Learning to Change Opportunities to Improve the Performance of Smaller Manufacturers (1993) / Chapter Skim
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4 EFFECTIVENESS OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY CENTERS
4 EFFECTIVENESS OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY CENTERS
Pages 73-80
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From page 73... ...
The MTC program provides matching grants creating centers to enhance "productivity and technological performance in U.S. manufacturing through the transfer of manufacturing technology and techniques..." (IJ.S.
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From page 74... ...
Each MTC, therefore, can be viewed as an experiment or prototype in how to integrate federal efforts in manufacturing assistance wig existing private and public assistance resources to meet the demands of very diverse local manufacturing communities. The NIST and the Manufacturing Technology Centers fund the Modernization Forum to capture He lessons gained from these MTC experiments, to accelerate the learning process across them, and to identify areas for joint ventures among the MTCs.
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From page 75... ...
_ en o D C Cal ~ _} ~ con 3 ~ C.} _ C) ._ ._ o TIC o ° TABLE 3 National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Technology Centers Program summary (Febmary 1993)
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From page 76... ...
They are not about doing academic research, doing traditional economic development in the sense of attracting new firms, transferring technology from federal laboratories, or creating Silicon Valleys. Rather, they are about helping firms to adopt the disciplines required for globally competitive manufacturing and the design capacities needed for collaborative production.
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From page 77... ...
Projects with individual companies are an important part of the MTCs' activities because they build credibility in He community by demonstrating technical competence and ability to deliver promised services. However, this type of onemn-one assistance severely limits the number of companies that can be helped with available resources, even when the amount of time allotted for specific projects wig companies is limited, a common practice.
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From page 78... ...
These firms often are more willing to pay for services and require less marketing effort for the resulting income than smaller firms. Though still too early in He overall MTC program to tell what will happen after NIST funding ends, the committee can easily foresee a situation emerging in which MTCs fail to provide services that would be useful and effective to smaller firms because the fee income is insufficient, while at the same time competing more with private sector service providers for the business of larger firms.
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From page 79... ...
Examples of MTC services that workshop attendees noted as potentially very useful include activities to facilitate better networking among companies, such as forums, workshops, and company introductions, and activities to provide needed expertise, such as project management services and brokering or matching appropriate private sector providers with smaller clients. Although all of the MTCs provide these kinds of services to a greater or lesser degree, they should receive more emphasis despite the lack of clear metrics on which to judge their value.
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From page 80... ...
Most manufacturers seem to perceive the MTCs as neutral parties without a vested interest in any particular vendor, equipment type, or software package, and as government bodies wig access to other government bodies such as state regulatory agencies. The MTCs should capitalize on this perception by playing a far more forceful role in mobilizing networks within local manufacturing communities.
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