Aiming to help manufacturers emerge from the current recession stronger and more competitive, two organizations yesterday unveiled a collection of tools that can be used to boost innovation, enable sustainable manufacturing, and make other improvements.
At the Westec 2009 Exposition in Los Angeles, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and the National Institute of Standards & Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST/MEP) unveiled what they call a Competitive Manufacturing Toolkit that combines new and existing elements.
The goal for the toolkit is to support manufacturers’ attempts to accelerate innovation and increase competitiveness, said SME Executive Director and General Manager Mark Tomlinson in an interview with Managing Automation. “President Obama has been talking about building an innovation economy,” Tomlinson said. “We are providing tools that can enable that at manufacturing companies.”
The newest piece of the Competitive Manufacturing Toolkit is what SME and NIST/MEP call a National Innovation Marketplace, on online service on which manufacturers can post and review ideas about new products and other innovations, and collaborate on new projects. Now in pilot testing, the site collects detailed information and does some analysis, such as rate of return calculations.