Happy Manufacturing Day 2018!
Posted: October 5, 2018 Filed under: Manufacturing Day, NJMEP, Supply chain - manufacturing, Women in Manufacturing Leave a commentManufacturing Day® is a national celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers and occurs annually on the first Friday in October.
MF Supply was proud to be a Blue level sponsor of New Jersey Manufacturing Day, organized by the NJMEP, which brought together manufacturers, students, supporters, government representatives and industry expert speakers at the Marigold in Somerset from 7:30A-2:30p today, October 5th.
We attended 2 breakout sessions: The first session “Driving Industry Growth through Innovative Technology, Education and Government Support” featured private and public sector experts who discussed their approach to problem solving a myriad of business issues and red tape. I met the Executive Director of the NJ Business Action Center, Melanie Willoughby who is known as “The Fixer”. She told us how she helped a NJ manufacturer get a special crosswalk built on a state road so their workers could walk directly from their plant to the deli across the street. It’s the little things that count!
The second session “Women in Manufacturing Roundtable Discussion” featured three powerhouse women representing the food, machine shop and clothing/sewing manufacturing industries. It was inspiring to hear how these three women are growing their businesses in the male dominated manufacturing space. Perhaps the coolest story was told by panelist Tom Bergeron, the Editor of ROI-NJ. He introduced us to the camp Tools and Tiaras, where this part summer, his daughter learned how to solder and build from industry experts in the housing and building industries. Resources for women are expanding and the the future for Women in Manufacturing looks very bright!
Other breakout sessions included:
- Tariffs – How to Apply For Exclusions
- Emerging Topics in Food Safety
- Tips for Recruiting, Retaining And Linking into Underutilized Talent Pools
- 2018 Tax Reform – How to Make The Changes Work In Your Favor
Check out the manufacturing day activities and Manufacturing Award winner announcements in your neck of the woods by visiting your state’s Manufacturing Extension Program wesbite or the Manufacturing Day website for more info.
For more information about MF Supply contact:
Robin Lieberman, President
robin@mfsupply.com
973-777-5411
November 2015 Newsletter
Posted: November 17, 2015 Filed under: AWMI, DPA, Manufacturing Day, MarketShift, SBA Emerging Leaders, Supply chain - manufacturing Leave a commentNewsletter
Volume 17
November 17, 2015
NOVEMBER NEWS
It’s been a few months since our last update, but I am back and ready to finish the year strong! With less than 45 days left before we welcome in 2016, we have a lot to do and many exciting updates to share.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
- SBA EMERGING LEADERS
- NJ MARKETSHIFT
- AWMI – NUCOR STEEL MILL TOUR
- RECAP OF MFG DAY
- MF SUPPLY JOINS DPA
- COMIC RELIEF
In our last issue, I discussed some of MF Supply’s current initiatives, including 1) Building upon our business relationships; 2) Growing our business through referrals & alliance partners and 3) Thought leadership and helping the American manufacturing community grow.
Today, I am reaching out regarding initiative #3.
On October 27, along with 17 other NJ business leaders, I graduated from the NJ SBA Emerging Leaders class of 2015. Woo hoo! What a great accomplishment. I learned so much, including how to read and use financial statements and ratios, the difference between a prime and a subcontractor, ways to market to each and much much more! If you are interested, I am happy to share my 3 year growth plan and program highlights with you.
If you are curious to know more about the program or think you or someone you know might benefit from participating, please check out these two articles about the program in NJBIZ and American Entrepreneurship Today to find out more.
Are you part of the Aerospace & Defense Industry supply chain? If so, I recommend you get to know the NJMarketShift program. If you haven’t heard, NJIT was awarded a $5.67M (not a typo!!) grant to create MarketShift. Under the leadership of the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), they will use the money to change the face of the New Jersey Aerospace & Defense (A&D) industry. How, you ask? By helping members to:
- Build new alliances
- Find new customers
- Create new products
- Explore new markets
Since I was curious to see the program in action, on September 17, I attended the MarketShift NE NJ Design Forum at Sandvik Coromant in Fairlawn. Along with a group of about 50 attendees, I was introduced to MarketShift Intelligence, a database being developed to help fulfill NJ MarketShift’s mission. The application mines the New Jersey A&D supplier network for intelligence tailored to answer specific questions and drive action regarding potential alternative customers, partners, suppliers, markets, and technologies.
My key take away from this event was that the team at MarketShift is creatively looking to help the A&D Supply chain grow and there are many ways they can help. The Sandvik event was just one of the ways MarketShift delivers on its goal to increase the strength of NJ’s A&D economy in the global marketplace. So exciting!
If I’ve piqued your interest, let me know. I can hook you up with the right people to talk to. And by the way, Sandvik Coromant is an amazing company with extensive training and knowledge resources for manufacturers. Check out the training offered at their Fairlawn location.
I’d also love to hear from you if you have attended any of the Sandvik trainings.
Have you ever thought about how steel bar is made? On September 10, I visited my first steel mill (Nucor), along with 22 associates from the AWMI (The Association of Women in Metal – yes, it’s a real group). What an eye-opening experience! Nucor, a family of 200 facilities, is the largest manufacturer of steel products in North America. So awesome! GM Doyle Hopper talked with us about Nucor way (safety first!) and Nucor’s position in the global steel market.
The highlight for me was the tour of Nucor’s Wallingford, CT plant where they manufacture up to 300,000 tons of wire rod and rebar and 85,000 tons of wire and structural mesh a year. Wowser! I watched in fascination as superhot glowing metal traveled along a conveyor system beneath and then next to us, changing its size and shape as it went.
If you would like to find out more about AWMI (which is 40% men by the way!), please contact Marianne Steiner @ marianne@steinerind.com.
Did you participate in National Manufacturing Day on October 2nd? Here in New Jersey, 400+ attendees gathered at The Palace in Somerset, NJ for the annual Made in New Jersey event.
The celebration is designed to expand knowledge about and improve the general public’s perception of manufacturing careers and the industry’s value to the economy. Get the full recap and meet the winners, presented on the NJMEP website. Manufacturing is 8% of NJs GDP after all!
On November 1, 2015 we were officially welcomed into the DPA Industrial family. What does this mean for our customers? We can now help you with more product categories and pass along fabulous savings on many more items including:
- Industrial
- Safety Equipment & Clothing
- Packaging
- Janitorial
Please contact me to set up a meeting to see if we can help save you time and money by becoming a single source for more of your industrial needs.
COMIC RELIEF
Regards,
Robin Lieberman
President
P.S. We are closed on November 26-27 in observance of Thanksgiving. Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday from the entire team here at MF Supply.