By Mark McDermid, Sustainability Consultant Mark Twain once quipped “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. Similarly, reports of the demise of sustainability are also quite exaggerated. Sustainability-driven innovation may be a key to both the recovery and resiliency of many businesses as well as growth and competitive prowess. Consider that 62% of […]
Year: 2022
Solutions For Workforce Challenges In Manufacturing
For many years, Wisconsin manufacturers struggled to find qualified workers. Now, they are having difficulty finding merely attracting any employees. “This issue really started to build in the mid to late 1990s. At that time, the cry was manufacturers were having trouble and problems finding skilled workers,” WMEP Manufacturing Solutions Vice President of Consulting Services […]
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Technology Transfer Acceleration by the MEP National Network
By: Brian A. Weiss From my standpoint, technology transfer is not easy, especially when attempting to introduce a new capability or technology into the manufacturing sector. Smaller manufacturers in particular present unique environments and challenges that must be appropriately understood if the transfer is to be successful. NIST researchers have an ally that makes technology transfer […]
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Cybersecurity and Industry 4.0 – What You Need to Know
This blog is part one of a series on cybersecurity and Industry 4.0. This morning my favorite local morning news program had an interesting segment on new slang words and what they mean. While the definitions were probably not necessary for Millennials or Generation Z, for Baby Boomers like me it was an eye-opening vocabulary […]
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Cybersecurity for the Manufacturing Sector: Reduce Data Integrity Breaches with NIST SP 1800-10
April 21, 2022By: Dr. Michael Powell Industrial control systems (ICS) help manufacturers boost productivity, optimize efficiency and advance production lines. Historically, ICS networks were isolated from the information technology (IT) networks and internet, or “air gapped.” Today, air gapping is no longer an effective security strategy, and for various business reasons, many ICS manufacturing networks are […]
Realizing the Blazing Potential of Promising Workforce Programs
I remember well when the phrase “a thousand points of light” entered regular usage. Popularized by President George H. W. Bush, the phrase referred to individuals and organizations that provide valuable and even life-saving work in communities around the country. In 1990, President Bush founded the Points of Light Foundation. As a kid interested in social […]
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DoD Cybersecurity Acronym Help
By: Cory Larson – CMMC, NIST 800-171, & DFARs Greetings! This is Cory Larson, and I am an Automation & Cybersecurity consultant at WMEP. I wanted to write a quick clarification on DoD Contracts, NIST 800-171, and CMMC. There is a lot of confusion surrounding this topic and I thought I would answer some of […]
4 Best Practices for Better Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning. Rarely were there two words viewed with more reluctance, dread, and disappointment. The process of strategic planning is often considered too time consuming for manufacturers, especially when their immediate needs are more pressing. For others, it’s too intimidating as it comes filled with expectations to conjure up big, bold ideas. As a result, companies will often […]
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When Good Strategies Go Bad: The 7 Deadly Execution Mistakes
Much work goes into developing sound business strategies. Yet when it comes to executing those brilliant initiatives, plenty of organizations fall short. If execution is the secret behind every successful plan, why do so many companies fail at it? One reason is that leaders can be great at designing strategic vision but not so great […]
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Employee Recruitment: Winning the War for Talent
By Chris Czarnik, CEO of Career Research Group, Award Winning International Speaker | Author | Business Trainer | The intensifying struggles facing companies in their quest to recruit employees has been brewing for years, a mathematical certainty three decades in the making. Much has been written about the shortage, but I feel like the person with ice […]
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