Is the Great Lakes Region Prepared for Globalization?
 Globalization,
competitiveness and a skilled workforce are just three key manufacturing issues
Joe Loughrey, president and chief operating officer of Cummins Inc., will address as the kick-off
speaker for the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum.
Loughrey has said
Cummins, the world's largest independent diesel engine manufacturer, is
committed to being a world-class company that does significant manufacturing in
the U.S. But, he has pointed out, Cummins cannot do it alone and the
company counts on the communities in which it operates to help it stay a step
ahead.
That requires a
close look at the impact of globalization in the Great Lakes Region as well as
the U.S. and asking a simple question, “Are we prepared to deal with this new
economic reality and to benefit from it?” In many cases, Loughrey believes the
answer is no, specifically when it comes to educating our children. He will
address this and other issues in his kick-off address.
Loughrey joined
Cummins since 1974 and became president and COO in May 2005. Throughout his
career, he has championed a disciplined culture in which employees work together
to create common tools and processes to solve complex business challenges. He is also credited with restoring the company's engine business to profitability. He took a business that was losing $100 million annually and helped turn it into an operation that has set company records for profitability. He
took a business that was losing $100 million annually and helped turn it into an
operation that has set company records for profitability. Cummins has enjoyed
record financial results each of the past four years employing nearly 40,000
people worldwide and doing business in more than 150 countries.
Great Lakes Global Success
Hinges on its Workforce
The Great Lakes
Manufacturing Council (GLMC) is currently working with its Canadian provincial
and Great Lakes state partners to develop a comprehensive manufacturing pipeline
framework that begins in early childhood, continues throughout careers and
can be implemented at the provincial, state and local levels throughout the
Great Lakes Region. This framework will be discussed at the Great Lakes Manufacturing
Forum during sessions focused on workforce development.
“The key to the
future for the Great Lakes region is sustaining and developing a workforce that
is second to none,” said Ed Wolking, president of the Great Lakes Manufacturing
Council. “We believe that it is possible to develop new pathways for both the
future and current populations including adult disadvantaged populations.”
Currently, there
are many options, plans, strategies, roadmaps and policies. These will be
discussed at a session titled The Current State of Confusion. It will
be led by Mark Tomlinson, executive director, Society of Manufacturing
Engineers, and Jean-Michel Laurin, vice president, Global Business Policy,
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. They will work with participants to
identify key points and common threads and look at the critical success factors
for creating a Manufacturing Workforce Pipeline.
During the Bringing the Pieces Together session participants will discuss ways the
Canadian provincial and Great Lakes state partners can work together with the
Great Lakes Manufacturing Council to develop the comprehensive manufacturing
pipeline framework. This framework will be designed to promote and support
innovation-based education and training approaches such as problem-based
learning from both the U.S. and Canada. The group will discuss:
- The value proposition for developing and implementing a common framework
- What would the framework will include
- Potential pilot areas across the region
- How these practices can be brought to scale
The session will be led by
Jennifer M. McNelly, vice president, Education and the Workforce, Manufacturing
Institute, National Association of Manufacturers; Dr. Robert Sheets, University
of Illinois, senior policy adviser for workforce to the State of Illinois, and
Henry Reiser, dean, School of Technology, Applied Science and Apprenticeship,
Lambton College, Ontario.
Supported with a grant from the Joyce
Foundation
It's
Not Your Father’s Innovation Plan
Innovation is key
to differentiation and change, but don't be fooled by the old definitions of
innovation, warns Matt Preschern, vice president, Integrated Marketing
Communications, IBM. Preschern, who will speak at
the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum, has said "successful innovation today must
be open, collaborative, multi-disciplinary and global.
IBM is reinventing
itself along those lines ... shedding the disc-drive, the printing and
PC-businesses while focusing on less volatile and higher-margin businesses such
as software and services. That's only one part of the story. IBM's goal is to be
"a globally integrated company that manages on the basis of values,
decentralized decision-making, and holds itself to a higher standard than any
law requires," says Preschern.
Attaining those
goals requires strong collaboration at all levels and all geographic regions
of the company. Preschern will share those collaboration strategies as part of
the company's transformation case study and lessons learned at the Great Lakes
Manufacturing Forum.
Great Lakes Revitalization:
Provide Solutions Globally
The Great Lakes
Region can revitalize and remake itself, escape the commoditization cycle and
make money by offering customers around the world unique solutions, said Jayson Myers, president and chief
economist, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.
"Our region must
leverage its current assets and focus on creating value in a global, knowledge-
based economy," he said. "That means developing a more customized, specialized,
and services-oriented manufacturing sector that sees its role as providing
solutions to customers around the world."
According to
Myers, who will speak at the Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum, several factors
are essential to develop these solutions:
- Leadership and vision that sets a new strategic direction and gets there as
a business
- Workforce capabilities for 21st century manufacturing
- Innovation that creates wealth from creativity and knowledge
- Partnerships because no company can compete and grow on its own today
- Competitive access to markets, including a highly efficient Canada-U.S.
border
"We must embody
the value in products delivered to customers," Myers said, "but in a world where
value comes from the intellectual property, innovation, design, engineering,
logistics, finance and customer service, it is necessary to make each solution
unique."
Learn the Mysteries of the Great
Lakes at the Forum
Like all great
mysteries, the mysteries of the Great Lakes hide just below the surface. Think
of the wonders one single drop of water has seen in the nearly 400 years it
takes it to travel from the headwaters of Lake Superior to the edge of Lake
Ontario. It glides by towering cliffs dotted with early Native American
pictographs, caribou and moose grazing on the shores, giant prehistoric sturgeon
lurking among thousands of shipwrecks and past nearly 40 million people who live
along the more than 10,000 miles of coastline.
It is a dramatic
journey through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world and you can
share it at the Great Lakes
Manufacturing Forum. The IMAX film, the Mysteries of
the Great Lakes, will be shown to those attending the Forum at a private
viewing/reception at the Cleveland Science Center on Thursday July 10.The awe-inspiring scenes are complemented by a soundtrack,
which includes music by Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot.
All across the
Great Lakes basin, there is a renewed interest in the health of the Lakes and an
increased awareness of the importance of this fresh water resource to the social
and economic vitality of North America. Dubbed ‘inland seas’ by early European
explorers, the Great Lakes have some of the most spectacular wilderness scenery
on earth and a fifth of the entire planet’s fresh water. Today, 25% of all
Canadians, and 10% of Americans live on the Great Lakes. In addition, one in
every three Canadians and one in every seven Americans rely on the Great Lakes
for their fresh water.
This event is being sponsored by the
Government of Canada.
Lean Initiatives Bring Shingo
Prize to Michigan Company
Faced with greater
competition from foreign manufacturers, rising material costs and relentless
pricing pressure in the market, Metalworks/Great
Openings looked to the lean initiatives founded by Japanese industrial
engineer Dr. Shigeo Shingo. Not only did the move improve the Ludington,
Michigan, company’s competitive position and shore up job security for its
employees, it netted the manufacturer and distributor of metal office furniture
the 2008 Shingo Prize, the premier award
for operational excellence in North America.
"The quest for the
Shingo Prize gave us the direction and discipline to build Metalworks into a
world-class manufacturing business," said Tom Paine, president and CEO of the
company. "The Shingo Prize is an honor for everyone working here."
 Paine will share
Metalworks’ Shingo Prize experiences and strategies with those attending the
Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum. The company's changes embraced all areas of the
business including administrative processes. In addition to manufacturing
improvements, Metalworks/Great Openings is also seeing similar improvements in
areas such as accounting, customer service, design, human resources and
purchasing.
"The Shingo Prize
validates our efforts as a lean manufacturer," said Paine. "Metalworks/Great
Openings' competes in a world economy, and we have to keep moving fast."
Metalworks/Great
Openings is a family-owned company with 210 employees. Great Openings is the
dealer sales division of Metalworks, Inc. The company has provided metal filing
and storage products to the contract office furniture industry for 27 years.
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