Technology Assistance Program: A new Name in CIRAS Problem Solving

• Jeff Eckhoff

 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.

CIRAS Helps Small Business Land More than $329K in Government Contracts

• Jeff Eckhoff

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.”

PTAP TIPS: Tell Us What You Can Do

• Jeff Eckhoff

The specialists in CIRAS’ Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP) exist to help Iowa businesses understand what it takes to sell to the government.

One of the key things necessary to succeed in to government contracting is a capability statement. A good one includes the following information:

CIRAS Helps Cline Tool Assess and Enhance Safety, OSHA Compliance

• Jeff Eckhoff

Sometimes, you just want to know.

Cline Tool, based in Newton, recently completed a 15-month project with CIRAS to evaluate its safety plans and procedures. The result? Cline now has a new Safety Committee to address safety procedures, processes, and compliance moving forward. And its Board of Directors is much more confident after being reassured that Cline has a strong program in place that meets OSHA requirements.

WORKFORCE: If They Won’t Come, Build It—With a Robot

• Jeff Eckhoff

The evolution of manufacturing is occurring bit by bit across Iowa—including, among other places, at a metal door factory in Mason City.

Curries, part of the Sweden-based ASSA ABLOY Group, is where roughly 490 production workers go each day to produce steel doors and frames.Since 2012, the company has been working steadily to automate the final phase of its door-handling process—a manual labor-intense procedure that tends to spawn high turnover and can cause the kind of muscle injuries that are common in an aging workforce.

CIRAS Planning March Innovation Summit for Metal Fabricators

• Jeff Eckhoff

Planning is now under way for CIRAS’ next campaign to focus its industrial and economic expertise on projects for the benefit of a large Iowa manufacturing subsector.

A total of 102 people from 55 organizations took part in two previous Innovations Summits arranged by CIRAS in spring 2014 and spring 2015 under a five-year effort funded by the United States Economic Development Administration’s University Center Program. The events, focused on bringing new technologies to businesses in the plastics and machinery manufacturing sectors, spawned upgrades and innovations that led to $1.5 million in new or retained sales for the participating companies and more than $184,000 in various cost savings to date.

Consortium Hopes Better Packaging Will Help Companies Cut Costs, Increase Sales, Improve Sustainability

• Jeff Eckhoff

Keith Vorst doesn’t think outside the box so much as he thinks about the box—and how it affects everything around it.

Vorst, an associate professor in Iowa State University’s Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, also is director of the university’s new Polymer and Food Protection Consortium. He has spent the last year working to build a national center for packaging research and expertise—a place where companies in Iowa and elsewhere can go to assess the design, safety, function, and value of the packaging that envelops their products.

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