Why Manufacturing Day Should Be Part of Your Recruitment Strategy

May 22, 2018/0 Comments/in Uncategorized/by Rob Felber

Manufacturing-Day-2018

Manufacturing is booming in the United States, yet there is one major concern holding companies back from growing to their full potential—filling the manufacturing workforce with new talent. A great way for manufacturing companies to gain community recognition and recruit strong candidates is by participating in Manufacturing Day.

Manufacturing Day falls on October 5th this year. While October may seem light years away, now is the time to start planning your company’s event. Below learn why hosting a Manufacturing Day event is important for your shop to recruit the next generation of manufacturers and the three best-attended styles of Manufacturing Day events.

What is Manufacturing Day?

Manufacturing Day, established in 2012, is a national celebration of modern manufacturing. The national initiative brings manufacturers across the continental U.S. together in a collective effort to invite students, educators, media, and business people into their facilities to educate them on manufacturing careers and change the public’s perception of the manufacturing sector.

Why All Manufacturers Should Consider Hosting a Manufacturing Day Event

Manufacturing Day has thousands of participants each year. The national celebration gives manufacturers the opportunity to promote their company on a larger scale. When manufacturing companies register their event on mfgday.com, the event gets added to the Manufacturing Day event map, where visitors to the website will see the event. Also, by registering the event, a landing page is created on the site to drive registration.

Participants on Manufacturing Day use the hashtag #MfgDay or #MfgDay18 to share their events and experiences. Joining the social media conversation allows manufacturers to connect with fellow manufacturers and also, build their social media following. We’ve seen Manufacturing Day post get retweeted by dignitaries, local community leaders, and industry media!

How to Keep Customer Confidentiality While Participating in Manufacturing Day

A common misconception among manufacturers is that they feel they cannot open their facilities to the public because sections of their facility that are “off-limits” due to confidentiality agreements with customers. This couldn’t be further from true. You don’t need to take visitors through every part of your facility. Seeing one facet of the shop, and learning about the product you make on one particular machine can be just as interesting to an attendee as a walk-through of the entire facility.

Stumped Deciding What Kind of Manufacturing Day Event to Plan? We’ve Got You’ve Covered.

1. Plant Tours

The most straightforward way to participate in Manufacturing Day is by hosting a plant tour. Plant tours can be anything from an elaborate event with hands-on exhibits and structured activities, to a modest tour for students and select community members. It’s really up to your company to determine what style of plant tour is most suitable for your space and also, showcases your company culture best.

If you are considering including educational institutions in your plant tour, now is the time to connect with school administrators to coordinate your Manufacturing Day event. Schools will be out of session in less than a month and school administrators will be in and out of the office throughout the summer. It is important to connect with schools as soon as possible since teachers are in the process of finalizing their 2018-2019 school year plans.

2. Job Fairs

Job fairs are a great platform to recruit the next generation of manufacturers. Often job fairs are held at a manufacturer’s facility, however, if you are looking to get a larger pool of candidates, partnering with other manufacturing companies, or a staffing firm is a great way to drive more traffic to your event. We suggest reaching out to the strong connections your company has made through manufacturing associations or networking groups like Wire-Net to see if you can collaborate.

3. Manufacturing Day Expos

Manufacturing expos are a fantastic way to create a Manufacturing Day hot spot in your community. Is your company in an industrial parkway with other manufacturers? Why not pull together and share resources to offer back-to-back plant tours at each of your facilities. This is a great way for manufacturing companies to expose visitors to a range of different industries and work environments.

For more information on Manufacturing Day Events, visit the resources below:

http://www.mfgday.com/playbook/Host-Toolkit.pdf

http://www.mfgday.com/playbook/MFGDay-2015-Community-Planning-Guide.pdf

http://www.mfgday.com/user/register

The Top 4 Changes in ISO 9001:2015 from 2008

May 22, 2018/0 Comments/in Uncategorized/by admin

This guest blog was kindly provided by Smithers Quality Assessments

ISO-90

The clock keeps ticking, and we keep getting closer to that now infamous due date (September 15, 2018, to be exact) for the transition of ISO 9001:2008 certifications to the updated standard of ISO 9001:2015. If you’re already certified to the former, you’re probably going through the process of determining audit dates for transition, or if you’re new to the quality management system, you may be looking at which certification body to select to help you get up to date with the latest standard. In either case, or if you’re unsure of what the best course of action will be for your organization moving forward, highlighting what’s really changed in the latest revision may help to settle uncertainty, solidify expectations, and create a clear direction.

At first glance, the new standard appears different, and may even feel a little different after reviewing it for the first time. However, ISO 9001:2015 is actually very similar to its predecessor ISO 9001:2008. In fact, if you exclude the more subtle or simple changes, there are four important changes to be found in the latest revision:

1. Processes Emphasis – The goal of this addition is to prompt organizations to really think about their processes, to define them clearly and who’s responsible for what. For example, start by asking yourself these questions: What are your processes specifically? Who will run them? How will you monitor and measure them?

2. Risk Management Concept – Every business owner, operator, or manager must consider the risk involved with many of the decision they make, or the actions they take on a regular basis. For instance: Do you bring on a new supplier? Yes or no? Should you pick up a new customer or job? Do you have the resources or organization bandwidth to provide the necessary services? Can you hire a new employee? These are all examples of risk related issues. As it pertains to the revised ISO 9001:2015 standard, it is now a requirement of the updated quality management system to start thinking about risk and as mentioned in process emphasis, start mapping it out by clearly defining it.

3. No Required Procedures – Unlike in ISO 9001:2008, the revised standard does not contain a structured set of required procedures that you must incorporate into your processes. However, that doesn’t mean that you can have none in place. Instead, the goal of this flexibility is to allow companies the authority to decide which procedures are most applicable to them, which ones to keep or get rid of, and what additional ones should be added to produce the best results.

4. Top Management Must Own its QMS – Another focus for ISO 9001:2015 is the encouragement of top management within organizations to own their quality management system. So, whether it’s the President, VP, or General Manager, the emphasis is on these roles taking a more active role in the development, implementation, measurement, and responsibility of their company’s processes, and not simply delegating it all to quality manager.

As it was mentioned earlier, the above is not an all-encompassing list of the changes or variations between ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 9001:2008, but the rest of the changes are subtler and should not overly influence your transition or audit. To learn more about the benefits of ISO 9001:2015, download Smithers Quality Assessment’s gap analysis sheet.

Media Appointments That Are Out of This World – Case Study, Fabrisonic LLC.

May 7, 2018/0 Comments/in Uncategorized/by Rob Felber

Want to get the media’s attention? Want them to tweet just how curious they are about your company (to the thousands that follow them)? Fabrisonic LLC, a client of Felber PR & Marketing since 2014, produces metal parts via additive manufacturing. Read on to see this out of the world story of how a pre-show media promotion got Fabrisonic social media recognition and press to follow.

Why manufacturers should engage industry media prior to trade shows

Journalists and the stories they write in trade publications can often be a great source of lead generation for manufacturers. The two-part series we previously published How to Attain Media Interviews at Industrial Trade Show explains the importance of media engagement and also, provides a step-by-step guide to create strong media relationships that lead to press.

How 6-Year-Old Startup Fabrisonic Generated Out-of-this-World Press at a Recent Trade Show

Additive manufacturing is a competitive industry and new companies are popping up left and right. Fabrisonic recently attended and exhibited RAPID 2018, a 3D manufacturing trade show which attracts thousands of attendees every year. Fabrisonic’s 10’ x 10’ booth may have appeared small in comparison to its mega-million-dollar competitors but they made a mighty impression on industry media prior to the show that generated significant traffic to their booth. Fabrisonic’s CEO and President, Mark Norfolk, had 13 media interviews throughout RAPID 2018 that lead to stories, and credible, published stories lead to qualified inquiries. Oh, and Fabrisonic’s booth neighbors complained all the media and other attendee traffic they were receiving. We’re SO sorry about that, not!

Now you may be asking yourself, “This sounds great but doesn’t it take work?” The answer is absolutely, but the exposure and recognition that comes with press is a worthy investment.

Problem: Engage media so they book appointments with CEO during a tradeshow

Editors and writers are busy, just like all of us. You need to quickly and succinctly get their attention. They need to see value in reporting on your company and MUST see the connection to their reader. They get tons of email and phone pitches. How can you possibly get confirmed on their calendar during a jam-packed three-day tradeshow?

Solution: Send an engaging package with a themed message with an invite to meet

Focusing on Fabrisonic’s Out of this World news about their NASA achievement, we designed a package and sent each journalist their very own treat of astronaut ice cream. Yes, you still need to reach out via phone and follow-up emails, but now you have their attention.

Did it work? Check out these posts from journalists in US and England (complete with photos of the package sent!).

“Okay, @Fabrisonic3D – you have my attention! Looking forward to catching up at @RAPID_Event

“Just in time for the heatwave! …next-gen heat exchangers for @NASA coming soon…”

Results: 13 booked appointments and 2 other booth visits from journalists

In addition to the story-yielding interviews, social media before and during the show drove heavy booth traffic starting on day one of the three-day show. Journalists not only reposted our social media to their audiences, they also responded to outreach via this channel.

Those extra efforts – monitoring show hashtags

The team at Felber PR also monitors all the social streaming from our client’s tradeshow. Recently, two journalists posted to the twitter-verse that they were at the show and “let’s meet up.” We emailed the journalist the CEO’s mobile number and a text message resulted in another interview meeting. All this by simply paying attention to the feed.

Click to read some articles that came from the show:

3DPrint.com: https://3dprint.com/211907/fabrisonic-makergear-rapid-2018/

3D Printing Industry: https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/new-metal-3d-printing-rapid-tct-stratasys-digital-metal-meld-manufacturing-132719/

Working with reporters and editors is the same as sales. It all starts with the relationship. Click to download our Trade Shows for Manufactures eBook below to discover how you can engage media at your next trade show.

To Download our Trade Shows for Manufacturers Guide, click the photo below.