$995 per company (includes three-day ExportTech program for up to 3 people, all meals and books)
Regularly a $5,000 program, wineries can attend for $995 thanks to subsidies for Washington companies made available through the CERB Export Grant program.

Information and registration: Contact Linda Adams – (425) 438-1146 x107

Click here to take the export readiness survey.

ExporTech: When You’re Serious About Building Export into your Strategic Plan

The ExporTech program is an export acceleration system for achieving profitable growth.

•Do you believe your wine has international sales potential but don’t know how to get started?
•Have you received international inquiries, but haven’t fully capitalized on them?

ExporTech can drive international sales today. Companies across all industries that have gone through the ExporTech program report significant impacts to their bottom lines:

•The average participant increases sales by nearly $170,000.
•Many companies generate export sales within 3-6 months of completing the program, and some have negotiated sales before the program’s final session. •The program saves the average company over 120 hours of labor time by navigating them through the international growth process.

How does ExporTech work?

The ExporTech system has several hallmarks.

1.The process assists companies to develop a simple, actionable international growth plan - based on a series of carefully designed tools and templates.

2.We connect participants with a wide range of seasoned international business experts who help them navigate the export process.

3.The program involves a unique combination of group work, individual work, and personal coaching that allows companies to extract information that is critical to their export success.

- During group sessions, experts are selected based on the specific needs of the participants, to educate the entire group and provide one-on-one consultations.
- In the final group session, each company’s plan will be reviewed and vetted by a panel of experienced international businesspeople, to help them avoid costly mistakes and see new opportunities.
- Each company is assigned an experienced coach to provide focused, one-on-one support in the development and execution of their plans.
- Each three-session program is limited to six to eight companies to ensure quality, personalized service and attention to each company.

What is required?

Companies participate in three one-day group sessions scheduled over a three-month period. In between, each company works on the development and implementation of their international growth plan with the support of a coach.

SESSION 1: Export Strategy and Best Practices
The Big Picture
Successful Export Strategies
Best Practices Plan Template
Individual Coaching on Markets, Logistics, Capacity, Resources
Between Sessions – Market Research, Target Market Selection, Strategy

SESSION 2: Mechanics of Exporting
Custom Agenda Based on Companies’ Needs
Financing Rep & Distributor Partners Export Controls Legal Issues Intellectual Property Culture
Between Sessions – Plan Development, Concrete Strategies to Go to Market

SESSION 3: Export Growth Plan Presentations
Panel Review of Company Plans with Expert Feedback and Coaching
Action Plan for Going to Market

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Summary
Directs the financial affairs of the organization and prepares financial analyses of operations, including monthly and year-end financial statements with supporting schedules, for the guidance of senior management and Board of Directors. The Controller is responsible for the company’s financial plans and policies, its accounting practices, the conduct of its relationships with the financial community, banks, the maintenance of its fiscal records, and the preparation of financial reports. The Controller has responsibility for general accounting, property maintenance, budgetary controls, auditing assistance to auditors and oversight of the Information Technology System. In addition, the Controller shall assist senior management with NIST reports and reviews.

Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions

1. Development, analysis and interpretation of accounting information in order to appraise operation results in terms of profitability, performance against budget, and other matters bearing on the fiscal operations of the organization.
2. Maintains the company’s accounting system and keeps books and records on all company transactions and assets.
3. Coordinates and directs the preparation of the budget and financial forecast, analyze and report variances.
4. Prepares reports that outline the company’s financial position in the areas of income, expenses and net profit.
5. Responsible for tax compliance with all federal, state and local corporate, payroll and other applicable taxes.
6. Responsible for managing banking, insurance and outside accounting relationships.
7. Process and maintain all Employee Benefit functions, which include payroll, benefits and retirement plans.
8. Responsible for maintaining all personnel files.
9. Responsible for managing the maintenance of the Information Technology system.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

1. Good computer skills
2. Knowledge of Account Software Systems – Quickbooks
3. Good communication skills both verbal and written
4. Good teamwork skills
5. Knowledge of accounting systems in manufacturing and service industries

Education and Experience

1. BA/BS Degree in Accounting, Finance or related major
2. CPA certification desirable
3. 5+ years of experience in accounting or related field

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Company Profile
Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN) is a Richland, Washington manufacturer of FDA-cleaered orthopaedic implants for long bone fractures.  They currently employ 29 people.   Since its inception in 1999, SIGN, a non-profit organization, has been the only organization that combines training and a sustainable supply of orthopaedic implants to local surgeons so that they can provide timely surgical care to their trauma patients.

Situation
SIGN had a team of young leaders, in charge of a small company, and they were learning how to lead on the job.  As a non-profit organization, there was no time or funding available to go to outside training. They all had a steep learning curve. They brought in Impact Washington because they needed experienced business leaders to guide them through personal and company growth.

Solution
Impact Washington Project Manager Patric Sazama, who was introduced to SIGN at TRIDEC’s Smart Map expo, met with the company leaders to gain an understanding of their company, their customers and the leadership skills that they needed to build in order to accomplish the engineering and manufacturing goals required to respond to the patients’ needs overseas. Patric played the role of mentor and advisor to the organization.

“We needed a mentor like Patric to give us a jump start on developing a company that can respond quickly to the growing orthopaedic needs of the developing world,” said Jeanne Dillner. CEO.  “Our challenge has been to balance our personal leadership growth with the learning curve required to run a company that is both a non-profit humanitarian organization and an orthopaedic implant company.”
Results
As a result of the work Sazama did with SIGN, the biggest is that the executive team functions well, and communication continues to become more transparent and clear.  The morale of all staff has improved, but particularly in the manufacturing department.  All staff have gained a better understanding of the expectiations and have more open communications with their managers.

The changes have also resulted in quantifiable improvements.  With the CEO gaining enough confidence in setting and implementing the vision, she was able to delegate to others.  The operations manager gained the ability to build long-term plans, and over the last 18 months, this resulted in a 100% improvement in productivity, a 15% reduction in costs, and they are currently setting the foundation to double production and move to cell manufacturing.

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Linda Vasquez of Manufacturing Services in Kennewick holds two circuit boards next to each other and carefully studies them, comparing each tiny filament, wire and weld.

For 32 years, Manufacturing Services has been crafting circuit boards and doing mechanical and electronic assemblies for Mid-Columbia companies like ESTeem Wireless Modems, Bruker Handheld, PNNL and Cadwell Industries.

Manufacturing Services is a small, family-owned company that makes a big contribution to the Mid-Columbia economy.

According to statistics provided by the Washington Department of Revenue, the Gross Business Income of manufacturers in Benton and Franklin counties reached more than $612 million in 2010. In addition, the manufacturing GBI in the counties has doubled since 2006, when it topped $304 million.

And those numbers don’t tell the entire story, said Mike Gowrylow of the Department of Revenue.

“The information is based on manufacturers with a mailing address in (Benton and Franklin counties) – and generally where they are based,” he said. “It will not include businesses that are headquartered somewhere else but may have a facility in these counties.”

Food manufacturing is the largest segment of the manufacturing industry in Benton and Franklin counties, accounting for nearly $265 million in 2010, compared to $97 million in 2006.

But computer and electronic product manufacturing came in second, with those companies collecting more than $116 million in gross business income last year, compared to about $88 million in 2006.

Chemical manufacturing came in third, with $68 million in gross business income last year, compared to about $3.5 million in 2006.

John Vicklund, president of Impact Washington, a nonprofit manufacturing (organization), said manufacturing is a vast industry with many different sectors, so encapsulating information of it as a single broad industry is difficult.

“It covers everything from aerospace to food processing – and each sector is doing differently,” he said.

Vicklund said that during the recession, 2008-2009, many manufacturers “hunkered down,” – holding onto status quo. But according to a survey completed by Impact Washington last fall, the state’s manufacturers seem a little more optimistic.

“Companies have started to look around and say, ‘we see some stability, don’t know that the economy will recover to where it was before but we aren’t going to wait for someone to provide a solution; we are going to see what we can do to grow our biz,’” he said.

Michael Brown, owner of Manufacturing Services, said in 2007, his company had its best year up to that date – but things slumped in 2008 and 2009.

“Customers had inventory and weren’t moving it as fast,” Brown said.

So they weren’t calling as often to order new components.

But the phone started ringing again – in earnest – in 2010.

“From 2009 to 2010, we saw 60 percent growth and beat our previous record by 20 percent,” said Brown, who has added 11 people to his staff since 2007, bringing his total number of employees to 33.

Brown doesn’t expect that kind of growth this year, but he isn’t pessimistic either.

“We could easily grow by 10 percent this year,” he said. “We’ve got a few new smaller accounts.”

Vicklund said the health of the state’s economy ties directly to the health of the state’s manufacturing industry. And his organization is working hard to help small manufacturers grow.

Vicklund said much of that new growth could come from outside the country.

“One of the things we are working hard on right now is helping companies that are domestic suppliers become exporters,” he said.

Vicklund said that nationally only 2 percent of companies export and in Washington, 4 percent of businesses send products overseas.

But Gov. Chris Gregoire wants to increase the number of companies that export by one-third over the next five years. She has tapped Impact Washington to help meet that goal.

“We have received grants to help companies that only sell domestically to help them look at potential markets for their products and see if they can’t align themselves with other markets,” he said. “Our intent is to identify 100 companies this year that don’t currently export and work with them. By the end of the year, we want to have 35 of them exporting.”

For more information, go to www.impactwashington.org.

 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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$50 for PNAA Members / $75 for Non-members

Click here to register

Join Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance for its first Legislative Aerospace Update Luncheon.   Meet local legislators, and learn how they have been representing aerospace interests in Olympia.   Find out what they’ve accomplished, and what they expect to do next session. This two hour luncheon will allow you the unique opportunity to speak with your legislators.  Let them know what is important to your company and the Washington aerospace industry.

Speakers include:

Senator Jim Kastama, 25th Legislative Dist., D-Puyallup

Rep. Marcie Maxwell, 41st Legislative Dist., D-Bellevue

Rep. Norma Smith, 10th Legislative Dist., R-Clinton

Eleni Papadakis, Executive Director of the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board

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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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Small Businesses Look Across Borders to Add Markets
by Paul Davidson, USA Today

Reprinted from April 8, 2011 Edition

Executives at Osagian Canoes of Lebanon, Mo. never thought much about selling their product outside the U.S.  Shipping costs for the 17-foot long alumnium canoes seemed exorbitant. And John Carr, vice president of Osagian’s parent company, Carmeco figured he’d have to learn new languages and worried international sales contracts couldn’t be enforced.  But since attending a workshop last year developed by the Commerce Department, Osagian has opened a small factory in Denmark and exports are on pace to comprise 15% of sales this year.  Read more.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Mobius Hall, UW Bothell Campus, Bothell, WA
Click here to register.

The fifth annual Washington State Biomedical Device Summit will bring together leading executives, entrepreneurs, researchers, government officials, thought leaders and stakeholders from the region’s medical device community to explore the state of the industry, review trends and innovations coming our way, and discuss the opportunities and challenges created for our region.

Highlights of this year’s summit include:

• Insights into trends impacting reimbursement for the Biomedical Device Industry
• Interactive discussion with key executives from the region’s Biomedical Device Industry
• Presentation of the key findings from this year’s regional Industry Outlook Survey including forecasts for sales and employment
• Showcase of regional Biomedical Device products and innovations
• Networking reception with representatives from the Biomedical Device Industry

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