There exists pent-up demand for consumer durable goods, particularly for motor vehicles, and firms are profitable and need to spend more for both traditional and high-tech business equipment,” said Daniel J. Meckstroth, Ph.D., MAPI Chief Economist and author of the analysis.

“In addition, strong—though decelerating—growth in emerging economies is still driving U.S. exports.”

Despite the fact that the global economy remains volatile, Meckstroth said the risk of recession for the U.S. has receded in the last three months.

Takeaway for precision machining shops:

Manufacturing industrial production increased 4.5 percent in 2011. MAPI forecasts that it will increase 4 percent in 2012 and 3.5 percent in 2013. The 2012 forecast is up 1 percent and the 2013 forecast is down 0.5 percent from the December 2011 report.

Manufacturing production should outperform GDP growth, which MAPI estimates will be 2.2 percent in 2012 and 2.4 percent in 2013.


MAPI full report

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March 12, 2012 - USMTO News Release for January 2012 Manufacturing Technology Orders

January U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $401.69 million according to AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 26.5% from December but up 8.4% when compared with the total of $370.46 million reported for January 2011.



These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program.

“January’s increase in manufacturing technology orders over 2011 is great in light of lower forecasts by experts,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “I think the continued growth highlights manufacturers’ increasing confidence in future growth and that their bottom lines are being channeled into investments in advanced manufacturing technologies.”

The United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) report, compiled by the trade association representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. Analysis of manufacturing technology orders provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.

U.S. manufacturing technology orders are also reported on a regional basis for five geographic breakdowns of the United States.

March 12, 2012 - USMTO News Release for January 2012 Manufacturing Technology Orders

Infographic: Who’s Your Chief Conversion Officer?

Infographic: Who’s Your Chief Conversion Officer?

NIST Announces Up to $1M in Funding for Two New Manufacturing Extension Partnership Centers

NIST Announces Up to $1M in Funding for Two New Manufacturing Extension Partnership Centers


From NIST Tech Beat: March 1, 2012

 
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today that it is soliciting proposals to establish two new Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers in South Dakota and Kentucky. NIST has $1 million in funding to support the centers, which would join the existing network of more than 400 MEP centers and field offices in place nationwide and in Puerto Rico. The centers primarily help small- and medium-sized manufacturers enhance their productivity, innovative capacity, technological performance and global competitiveness.

MEP staff serve as trusted business advisers, focusing on solving manufacturers’ challenges and identifying opportunities for growth in five critical areas: technology acceleration, supplier development, sustainability, workforce and continuous improvement. MEP delivers a high return on investment to taxpayers—for every one dollar of federal investment, MEP generates $32 in new sales growth. For every $1,570 of federal investment, MEP helps to create or retain one manufacturing job.

NIST anticipates funding one proposal for an MEP Center in South Dakota at up to $400,000 for the first year and one for a center in Kentucky at up to $600,000 for the first year. Each center must identify a non-federal cost share of at least 50 percent of the total project cost for the first year of operation. Any renewal funding of an award will require non-federal cost sharing that increases to a maximum of two-thirds of the center’s budget at year five and beyond.

Manufacturing extension services are provided by using the most cost effective, local, leveraged resources through the coordinated efforts of a regionally based MEP center and local technology resources. The management and operational structure of each MEP center is based on the characteristics of the manufacturers in the region and locally available resources with demonstrated experience working with manufacturers.

U.S.-based nonprofit institutions or organizations, including universities, state and local governments and existing MEP centers are eligible to submit a proposal. An eligible organization may work individually or include proposed subawards or contracts with others in a project proposal, effectively forming a team. All proposals must be received no later than 5 pm Eastern time on Monday, April 30, 2012.

Additional information on the application process is available in the notice of Federal Funding Opportunity posted at Grants.gov (www.grants.gov) under Funding Opportunity Number 2012-NIST-MEP-SD-AND-KY-01 and the Federal Register notice of available funding at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-03-01/pdf/2012-4959.pdf. NIST MEP will hold an information webinar for organizations considering applying to this opportunity on March 19, 2012 at 2 pm EST. More information is available on the NIST MEP Web site www.nist.gov/mep.

Source: http://www.nist.gov/mep/nist-announces-up-to-1m-in-funding-for-two-new-manufacturing-extension-partnership-centers.cfm

Your best chances fo success involve a thorough conversion optimization and new focus on mobile.

Improving your conversion rates should not be left to chance. With help from some great data from Econsultancy’s Conversion Rate Optimization Report 2011, our latest infographic explores how a structured approach to turning website visitors into customers can impact stagnant conversion rates and end a sales slowdown as you head into the new year.

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Read more: http://monetate.com/2011/11/infographic-whos-your-chief-conversion-officer/#ixzz1pFIHxIuaInfographic: Who’s Your Chief Conversion Officer?

Is This the Era of DIY Manufacturing?

 
The traditional principles of mass production today are being challenged by concepts of radical customization and highly personalized goods. As a growing number of do-it-yourself inventors and small-scale industrialists find creative ways to modify, reconfigure and fabricate products from the ground up, the manufacturing industry must adapt to this new future.

by Ilya Leybovich Traditional models for manufacturing are rapidly evolving, as increasing demand for customized, individually-oriented products and the desire for “personal fabrication” capabilities are driving a revolution in do-it-yourself production. Coupled with the latest advances in 3-D printing and digital fabrication, which are bringing sophisticated technologies into the home, the world may soon be entering a new era of DIY manufacturing.

March 13th, 2012



“The technologies could, in fact, bring about an Industrial Revolution in reverse,” according to the Institute for the Future. “In this scenario, rapid fabrication (or molecular manufacturing) will turn every home into a personal, flexible factory. Companies and users will sell or share designs that can be manufactured at the point of use: instead of container ships carrying processed goods, the Internet will circulate blueprints and CAD files.”

A report last May from Wohlers Associates found that the additive manufacturing and 3-D printing industry reached a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.1 percent in 2010, following a 9.7 percent decline in 2009. The CAGR for the 23-year history of the industry as a whole averaged 26.2 percent. The rapid product development consulting firm also forecasts that the industry will grow to $3.1 billion by 2016 and $5.2 billion by 2020.

Much of the growth in at-home manufacturing is being driven by rapid advancement of the technology itself. The majority of 3-D printers work by depositing successive layers of different materials to form a real-world object. These systems have been around for almost two decades, but MIT’s Technology Review recently reported on the “growing interest” among manufacturers in 3-D printing.

The technology has grown beyond the domain of hobbyists and do-it-yourself enthusiasts and its applications are now garnering commercial interest. For example, last summer General Electric announced it would “intensify focus” on additive manufacturing to develop a variety of products, from aircraft engine components to parts for ultrasound machines. The company has added a new laboratory to its GE Global Research Division that will be solely devoted to additive manufacturing.

Major manufacturers aren’t the only ones taking advantage of 3-D printing and additive manufacturing. The process of highly customizable production is creating a fundamental shift in innovation and design, opening up new channels for smaller companies to diversify their offerings.

“Perhaps traditional manufacturers should also consider mixing mass production with individual production,” Product Lifecycle Stories advises. “Listening to customers and allowing them to make improvements and customizations to products may seem overwhelming and unwieldy for some, but digital fabrication tools make it much easier to swap in new features, change the production line or restart production of old products if demand resurfaces.”

Product development can be considerably more fluid and flexible when incorporating these principles. Instead of designing and manufacturing products that are separately launched, companies can rely on a continuous stream of collective information about product adaptability, use and appeal to better meet customer needs. This versatile approach can also have distinct economic benefits.

“The printing of parts and products has the potential to transform manufacturing because it lowers the costs and risks. No longer does a producer have to make thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of items to recover his fixed costs,” the Economist explains. “In a world where economies of scale do not matter anymore, mass-manufacturing identical items may not be necessary or appropriate, especially as 3-D printing allows for a great deal of customization.”

Of course, any new business model based on an emerging technology will also open up a wide range of challenges and new problems to confront. When the barriers collapse between conventional mass production and systems that enable more individualized, customizable and smaller-run fabrication, legal issues and questions regarding business standards will likely arise.

“Disruption has its downsides. A diversified supply chain, more widespread manufacturing literacy, and changing intellectual property practices will inevitably bring new forms of abuse and mishap,” strategy+business explains. “Regulations and conventional law enforcement might not be agile or thorough enough to keep up. Manufacturing as an industry will need to promote new best practices and professional norms — in collaboration with a more engaged customer base and a wider range of manufacturing, distribution and reclamation partners.”

The technologies involved in 3-D printing, digital fabrication and additive manufacturing are becoming increasingly sophisticated. As desktop manufacturing units become more compact, efficient and inexpensive, we can expect to see them appearing in more homes, workshops, small businesses and manufacturing facilities. The proliferation of these systems will not only lead to newer, innovative products, but also more creative ways of shaping them to fit customer demand.

“The next level will be things that are exclusively producible through new technology,” Peter Weijmarshausen, founder of 3-D printing service Shapeways.com, told Forbes. “With 3-D printing you can get feedback and improve design after producing just one object. Your minimum run is one. So products can evolve much quicker. Mix this with the opening up of design — what open-source did for software, 3-D printing can do for product design. I don’t know what we’re going to create, but it will be amazing.”

Source: http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/2012/03/13/is-this-the-era-of-diy-manufacturing/ 

The 4 Forces That Will Shape IT Economics in 2012

By Howard Rubin, CEO & Founder, Rubin Worldwide

@wallstreettech

 

While most firms in financial services are focusing on the “headwinds” of global market uncertainty and regulation, there also is a real need to look “under the hood” at the enterprise/business technology engines that drive operational efficiency, enable product innovation and deployment, and enact risk/regulatory compliance.

 

Since the economic upheaval began in 2007-8, it has been clear that the historical models of managing a firm’s technology and related economics don’t fit with the new economy or the “new normal.” Now it is even clearer that four major forces are at work to blow them apart as the winds of change in the technology economy:

 

1.Relentless Demand for Technology

2.Upward IT Spending Pressure

3.The Need for New Management Models

4.Transition Business Models

 

1. Relentless Demand for Technology

The demand for "computing" -- processors, storage, network bandwidth, access via alternate devices -- is growing faster than the global economy and faster than can be offset by Moore’s Law.

 

2. Upward IT Spending Pressure

With the force of technology demand blowing by the economics of Moore’s Law, we now have entered an era in which such upward technology pressure (and expense) will continue to increase in all possible business scenarios -- whether revenue increases, decreases or stagnates. Add to this the new demands of risk management and regulation, and there just is no escape from the pressure of rising IT costs.

 

3. Adapting Management Models to the New Rules of the Technology Economy

Neither technology nor business management (or government) are prepared to operate under the "rules" of the new technology economy (or know how to):

 

•After four to five years of cost cutting initiatives, the IT playbook is exhausted. (And with everyone using the same playbook, there is no competitive differentiation.)

 

•After four to five years of throttling back, discretionary spending demand is pent up.

 

•After four to five years of rapid innovation in consumer devices (e.g., the iPad and Android devices) and social networks, as well as the introduction of “Big Data," new options/capabilities are pressuring the IT portfolio.

 

4. Transitioning Business Models/The Need for Urgent Change

Current models by which companies manage the dynamics of their technology economics are failing. Moore's Law is being matched by the demand for computing and increasing computing complexity, and as such, most companies are "victims" of their technology economies and not the "masters" of their technology economies.

 

So what does this all mean? 2012 is the year that your organization needs to become the master of its technology economy. The new models by which organizations will accomplish this have 10 basic attributes. They:

 

1.Offer full business transparency ("IT Savvy”) as a foundation.

 

2.Focus on value production, risk management and cost optimization simultaneously and continuously.

 

3.Drive business innovation with technology and drive technology innovation based on business aspirations.

 

4.Are cognizant of the role of "data" in driving technology and business operations costs and business opportunities.

 

5.Tune fixed versus variable costs to the performance profile of the enterprise and tune staff distribution -- employee, contractor, outsourced, onshore, offshore, near-shore.

 

6.Place extreme value on talent --- in-house, external or in a network (or labor “cloud”) .

 

7.Use ongoing "mark to market" analysis for opportunity seeking while leveraging the marketplace, mega-scale technology "commons" and perhaps even "exchanges" for commodities, technology and labor.

 

8.Seek, explore and implement new/discontinuous models of computing, technology and labor to enable breakthrough economics (e.g., cloud).

 

9.Foster incubation of and investment in innovation.

 

10.Measure and navigate success from a business outcome perspective.

 

Distilling what is ahead into four forces of change and ten associated attributes is perhaps an oversimplification of what lies ahead in 2012. But think ahead to 2013-2015 -- without these basics in place, a new force will be evident. But it is likely that it will be more than a force; it will be a barrier -- a barrier to business success in the constantly growing and evolving globally driven economy.

Manufacturing Job Loss is Not Inevitable

February 22, 2012 —



Despite small gains during the last two years, the trend in U.S. manufacturing jobs for the last 30 years has been downward, leading some to argue that long-term manufacturing job loss is inevitable. But our research shows otherwise.

High wages cannot be the culprit; because wages in U.S. manufacturing are not especially high by international standards. As of 2009, 12 European countries plus Australia had higher average manufacturing wages than the United States. Norway topped the list with an average manufacturing wage of $53.89 per hour, 60 percent above the U.S. average of $33.53.

High wages cannot be the culprit; because wages in U.S. manufacturing are not especially high by international standards. As of 2009, 12 European countries plus Australia had higher average manufacturing wages than the United States. Norway topped the list with an average manufacturing wage of $53.89 per hour, 60 percent above the U.S. average of $33.53.

Moreover, the United States lost manufacturing jobs at a faster rate since 2000 than several countries that paid manufacturing workers more. Among the 10 countries for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks manufacturing employment, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden both had higher manufacturing wages and lost smaller shares of their manufacturing employment than the United States between 2000 and 2010.

Nor is technology to blame. Factories have become more mechanized, so fewer workers are needed to produce the same amount of manufactured goods. If that were the end of the story, then technology-driven productivity growth would indeed reduce manufacturing employment. But it’s not the whole story. When productivity grows, manufactured goods become less expensive and the market for them expands. The expanding market creates a demand for more workers, and that extra demand usually outweighs the labor-saving impact of mechanization. The result is more manufacturing jobs, not fewer, when productivity increases in manufacturing.

U.S. Manufacturers Are Hurting Themselves by the Way They Hire

The United States is at a dangerous juncture: Manufacturing jobs are on the rise, but the growth is still fragile. Given the hypercompetitive nature of global manufacturing, it wouldn't take much to kill this momentum and put the U.S. back to where it was a couple of years ago. That's why it's critical for American manufacturers to maximize the return on all their assets — including their workforces.

U.S. manufacturers have always been at the forefront in making efficient use of physical capital, but human capital is a different story. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that for decades, companies have thought of workers as essentially interchangeable, somewhat like machine parts — if one doesn't work out, replace it with another. Managers typically assume that a worker who meets minimum qualifications can be taught pretty much any job in a short time.

If companies continue to follow that approach, they risk becoming less competitive and putting an early end to the growth of the American manufacturing sector, which has generated more than 330,000 new production jobs over the past two years. Instead, they need to recognize that not everyone is cut out to work on today's factory floor.

Production lines don't look much the way they used to. Robots and computer-operated tools are everywhere. But that doesn't mean human workers are less valuable — quite the opposite. In this environment, profits come from the company's ability to make the best use of technology to flexibly create high-quality products with continual process improvement and few accidents. Making all that happen is ultimately the responsibility of the army of one who is monitoring the robot, recalibrating as needed, watching for signs of trouble, troubleshooting, making timely technical adjustments, and proposing new and better ways of doing things. Whether the output is cars, furniture, plumbing supplies, or optical products, manufacturers increasingly need bright, technically sophisticated, adaptable, engaged workers who are self-motivated to learn. In other words, they need a world-class workforce.

To get this workforce, companies need to be as forward-thinking about their talent sourcing, hiring, and retention as they are about the technology on their production lines. That means carefully defining what capabilities are required in each hire, creating methods for determining which candidates will function best, establishing effective performance measures, and ensuring continual improvement of talent-management processes.

Of particular importance is the hire. A high hit rate on getting the right people the first time will set U.S. companies apart in the global marketplace. To achieve that, companies should be using new hiring processes that are technology driven and more relevant than the unstructured interview and résumé review of yesterday. A number of automated pre-employment assessment methods are available that include sophisticated simulations designed to measure the most relevant skills for working on a technology-driven production line. But many companies still don't use these systems; although manufacturers have become expert at process automation, most are still novices when it comes to automating the hiring process.

I'm always amazed at how many businesspeople believe the accepted wisdom that in manufacturing, American workers are a liability — that compared with their counterparts in China or India they're expensive and unmotivated. That's simply not true. The recent economic hardships have made the U.S. workforce hungry — hungry for stable, well-paying jobs, hungry for training, and hungry to compete at a global level.

For manufacturers, the key to success is thinking of the U.S. workforce not as a liability but as a competitive asset. Companies that learn to hire and partner with an engaged, savvy workforce will ensure a viable American manufacturing sector and prepare the way for long-term growth.

This post is part of the HBR Insight Center on American Competitiveness.