While manufacturing is key to a strong U.S. economy, 90 percent of manufacturers are small and midsize companies that seldom have the resources to compete in an increasingly global economy. As a country, helping manufacturign thrive is one of the best investments we can make in our economy. Many people think that with so much of manufacturing moving offshore, the United States has little choice but to transition into a service economy, but Linda Adams of Impact Washington disagrees. “It’s important to fight to keep those manufacturing jobs becasue they are good jobs,” she writes. “The average salary for a worker in manufacturing is about $55,000, compared to $33,000 for the average service worker.”  Read more.

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January 12, 2012
7:30 am – 1:30 pm
Washington State Convention Center
Seattle, WA

Click here to register.

enterpriseSeattle’s 40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference will address the opportunities, challenges and trends for 2012. Don’t miss your chance to join in the conversation, learn what lies ahead for the region, and connect with other regional leaders at the largest economic forecast event in the Northwest. Gain insight into critical business issues with timely forecasts from nationally recognized experts from The Conference Board, Puget Sound Economic Forecaster and Russell Investments as they cut to the bottom line at this must-attend event.

This year’s conference will also highlight the future of the aerospace industry in the region with updates on the Washington Aerospace Partnership and King County Aerospace Alliance initiatives. With the largest concentration of aerospace jobs in the world based in Washington State, and the recent landmark decision to locate final production of the 737 MAX here in Renton, the industry is a cornerstone of our economy and plays a pivotal role in our region’s continued economic success.

Bill Ayer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Alaska Airlines, and Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alaska Air Group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier Horizon Air, will be the featured keynote lunch speaker at this year’s conference. Join us as we celebrate Alaska Airlines’ 80th anniversary, the Economic Forecast Conference’s 40th anniversary and the future continued success of the aerospace industry in the region.

Speakers:

Bill Ayer – Chairman and CEO, Alaska Airlines

Dick Conway – Founder Puget Sound Economic Forecaster

Ken Goldstein – US Economy and Labor Forecast Economist, The Conference Board

Michael Dueker – Head Economist North America, Russell Investments

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Published in the April 1990 edition of the Wenatchee Business Journal when Impact Washington VP/COO Nigel Moore was VP of Glico Apple Corporation.  As you’ll see, the advice for successful exporters hasn’t changed much in 20 years.

by Mike Cassidy

Nigel Moore tells a story about how to not to succeed in a foreign market.

“There was a company that set up business in Italy to can corn. Nobody in Italy eats corn because they think it’s pig food. Therefore, after trying like hell, they had to close it down. They didn’t have a market niche.”

That’s a typical mistake of a lot of foreign companies, jumping into a market which is great in their own country but completely off-base in the foreign market.

Earning dollars exporting overseas takes more than a good product, said Moore, who is Vice President of the Japanese-owned Glico Apple Corporation in Wenatchee and a consultant on international trade.

Successful exporting takes a thorough knowledge of each target nation’s market, the right contacts and a willingness to spend now for a profit later…

A successful exporter can be “any company that has a unique — a niche market — product, not a me-too product,” said Moore. “If you’re trying to sell a widget the Japanese are making or the Koreans are making, it would be pretty tough to compete.”

During an interview in his Glico office, Moore emphasized the need for proper market research and the importance of making contact with a partner in the target country.

Telling the story about the failed canned corn venture, Moore said, “Other companies set up business in foreign countries and do a phenomenal amount of business.

“That’s the difference between selling and marketing. Where you are ramming a product down a customer’s throat and telling him he should be buying it – that’s sales.

Whereas marketing is going out there and researching the marketplace and establishing what the consumer really wants and then coming back and making a product that matches that need.

“The emphasis of my talk, particularly about the Japanese, is you have to market to th Japanese, you can’t sell them. I think that goes pretty well much in all of the international markets.”

The marketing has to be tailored to each country. Moore noted that different areas of the U.S. market call for different approaches.

Doing business in California versus New York is like doing business in two separate countries. Doing business in the Seattle market is like doing business in a separate country.

“Doing business in the United States is like doing business in the whole of Europe. You have lots of different types of people, and different types of wants and needs and ways of doing business. And, if somebody wants to do business in Europe, they should look at it from that standpoint — many different countries, many different cultures, many different languages.”

The biggest problem with the United States businessman, Moore said, is he expects the whole world to speak English.

“It’s no good.  If he wants to do business in Germany, he’s got to speak German.  Or, he’s got to have a partner in Germany who speaks German. It’s the same in Japan, the same in Russia, the same everywhere. You should not expect your customer to be able to communicate with you in English.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having partners. Having partners in those other countries using business connections, the right type of distributors, the right type of marketing consultants, in that country that knows the country well.

Moore said in his own consulting company, he has noticed people come to him after the mistakes have been made. “It’s after they fail that they realize it wasn’t so rosy out there in the marketplace. They found they haven’t done the right market research and they fall flat on their face.

“When you are trying to launch a new product on the marketplace, you have one chance and one chance only. If you fail, people remember that you tried to put that product out before and it’s even tougher the second time. Sometimes, almost impossible. So, if you’re going to do it, do it right the first time and use the resources that are available…”

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Click here to register.

Join us on January 10, 2012 for the State of Manufacturing in Washington Summit.  This summit will focus on the importance of manufacturing in Washington and its impact on our economic growth, now and in the future.  Featured at this event will be:

• Congressman and candidate for governor Jay Inslee, who will speak on his manufacturing policy for the state and will answer questions from attendees
• Doug Woods, President of the Association for Manufacturing Technology, discussing the Manufacturing Mandate national manufacturing strategy
• Presentation of the results of the 2011 State of Manufacturing in Washington CEO poll, which surveyed over 400 manufacturing CEOs in the state of Washington to create a snapshot of the current state of the manufacturing industry.  This report will reveal the direction of manufacturing in Washington as well as the mood of the industry.
• Presentation of the results of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 Job Sector Survey

For more information, contact Linda Adams at ladams@impactwashington.org or call (425) 438-1146 x107.

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Riding the Production Wave

Catch the excitement and register today for PNAA’s 11th Annual Aerospace Conference. This year’s conference is looking better than ever with top-notch speakers from Boeing, Airbus, EADS NA, Lockheed Martin, Bombardier, Embraer and more. Topics will include the latest on UAVs, Advanced Metals, a Composites Panel, Industry Updates, an Analysts Roundtable moderated by Glen Farley of KING 5 television and much more.

Last year’s event was a great success with over 300 attendees representing 191 different companies. Networking opportunities were abundant with guest from 14 different states, three Canadian provinces and other countries including China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain. The Exhibitors Pavilion bustled with activity during the breaks. Twenty-six local and international exhibitors were on hand to show their products and services.

Catch the excitement and join PNAA in Lynnwood, WA on February 6-8.

Click here for more info.

Join or renew your PNAA Membership by December 31st and receive a $50 discount on your conference registration.

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Click here to register. 

PNAA and BCI Aerospace present a one-day conference on Monday, March 12, 2012, in conjunction with the BCI Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit supported by Boeing and the State of Washington. The Monday conference, “Forecasting for the Supply Chain,” will look at the next 12 months and the next five years for what the supply chain can expect domestically and globally.

This one-day symposium will present key forecasts covering:

• Global aircraft growth forecasts
• A special look at the developments of Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer and the emerging markets as represented by China’s COMAC, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Russia’s Irkut
• Forecasts by Wall Street Aerospace Analysts who follow the supply chain
• Examination of the Rare Earth Metals, a critical component for the aerospace industry, and the concentration in production
• Financing requirements and consolation in the supply chain
• Forecasting near-term changes in the U.S. defense budgets and where opportunities will be

The cost for this day, including lunch and refreshments, is only $300.

Click here for more info.

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Click here to register or for more information.

Grow your business with Advanced Manufacturing

• See the latest technologies, products and services
• Learn exactly what advanced manufacturing is
• Locate new suppliers & service providers
• Network with industry professionals
• Meet new customers

Register today to exhibit or attend.

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Thursday, January 12, 2012
3:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Port of Everett – Blue Heron Room
$25 per person

To register, call Economic Alliance Snohomish County at (425) 743-4567 or email at info@economicalliancesc.org.

What’s next for our region’s industries?

Moderated panel discussion with:

• Bob Drewel (moderator)
• Mayor Ray Stephanson
• Dr. Elson Floyd
• Steve Klein
• Dr. Marci Larsen
• Mike McCoy
• Troy McClelland

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That’s the overall consensus from Donn Bash, inventory manager at Smith-Root Inc., and other participants of a recent Manufacturers Lean Consortium, funded by the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council (SWWDC) through a state grant.

The program, a unique 10-day mix of classroom and on-site customized training, featured four participating local manufacturers (Smith-Root, Cadet Manufacturing, CID Bio-science Inc. and Last US Bag Co.) and encompassed a number of topics including: lean manufacturing, computer skills, supervisory training, project management and ISO certification.

Partnering with SWWDC on the consortium was Clark College, Lower Columbia College and Impact Washington, the state Manufacturing Extension Partnership agency. Instruction was provided by Keith McPhun, director of operations for nLight Photonics.

“We had been working with some small businesses that couldn’t afford to do customized training on their own,” explained Bonnie Moore, director of business services for the SWWDC. “Customized training for lean can cost anywhere from $35,000 to $80,000 for a manufacturer. So what we ended up doing was designing a consortium for multiple businesses and then coupled it with a grant, thereby reducing the cost.”

Michelle Giovannozzi, Clark College’s corporate relations manager, said feedback from participating businesses following the consortium has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The learners found the lean training to be a springboard for improvement,” Giovannozzi wrote in an e-mail to the Vancouver Business Journal. “They learned effective, practical principles that are easy to follow and implement in their respective organizations. They also learned that lean principles not only apply to manufacturing processes; they can be employed in administrative environments as well.”

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the lean training experience, according to the participants, was the fact that they spent two days at each company implementing hands-on projects.

“The proof is in those eight days we spent at other companies,” said Bash. “The results were just amazing. And our management team has been pretty impressed with what they’ve seen. Now they’re planning on having some executive training in lean manufacturing come October. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed that class.”

Bash said Smith-Root has been able to reduce its product repair turnaround time from 14-and-a-half calendar days to just eight days — a result he directly attributes to the lean training.

“The results from the two days we spent here at Smith-Root have been tremendously beneficial to our customers,” added Bash.

Will Macia, president of Last US Bag, said his company also witnessed measurable success as a result of the training.

“In one cell, we were able to take about a 23-24 percent reduction in workforce labor per part,” said Macia. “That’s a very measurable statistic of value. And the great thing is we’ve basically rubber stamped that same process and now we’re applying it to each individual cell within the company.”

Macia said lean manufacturing is the only direction his company will continue to move toward at this point, calling it “common sense manufacturing.”

“Lean manufacturing has always been our target and we’ve always practiced it, but never in a formalized way,” Macia explained. “So this training was a wonderful opportunity for us to have experienced leaders to come into our facility and give us hands-on, day-to-day, real world application oat a significantly reduced cost over what we would typically pay a consultancy to do.”

Given the positive feedback from participants, Moore said the SWWDC plans to continue and sustain this lean training model moving forward so that other local businesses can benefit. Unfortunately, Moore said, grant dollars have dried up, so the agency is trying to get creative about how to do it. However, Giovannozzi said Clark College also has access to state and federal funds, so businesses should not hesitate to inquire.

“I would love to see more companies get involved in this sort of thing,” said Bash. “I think it’s very valuable.”

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Published in the June 12, 2011 edition of the Tri City Herald

by John Trumbo, Herald Staff Writer
June 12, 2011
Tri-City Herald

Richard Bogert dreams big, hence the 6-inch-tall “DREAM” sign above his desk.

“I like to say it took me 25 years to be an overnight success,” said Bogert, whose Pasco company, Bogert Group, is growing beyond even his expectations.

Bogert and his sister, Cathy Bogert, run what, from the outside, looks like a humble machine shop in the Tri-Cities Airport business park next to the rail yards on the north end of Pasco.

No fancy facade, no manicured landscaping out front, no security badge required for entry.

There wasn’t even heating and air conditioning in the shop until three years ago.

Yet inside, the Bogerts have built a national reputation for their hydraulic jacks, specifically for the U.S. military and General Services Administration.

The company also designs and builds items for airplanes and marine use, and even a heavy-duty bed frame.

The Army contract was for 108,000 jacks, and the Bogert Group recently won another contract for an even bigger jack with a remote pump that will pump another $1.5 million into the Tri-Cities economy.

Richard Bogert modestly notes his homegrown business has earned a reputation with the military by providing rapid prototypes, on-time deliveries and solid customer service.

And he credits all of it to the way his employees pull it all together.

The shop is nothing less than an innovation kitchen where new ideas are cooked up daily.

“Everything starts with a dream. You can’t build it if you can’t imagine it,” he said. 

Richard Bogert may be the boss, but he readily admits the employees are key to the still emerging success story.

The average age at the shop is well under 30, and many employees are in their first or second jobs, having been hired right out of the classrooms of Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

“Being aware and awake to possibilities, people here can look around and see opportunities,” Richard Bogert said.

“A bunch of them came to us as students by day while working part time after classes. It worked out really good for them, and they got the training,” he said.

“There are some really bright kids here, some real thinkers, and everybody understands innovation,” said Cathy Bogert, who does the financial side of the business.

Warren Hughs, 25, oversees product development at the facility on Swallow Avenue. He scrunches his long, lanky frame up against a desk in a corner and hovers over a small keyboard, focused on solving problems.

The handwritten sign on the door to his office, which he shares with marketing clerk Julie Murphy, advises all who enter to consider the culture of the workplace.

“Warning. ‘Can’t’ is not accepted beyond this point.”

Hughs said the goal is to find solutions, not admit defeat.

“I was the second guy hired on in this building,” said Hughs, who is responsible for product testing, some product development and is supervisor of fabrication, welding and machining.

After five years on the job, Hughs said he has no plans to do anything else.

“We’re doing something different all the time. I don’t have engineers breathing down my neck saying it has to be perfect. And we’re allowed to go off the reservation a bit to see how to make things better,” he said.

Hughs, the son of a patent attorney, had been taking classes in welding and machining at CBC when he saw a help wanted ad in the newspaper.

He called Bogert Group, and one interview later, the job was his.

Murphy, also recruited from CBC, where she had a job, said the company’s culture really makes the job.

“You’re given a lot of freedom to participate in the creative process,” she said.

After three years doing computer-assisted drafting work at Bogert, Andrew Willis didn’t hesitate. “I love this job,” said the 26-year-old Kennewick man and CBC graduate in machine technology. “It’s family.”

For Nick Schmeck, it really is family. As Bogert’s stepson, Schmeck, 24, literally grew up in the family business.

I was home-schooled, and part of it was working with him,” Schmeck said. “Back then it was him and Cathy. The company was in our garage. He’d work all day, have dinner, and then go back to the garage to paint the parts he built during the day,” Schmeck said.

Richard Bogert, who describes himself as a farm boy from Sunnyside “who didn’t take to farming,” either has a knack for hiring creative, imaginative people, or he cultivates it in them early on.

“We innovate here every day. Not every idea is a ‘Holy Cow’ idea, but we’re constantly trying to make things better, either by saving work time or having a more efficient idea for layout of the work area,” he said.

Saving time and steps is second nature to Richard Bogert, who spent more than two decades running his two-person family business out of a two-car garage.

Growing up on a farm taught Richard Bogert what every farmer eventually learns: how to make it work, or make it better. It’s the bailing wire school of engineering, and it led him to the west side to Clover Park Vocational Technical Institute.

Being a young pilot and graduate of an airframe and powerplant school was followed by several aircraft mechanic jobs in Yakima and Richland.

Building and fixing airplanes gave Richard Bogert the idea that maybe he could build and sell aircraft parts that were better than original equipment.

What followed was an extended period of self-imposed self-employment, or as Richard Bogert prefers to put it, “I haven’t had a real job since 1983.”

A film crew spent several days documenting Bogert Group’s journey for a presentation for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s annual convention in Orlando, Florida last month.

The business got a heavy leg-up to success in 2005 when he connected with the Washington Manufacturing Service, now called Impact Washington, which is paid for by the Washington D.C.-based Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Patric Sazama of Impact Washington coached Richard Bogert and gave him assignments to help take what had been a business stuffed into a two-car garage to a manufacturing enterprise with excellent growth potential.

“Richard values his employees highly. He knows that with us his dreams can come true,” Murphy said.

The sign above her desk said: “Dream, care, imagine.”

“We’ve got a lot of great folks here. Instead of being a one-man band, I get to be the conductor and let people make their own music,” Richard Bogert said.

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