Impact Dakota Blog is a blog dedicated to supporting North Dakota’s manufacturing community improve People, Purpose, Processes and Performance. Entries provide information on opportunities, new ideas, quick tips, celebrations of success, and well, frankly, anything to help you become a better manufacturer.
Manufacturers sometimes face technical challenges beyond the scope of their in-house expertise or experience. The right partners and advisors can help them navigate these obstacles and remain competitive. The Mississippi Polymer Institute (MPI), a regional office of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MMA-MEP, Mississippi MEP), is a specialty technology resource that fosters business growth through precision testing, third-party quality investigations, product development, scale-up, manufacturing troubleshooting, and specialized workforce training. MMA-MEP connected their client, Chromis Technologies, with MPI, which resulted in an extended product line, improved recycling, scalable production services, and expanded custom outsourcing.
Do you feel dazzled and awed by the great potential of Artificial Intelligence aka AI? Perhaps hesitant or lost when words like ‘convolution,’ ‘deep learning,’ or ‘autoencoder’ are thrown around? Well, fear not, a new blog from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is the first in a multi-part series aimed at helping manufacturers practically evaluate each step of investing in and using an AI-enhanced system or tool in an industrial application.
Manufacturing is critical to our way of life. Without it, we would not have the supplies, food, clothing, electronics and other things we use every day. However, manufacturing also produces waste that often ends up in landfills or oceans.
It’s really enjoyable when times are booming and certainly, we know we don’t rest during challenging times- we hustle- that’s just the North Dakota way. The manufacturing industry cycles, and it is key/ critical to know how to best navigate these cycles to maintain and grow operations.
What do LEGOs, gaming, and cosplay have to do with manufacturing? We’ll tell you! Manufacturers who are participating in Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) events have an opportunity to engage with young people and get them excited about careers in manufacturing. One way to do that is to connect manufacturing with their passions and hobbies, like how LEGOs encourage creativity and problem-solving (just ask Manufacturing Extension Partnership Acting Director Nagesh Rao) or how both gaming and manufacturing rely on digital prototyping to test and refine designs. There are a lot of great connections to be made between people’s passions and manufacturing.
Manufacturing is a cornerstone of North Dakota’s economy, with a workforce of over 27,000 individuals shaping the future through innovation, technology, and hard work. On September 27, 2024, the Greater North Dakota Chamber (GNDC), in partnership with Impact Dakota, will host a special luncheon to celebrate these contributions, coinciding with Manufacturing Day.
Since the pandemic much has changed in terms of marketing for manufacturers. Driven by younger, digitally savvy staff, many of those changes look like they’re here to stay. But social media channels only go so far to connect you with potential clients, mentors, or industry experts. In-person networking remains a powerful force for building relationships and finding opportunities in the manufacturing sector.
What is quantum technology, and why the interest?
Making these technologies more widely available could unlock the potential for new areas of large-scale R&D and ultimately new business applications.
The connectivity of Industry 4.0 brings manufacturers many benefits, but the cost of protecting critical systems and data cannot be an afterthought. This is why cybersecurity should be one of the first things to consider with any technology investment. Manufacturers secure their facilities from intruders, and they would be wise to do the same for their operational technology (OT), data, and connectivity.
When a foreign company wants to manufacture goods in the U.S., it needs new domestic suppliers for just about everything. When such an initiative involves new technology, it creates even more opportunities for a regional ecosystem and associated supply chains.