Year: 2017

Service Highlight: Productivity (and getting recognition for it)

Every manufacturer has tried to get better. Many have set goals to be great. Some even aim for world class.   Iowa manufacturers have employed a variety of tools to get there: Lean, Six Sigma, ISO 9001, Total Quality Management, and countless others.  But how do you know if you are "there"? What is great? What is world class? Here are three ways to measure yourself against the best in the nation and potentially get global recognition for your achievements: 

PyroGraphics Resets Its Future with a Little CIRAS Assistance

Everything seemed to be going great, Dan Svec recalls, until the first hints of a recession appeared and began to expose the weaknesses at PyroGraphics. In 2008, the West Des Moines printing company, which specializes in business promotional items and souvenirs, was starting to struggle in a declining economy in which most promotion had stopped. By 2012, when the company discovered CIRAS, the end was very much in sight.

Report-Out: CIRAS’ first Future of Manufacturing event shows the Future is Near

On January 24th, we at CIRAS hosted our first Future of Manufacturing event, focused on how Augmented and Virtual Reality are changing manufacturing. Experts from Mechdyne, ISU Mechanical Engineering, Newport News Shipbuilding, and Daqri gave an update on current and next generation technologies that are beginning to change manufacturing around the globe.  Here are our four key takeaways from that event: