Quad Cities Manufacturing Innovation Hub = Outreach with a Plan

• Jeff Eckhoff

Curt Burnett sees his job two ways: he is both the pilot of a “connection machine” and a regional navigator, charting a long-range course toward the future for Quad Cities manufacturing.

The complicated part is that Burnett, executive director of the relatively new Quad Cities Manufacturing Innovation Hub, is doing both things while the machine is still being built.

ISU’s Economic Development Core Facility now the Place for Collaboration

• Jeff Eckhoff

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.

Working on Workforce: What to Measure and What Works Best

• Jeff Eckhoff

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?

Working on Workforce: Productive Firms Have Fewer Problems Finding People

• Jeff Eckhoff

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.

Iowa State Working to Educate Food Companies on Looming Food Safety Law

• Jeff Eckhoff

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.

Upper Iowa Tool & Die Adds Innovation – One Layer at a Time

• Jeff Eckhoff

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.

CIRAS’ Internet Marketing Boot Camp Brings Big Benefits

• Jeff Eckhoff

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.

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