Hundreds of Iowa’s economic, government and academic dignitaries braved a mid-June heatwave to help cut the ribbon on a new $12 million Economic Development Core Facility, the recently completed building that now becomes a joint headquarters for CIRAS and more than a half-dozen other Iowa economic development agencies.
Iowa has been working on its workforce for a long time.
The state’s current labor market conditions are challenging employers who seek skilled workers. Some define the problem as a skills gap, others call it an overall workforce shortage, and still others blame current wage levels. Whatever the label, a growing disconnect between Iowa’s workforce supply and employer demands is threatening to weaken the state’s economic growth potential.
So what’s to be done?
For Nancy Jacobs, it boils down to a tale of two departments.
In April, Jacobs became human resources manager for Misty Harbor, a Fort Dodge boat manufacturer that has been working with CIRAS for several years to get leaner and improve its productivity. Misty Harbor last year credited training in disciplines such as Lean manufacturing and the Theory of Constraints, among others, with boosting the company’s bottom line by an estimated $2 million in new and retained sales.
But the transformation is still in progress.
Think of it as an impending explosion in the dark: It’s coming at some point. It may be a time bomb or a firecracker. You don’t know how big, or how close to you, the eventual bang will be.
You probably ought to find out.
Experts say that’s roughly the current situation in Iowa’s food companies, many of whom can expect within months to feel the first full weight of important new federal safety regulations. A 2011 law called the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) gave the FDA new powers to prevent outbreaks of foodborne disease. But the impact of new rules was largely delayed as authorities constructed complex standards and procedures.
A Cresco tool-and-die maker’s search for diversification has led the company, with CIRAS’ help, to stake out new territory as what may be the first Iowa business of its kind to produce parts for customers via additive manufacturing.
Upper Iowa Tool & Die & Innovations, founded in 1978, purchased a new plastic-based 3-D printer earlier this year after conversations with CIRAS convinced the company to aim higher in its search for a way to differentiate from competitors. Since mid-April, Upper Iowa has been pitching its additive manufacturing capability both to new clients and as an add-on for services to existing customers.
The CIRAS Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP) was recognized by its national peers in April for its extraordinary efforts to educate Iowa companies on the intricacies of government contracting.
A three-day program, now in its fourth year, is paying off in page views, clicks, and sales for Iowa businesses.
The Internet Marketing Strategy Boot Camp, first launched in 2012, has benefitted Iowa firms of all sizes, said CIRAS project manager Paul Gormley. The course covers five main points: Marketing Message Development, Web Development Best Practices, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, and Analytics.
It might be a step too far to call Sears Manufacturing’s problem a pain in the backside. But the evasive and mysterious cause behind an ongoing problem with a purchased component used in the company’s vehicle seat suspension certainly proved annoying—until Sears called upon members of CIRAS’ Technology Assistance Program (TAP).
The result? An in-depth analysis of cracked air compressors that early this year will lead to a design change on the pneumatically controlled seats that Sears, a 160-year-old Davenport firm, makes for construction and agriculture equipment around the country.
The future of manufacturing officially opened for business last week (at least symbolically) when Iowa State University College of Engineering Dean Sarah Rajala used a set of 3-D-printed scissors to cut the ribbon on CIRAS’ new metal laser sintering machine.
From the beginning, when Jeanie Waters launched 3rd Degree Screening in Council Bluffs in 2012, she knew that its success would require both commercial and government contracts. Waters, whose company provides background checks, drug tests, and field investigation services for clients worldwide, turned to CIRAS for help with the government part.
“The overall value [of CIRAS] is in learning the process and having educated support throughout,” Waters said. “You keep building on what you know and you build off your CIRAS representative.”