Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/245761
ht, shiny future B y N i k k i Ka l l i o O Photograph by S hane Van Boxtel/Image Studios The NEW Manufacturing Alliance, led by director Ann Franz, rebuilds the industry's image nce upon a time, people went to work in dark, gloomy places where they made heavy things on some kind of machinery. They went inside gritty buildings every day and they did the same thing for 40 years, if they were lucky. Some people still believe this is a modern-day tale. But the face of manufacturing has outgrown its down-anddirty image, and the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, led by director Ann Franz, has been working to tell a new story for nearly eight years. "What makes (the alliance) special is that it's really manufacturer-led," says Franz, who also is the strategic partnerships manager at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. One day, Franz received a call from Paul Rauscher, president of EMT International in Hobart. "He said, 'You know, I'm looking at my plant floor, and I see a lot of old people, and I plan on being here a lot longer than these people plan on being here – and is there any organization really trying to work on this issue?'" Franz and Rauscher met in January 2006 w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m January 2014 • continued > / insight on manufacturing |9