Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/389272
Working Together To Grow Manufacturing More than ever, collaboration is crucial to boosting the success of manufacturers in Wisconsin. A variety of collaborative efforts already have been established, including the Milwaukee region's participation in the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase dedicated to improving regions' global connections and economic competitiveness. The WMEP hired Bill Burnett to serve as a loaned executive to the Milwaukee 7, a regional, cooperative economic development platform for the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin, in spearheading the region's team in the Global Cities Initiative's Exchange, a network of metropolitan areas working together to develop actionable global trade and investment plans for their regions. The Milwaukee Region joined the Exchange in November of 2013 and is currently developing an export strategy, to be followed by the creation of a foreign direct investment strategy for the region. Explosive economic growth in other areas of the world has presented an opportunity for Wisconsin manufacturers to boost their Using resources wisely and adhering to best practices is important as manufacturers learn to embrace working together for a common cause. "Working collaboratively is really important in Wisconsin because manufacturing is a key to the state's economy. It's a complex undertaking and no one can go it alone," said Buckley Brinkman, the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership's executive director. "We need a mosaic of public and private organizations and those, like the WMEP, that walk the line in between. I think the days of anyone standing up and saying I have all the answers are over. It's too complicated, no matter how big and responsive your organization is." revenue and take advantage of a highly important global demographic - about 95 percent of consumers today reside outside the United States. "Exports are absolutely essential to growing our economy," Burnett said. Milwaukee Region representation in the Exchange includes the WMEP. Cooperative efforts tied to manufacturing extend beyond the Global Cities Initiative. Focusing on best practices is at the heart of strategic cooperative clusters, including the Water Council, which is working to create a global hub in Southeast Wisconsin focused on water technology; FaB Wisconsin, which is centered on the state's expanding food and beverage industry cluster; the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium (M-WERC), which is implementing efforts tied to the growth and economic competitiveness of the energy, power and control industry cluster; and the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, a group of manufacturers, working with educational institutions, workforce development boards, chambers of commerce and state organizations to promote manufacturing in Northeast Wisconsin. Collaboration also is at the heart of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's decision to award advanced manufacturing technology planning grants to industry-driven consortia to develop technology roadmaps aimed at strengthening manufacturing and innovation performance across industries. The grants, awarded to universities and nonprofit organizations such as the WMEP, will fund projects that identify and rank research and development goals, define workforce needs, and initiate other steps toward speeding technology development and transfer and improving manufacturing capabilities. Project collaborations span a wide variety of industries and technologies, from flexible-electronics manufacturing to bio-manufacturing and from pulp- and-paper manufacturing to forming and joining technologies. Collaboration helps bridge knowledge gaps, Brinkman said. "There are islands of excellences. We just need to build the bridges between the islands," Brinkman said. "A lot of manufacturers that want to collaborate are starting to learn to share." WMEP.org 877-856-8588