We’ve all grown accustomed over the past few months to receiving grim news. Manufacturers have taken a heavy dose, as companies all over the industrial landscape have cut jobs and watched profits evaporate. The pessimist in me says it’s a good time to sulk. The optimist says it’s time to find a path out of this mess.

The folks at the American Small Manufacturers Coalition (ASMC) are looking for that path, too, which is comforting, even if the pessimist in me thinks we’ve yet to find the machete sharp enough to cut back these brambles.

The coalition, which counts as members the network of Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers across the country, has launched the Next Generation Manufacturing Study to gauge where SMBs stand in their pursuit of world-class operations. Any small or mid-sized manufacturer can take the study, and I suggest you do. First off, it gives you a glimpse, before the study results are even published, of what the benchmark might look like for a strong manufacturing company. In the eyes of the ASMC, six strategies define a next-generation manufacturer: customer-focused innovation, systemic continuous improvement, advanced talent management, global engagement, extended enterprise management, and sustainable products and processes. (Lean Matters readers will be heartened to see continuous improvement on the agenda.) 

To see the 61 questions that make up the survey, visit www.NGMStudy.com.

As you fill out the questionnaire, consider the words of Mike Klonsinski, ASMC board chair and executive director of the Wisconsin MEP: “What is world-class today will be standard practice by 2015.”  

Now is no time to let the pessimist in all of us diminish our prospects for future growth — even if it’s hard to see through the jungle ahead.

Take the survey; you’ll get a customized benchmark report that shows your progress against the survey results. Who knows, that may inspire the optimist in you. We all need that right about now.

Posted by Chris Chiappinelli at 02/10/2009 05:07:23 PM |