The Bi-Weekly Newsletter of the Council of Industry
February 16, 2023
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Council of Industry Updates
What's Happening in Your Association
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HV Mfg, The Councils' Magazine, Turns 10
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HV Mfg, the Council of Industry magazine by, for and about Hudson Valley manufacturers is celebrating its 10th anniversary with its Spring edition. The edition, due out in April, will include a retrospective on past editions and focus on the issues we have covered and the people we have interviewed.
HV Mfg is an integral part of the Council’s mission to promote manufacturing in the region. With a readership of manufacturers, elected and other government officials as well as educators, it highlights the many interesting companies in the region and discusses the sector’s many challenges and opportunities from workforce development and career exploration to emerging technologies and innovations. It has proven to be a valuable tool to communicate the important role manufacturing plays in our economy by making the companies – and the people who work in them accessible to a wide-ranging audience.
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For information on advertising in this and other CI publications
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The Council of Industry is Seeking Nominations for the Manufacturing Champions Award
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The Manufacturing Champions Award is presented annually to individuals and/or organizations that work in the sector or provide direct support to the manufacturing sector in the Hudson Valley. The Awards will be presented at the Champion's Breakfast and Workforce Developers Expo May 18th at The Villa in Middletown.
Past champions include owners of manufacturing businesses, key employees, teachers and educators, economic development leaders, educational institutions, economic development organizations elected officials and agencies supporting the manufacturing workforce pipeline. Click here for a list of past champions.
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Busy Winter/Spring Schedule of Training Available to Upskill Your Workers
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Council of Industry training programs are designed by and for manufacturers to build skills in incumbent workers and make firms more productive and efficient. We have a full line up of training to help you build a more productive workforce.
First up are 2 Lean Six Sigma programs – Green Belt and Yellow Belt.
We are working with SUNY Orange, Dutchess Community College and RIT to deliver both Yellow Belt and Green Belt training. The Green Belt training provides individuals with the tools necessary to clearly define a problem, gather and analyze data and information, and implement improvements that can be sustained. The results have been outstanding, with many organizations reporting significant financial benefits, enhanced customer satisfaction, and reduced costs. Yellow Belt is an interactive training where each group of participants will identify opportunities within their respective work areas and ways to improve those areas utilizing taught problem-solving tools. The teams will present their identified work area opportunity and suggested solutions to the group.
Training for the leaders on your front lines.
Also planned for the spring is another offering of the Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership program (CML). For over 25 years, the CML program has offered attendees a range of leadership skills through a series of concentrated courses in problem solving and decision making, best practices and continuous improvement, positive motivation and discipline, financial management, business communication and more. Participants who complete the required courses are presented with the Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership by the Council of Industry. Also in the works is a SolidWorks Essentials training program that teaches participants to use the automation software to build parametric models of parts and assemblies, and how to make drawings of those parts and assemblies.
Green Belt: Mondays, 2/27/2023 – 6/13/2023 (Remote)
Yellow Belt: 3/22/2023 Through 3/24/2023 (In Person, Fishkill)
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Manufacturing Sector News
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Training Employees Helps Your Bottom Line and Theirs
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A new report, released on Feb. 2 from McKinsey Global Institute, “Performance through people: Transforming human capital into competitive advantage,” discovered that when companies invest in people, it pays off for workers. The survey found that skills learned on the job contribute 46% of the average person’s lifetime earnings. Furthermore, companies making these investments will likely “propel their employees into higher earnings brackets over the course of a career.”
As is the case with any investment a company makes the question, a key concern is a return on investment. It turns out that companies that train their employees have more consistent earnings. The study calls out a segment of companies: People + Performance Winners. This group is able to put its people first and deliver top-tier profitability at the same time. Eventually, this segment become large-scale “superstars.” And where do you find these “superstars? Across all industries, the report notes. And profit follows with an average of more than $1 billion in economic profit.
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5 Things to Look for in Your Future Leaders
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When you have too many bosses and not enough leaders, you probably have a higher-than-normal turnover rate and a constant churn of new hires impacting other metrics such as quality, production, delivery and safety. Not to mention your organization’s reputation. These bosses can wreak havoc with both your current employees and your labor pool. Social media apps such as Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn let potential hires not only see your dirty laundry, but smell it, too. Your reputation as an organization now goes beyond the borders of your community.
Do not leave your future leaders to chance. Actively identify them when you promote people into supervisory positions. Look for leaders instead of promoting bosses. Impactful leaders usually exhibit common behaviors. It’s not who you need to look for, but what you need to look for. Bosses tend to be more about the power of their position, while a good leader looks at the influence of their position.
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Workplace Leaders Have an Outsized Effect of Employee Wellbeing
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Sixty percent of people surveyed by the Workforce Institute at UKG said work is the biggest factor in their mental health. And it turns out that bosses play an outsized role in an employee’s well-being—even more than therapists and doctors. Despite being able to positively impact well-being, work seems to be doing the exact opposite for most employees. A whopping 64% of respondents said that work negatively impacts their well-being.
The business case for thinking about and helping employees better their mental health is clear: The less stressed and happier employees are, the more productive they are and the more likely they are to stick around. But, When it comes to workplace wellness, it’s clear that employers and employees aren’t on the same page. An overwhelming majority of HR and C-suite leaders (90%) think that their workplace has a positive impact on workers’ mental health. Yet only half of employees would agree.
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95% of Companies Won't Have End-to-End Resiliency in Their Supply Chains by 2026
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Progress in terms of achieving end-to-end (E2E) resiliency in their supply chains isn't moving at a fast enough pace, says Garnter in a new study. The group's research is showing that companies have not been able to move from being forecast-driven, and primarily focused on accuracy, to focusing on managing uncertainty in their supply chains. To start down the path of achieving E2E resiliency organizations need to first reinvent their strategies. Gartner recommends organizations:
- Drop forecasting-based models and enable the company’s supply chain to take full advantage of its uncertainty mitigation tactics by not constantly propagating its demand signal through the supply chain. Change the planning focus onto uncertainty rather than exclusively on the plans’ accuracy.
- Drive from unknown uncertainty toward known variability by utilizing AI and ML for different, multiple predictions.
- Begin to build a digital supply chain twin (DSCT) by identifying key model parameters that would help to improve the resiliency of decisions.
- Assess supply chain decisions using uncertainty metrics rather than accuracy metrics, by deploying KPIs that describe the supply chain’s capability to tolerate uncertainty and the “probability of execution” of relevant supply chain decisions.
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NAM Pushes Back on Proposed Air Regulations
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Manufacturers have long led in efforts to reduce air pollution and improve air quality. Across the board, levels of major pollutants have declined dramatically over the past few decades. Thanks to existing regulations and a culture of innovation, the U.S. is far outpacing global competitors in environmental stewardship. Yet, new proposed regulations from the federal government will work against these efforts instead of bolstering them, stymying critical progress and destabilizing economic growth at a time when both are more important than ever. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering a new rule that would impose stricter air standards on particulate matter known as PM2.5.
For years, manufacturers across all sectors have been developing smart, innovative ways to use energy, water and other resources more sustainably—all while boosting economic growth and creating good jobs at the same time. Today, manufacturing in the U.S. is cleaner and greener than at any other time in history, largely due to a revolution in how manufacturers produce, use and recycle energy and resources. According to the EPA, the U.S. reduced six common pollutants covered by National Ambient Air Quality Standards, including PM2.5, by 78% between 1970 and 2020. In fact, PM2.5 levels alone have dropped a full 44% since 2000.
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Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program Revised by OSHA
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To continue OSHA inspections of facilities that generate or handle combustible dusts likely to cause fire, flash fire, deflagration and explosion hazards, on Jan. 27 OSHA issued a revised Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program. The revised program sets forth a new approach for locating and inspecting subject establishments. The following industries were added to the program because OSHA found they had a higher likelihood of having combustible dust hazards or experienced combustible dust-related fatalities/catastrophes:
- 311812 - Commercial Bakeries
- 325910 - Printing Ink Manufacturing
- 321912 - Cut Stock, Resawing Lumber, and Planning
- 316110 - Leather and Hide Tanning and Finishing
- 321214 - Truss Manufacturing
- 424510 - Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers
OSHA initiated the Combustible Dust NEP in October 2007 after a number of combustible dust incidents that resulted in numerous fatalities and serious injuries. The agency reissued the emphasis program in March 2008 after a combustible dust explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia. Since 2007, the agency has conducted about 600 inspections annually under this emphasis program.
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The US Auto Industry Doesn’t Have a Supply Problem. It Has a Demand Problem.
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Starting in the third quarter of 2022, the demand-supply structure of the market moved from a supply shortage into a serious demand problem that will have marketing teams scrambling to fix it. The vehicle market has been supply-constrained over the past two years. That’s not new information. What seems odd is that many CEOs are still using supply constraints as an excuse for not meeting sales targets or earnings objectives.
The demand problem started when vehicle price increases tried to keep pace with soaring inflation and dealers were looking for more than just MSRP. As the Federal Reserve took measures to slow inflation, interest rates began increasing rapidly from their dormant state of the past two years. Economic growth also faltered. U.S. real gross domestic product declined in the first two quarters, and will close the year with growth under 1.5%. Consumers just don’t like to spend money on durable goods in that type of environment.
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Four Steps for OEMs to Grow Their Dealer Sales
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Original equipment manufacturers face a gold mine of aftermarket sales through their dealers — if they can smooth out business connections with them. Kris Harrington, president and chief operating officer of GenAlpha Technologies, tells how to do that through digital commerce platforms. Dealers have lots of options. And just like all human behavior, they like to take the path of least resistance. If you want to attract new dealers and grow the dealer network you have today, you must find ways to remove resistance when doing business with you.
Aftermarket parts and services provide a consistent source of recurring revenue and offer higher margins than new equipment. But since OEMs often underinvest in the aftermarket business, OEMs and their dealers are missing out on a tremendous amount of revenue potential. This missed opportunity means a lot of room for growth, and reimagining this business area can lead to incredible returns. So, what’s the best way to grow aftermarket sales with your dealer network? Here are four simple steps OEMs can get started on today.
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'Embrace Uncertainty': This is What We Learned at Davos 2023
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The mood at Davos was one of relief, along with a measure of giddiness about what comes next. Rarely has the group been so split in its investment outlook. Relief at least came because three macro scenarios are not playing out as feared: China has ended its zero-Covid policy and reopened; inflation is abating; and Europe got lucky with a warm winter and falling energy prices.
Whoever you spoke with around inflation and rates, however, the war in Ukraine, China’s reopening, the energy crisis, climate change and deglobalization dominated discussions. Sitting across 40 private meetings and panels, I better understood the mindset of businesses, investors and policymakers. Here are three takeaways: (1) Energy security and decarbonization are changing the investment narrative. (2) Macro uncertainty: where’s the new equilibrium? (3) Tech and fintech: soft or hard landing?
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Digital Transformation on a Small-Business Budget: It Can Be Done
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Most small- and medium-sized businesses believe they’re at a fundamental disadvantage when it comes to Industry 4.0, largely due to the resources at their disposal. They get overwhelmed, then stuck, putting off tech for a future day. They figure they can’t throw millions of dollars into a technological revamp or build a new, state-of-the-art facility anyway. And perhaps some of them are just a bit headstrong, having done things the same way for years or decades.
But all that research reveals there’s much to be gained. Even better, concerns about costs—at least to get the ball rolling—are largely overblown. Here’s a full breakdown on how small and medium manufacturers can approach Industry 4.0, and what they stand to gain.
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Corporate Climate Plans Fall Well Short of Targets, With a Few Bright Spots
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A new report highlights the challenge companies face in cutting emissions from their supply chains. The second annual report examining major companies’ net-zero plans found some of the world’s biggest businesses have made little progress since last year in reaching decarbonization goals. Some firms such as auto maker Stellantis and ocean carrier A.P. Moller-Maersk have clear targets to eliminate 90% of emissions including from their supply chains, says the report by organizations NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch.
But tracking so-called scope 3 emissions from assets that companies don’t control isn’t easy. Companies such as retailer Walmart and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology are helping suppliers switch to renewable energy in an attempt to control more of their carbon footprint. Many others are falling short by relying too heavily on carbon offsets or by excluding emission sources in supply chains altogether.
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Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership Courses Start March 23rd
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For over 25 years, the Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership program has offered attendees a range of leadership skills through a series of concentrated courses. Participants who complete the required courses are presented with the Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership by the Council of Industry.
Individuals who complete the full program will receive acknowledgment and a certificate at the annual luncheon.
Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership Schedule:
- Fundamentals of Leadership including DiSC Profile (2 Sessions) - Rebecca Mazin
- Human Resources Management Issues - Jackson Lewis
- Problem Solving & Decision Making- Ben Kujawinski
- Effective Business Communication - Rebecca Mazin
- Making a Profit in Manufacturing- Steve Howell
- Environmental Health and Safety Essentials - Ron Coons
- Best Practices & Continuous Improvement - Joe Guarneri
- Positive Discipline & Motivation - Rebecca Mazin
Green Belt: Mondays, 2/27/2023 – 6/13/2023 (Remote)
Yellow Belt: 3/22/2023 Through 3/24/2023 (In Person, Fishkill)
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