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11
Oct
Manufacturing Connection October Newsletter
A Letter from the Director
Raising the Bar
The Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) is committed to supporting manufacturers. One of LCTCS’ initiatives is to train a successful workforce. The system office works with each individual community college to create relevant, timely programs and services that address their specific industry needs. The MEP of LA continues to work with LCTCS and the colleges to reach out and work with manufacturers state-wide. The search is ongoing for project managers to be located at the following colleges:
- Central Louisiana Technical Community College
- SOWELA Technical Community College
Please visit https://www.lctcs.edu/human-resources/jobs for job descriptions and directions to apply.
The recently published IMPACT scores continue to indicate a highly performing center, which is a testament to the great work being accomplished by our team members. Over the past four quarters, we worked with more than 131 manufacturers, mostly “new” clients. Moreover, the surveyed manufacturers reported the following
- More than 79 Million in Retained Sales
- More than 32 Million in New Sales
- More than 2,200 Created and Retained Jobs
- More than 26 Million in New Investments
- More than 15 Million in Cost Savings
- A Net Promoter Score ® of 87%
Additionally, over the past four quarters, we worked with more than 55 very small establishments with less than 20 employees, 15 clients in rural areas, and more than 9 startup companies.
In 2017, the MEP of LA was awarded a grant to conduct free assessments to manufacturers in the 12-impacted parishes under Hurricane Harvey. We have added a page to our website that included solutions for the entire affected market with access to common problems and possible outcomes. Please visit https://mepol.org/hurricane-harvey to learn more. The grant expired last month, and we started working on the close-out process.
I attended the NIST MEP National Network Summit in Atlanta, Georgia in September 2019. This year’s Summit brought together all 51 Centers and offered more than 50 breakout sessions, insightful keynote speakers, plenary sessions and panel discussions. Each Center learned more about expanding and growing their Center’s capabilities and connections with other MEP Centers in order to become a more integrated Network to better serve manufacturers. More on this topic can be found below in our What’s Happening at NIST MEP section.
The MEP of Louisiana staff attended the LCTCS 2019 Annual Conference in New Orleans at the end of last month. The Annual Conference provides a professional development opportunity for the faculty and staff of Louisiana’s Community and Technical Colleges and system office employees. Each year over 1,300 community and technical college employees gather for the largest professional development of its kind in the state. The conference featured concurrent session presenters who are hand-selected, dynamic subject matter experts. This year, the conference focused on building bright futures.
On October 25th, some MEP of Louisiana team members will be attending the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCAM) Fall 2019 Manufacturing Technology Summit. The Summit will highlight the best practices and innovations from the Gulf region and other states that are driving change in advanced manufacturing. Guest speakers and panelists will discuss how such practices, industry trends, and processes can be modeled and developed to create new opportunities for manufacturing in Louisiana.
I, and the rest of the MEP of LA team, look forward to continuing our work with manufacturers across Louisiana, who are working each day to make a difference in the lives of our communities, state, country and world through innovative products, value-added processes, and economic impact.
Dr. Ali Ahmad, Director
Continue reading the October Manufacturing Connection newsletter here.