Plastics is one of the most massive manufacturing industries in the US. According to Bonnie Limbach, chief communications officer with The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), “The industry accounts for more than $330 billion dollars in annual shipments with another $89.5 billion generated by upstream, supplying industries, bringing the total annual shipments to nearly $421 billion. Nationally, the plastics industry employed more than 1.5 million workers in 2000. Another 843,300 persons were employed by upstream suppliers of the plastics industry, bringing the employment impact to nearly 2.4 million – about 2 percent of the U.S. workforce.” It does not seem that economic downturn or global recession will severely diminish consumer and OEM demand for plastics in all shapes, sizes and formats. [Read more…]
What is Lean Manufacturing? [infographic]
According to Wikipedia “Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, ‘Lean,’ is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, ‘value’ is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.”
Over the past several months we’ve researched trends and movements surrounding lean manufacturing and put some of what we found together in today’s infographic.
Research & Development Tax Credits: More Accessible Than You Thought
Research and development tax credits provide golden, yet often overlooked, opportunities for manufacturers to recoup expenses of new product development, product changes or manufacturing process improvements. Recent changes to tax regulations and legislation have expanded these credits, making it easier for businesses to take advantage of the savings.
This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Cedar Robinson, a corporate tax consultant with more than 18 years of specialized R&D Tax credit experience. Robinson explained that businesses do not have to be a high-tech research type company to qualify for tax benefits. In fact, qualified research activities often include all phases of product upgrades, new product research and development, and product & manufacturing process upgrades to improve quality, reliability or efficiency. Most manufacturers are continuously improving production processes and efficiency as part of everyday operations and virtually all manufacturers develop new or improved products. As a result, Robinson indicated that nearly all manufacturers are eligible for the R&D Tax credit. [Read more…]
The Secrets to Keeping the Workplace Safe
Thanks to James Yount of Spill 911 for his contribution to the UniTherm blog. Spill 911 offers a complete line of industrial absorbents and spill response kits as well as spill containment, material handling, janitorial, stormwater control, facility protection and safety products. Our line is diverse, encompassing the top manufacturers and the highest quality products.
What are your workplace safety policies? How do you determine what those policies are? Do you understand where the common hazards are in the workplace? [Read more…]
Manufacturers’ Guide to Survival Post Recession: New eBook
A Field Guide for Manufacturers – Free eBook
The United States economy is slowly recovering from the so-called Second Great Recession and many manufacturers are looking to the future.
With manufacturers in mind, UniTherm is launching the “5 Keys to Survival After the Recession” ebook focusing on ways that manufacturers can lower supply chain costs, raise profits and compete in an increasingly competitive market.
Killer Sales Presentations – Not Death by PowerPoint
We’ve all been there…sitting through a horrendous sales presentation that’s bursting at the seams with bullet points, clip art, and horribly constructed graphs and charts that in no way conveys any understandable data. Then there is the presenter of said presentation who is pounding through slides, reading every bit of text on the screen aloud to you. Crash. Burn. Done – no way are you buying anything from this character. So why does 99% of Corporate America rely on these decks of doom to be the final step in the sales cycle?
Nancy Duarte, Principal and CEO Duarte Design, says it best in her book Slide:ology where she asks us to
“consider the disparity between the content, design, and production values of [your company’s] $100 million campaign, and the slide show residing on your lap top. Consider also that this slide show may be the last engagement you have with your customers before they make a purchase decision. From an experiential standpoint, few things could be more anticlimatic than a massive campaign followed by an unorganized, unmoving presentation that might not be relevant to what the audience needs from you or the company.”
We’ve placed a strict ban on terrible sales presentations here at UniTherm and in this post we will share a bit of advice to our fellow marketers (and sales professionals) in manufacturing.
Building the Deck
There are so many steps that go before this, but we don’t have time for that in one simple blog post, so I’ll assume you’ve already done the necessary footwork to start building your slides. Now, let me just say this. I am not a fan of PowerPoint, but that is only because I really love working with Keynote. That does not mean however that PowerPoint is in any way bad – it’s the people behind the software that create atrocities, not the software itself. In this post we’re not going to focus on software, we’re going to talk about content and presentation.
Take the Time. Do It Right.
Its so important to allow for an appropriate amount of time to plan, outline, and create your sales presentation. A great deck of 30 slides, well presented is going to take at least 40 hours of work to put together and rehearse. Get folks from marketing and sales together to tackle the task and always, always keep the audience (your potential customer) in the focus of what you’re doing.
Speaking of the Audience…
…they are the only reason you’re even working on the presentation in the first place. Their needs and objectives simply must be the number one driver behind every design and content decision you make. You need to know who your audience is, what their concerns and problems are, what actions you want them to take, and how they will best receive information from you.
Plan. Implement. Refine. Edit.
Here we are, finally ready to get down to business and start creating our sales deck. Every person has their own unique approach to creating, whether it starts with sketches, outlines, or both a key step in the process is planning. Don’t even open your presentation software until you have a very clear idea of what it is you need to convey to the audience and just how you’ll do that. (I’m an absolutely terrible sketch artist, but still rely heavily on “off-screen” planning to really delve into and properly layout the meat of a presentation).
When the time comes to construct your slides, resist the urge to fill them to the brim. Remember that a person has the job of presenting the material and the sales presentation slides only serve as a visual reinforcement of what the presenter is saying. Learn from the likes of Steve Jobs, Nancy Duarte, Marc Benioff, and Garr Reynolds and put only the visual cues aids your audience truly needs on the slides – leave the rest in the capable hands (or words rather) of the presenter.
check out an actual before and after on some of our slides from the 'archives' vs what we use today.
Do your data right and present it in a clean, simple, easy to absorb format. In the realm of presentations less is definitely more. Bar graphs don’t need gradients and drop shadows, pie charts don’t need to sit at an angle, and only one set of data should be displayed per chart or graphic element. You also don’t have to use charts and graphs at all, many times relevant graphics and icons do a better job of portraying your message than traditional methods.
Once you’ve completed your sales deck, go back and refine and edit the content to every extent possible. Carefully consider each slide, each statement, each word and if its value is worth the space it occupies on the page. The editing step (read: deleting unnecessary junk) is second only to identifying and defining your audience.
View more presentations from Alexei Kapterev
Alxei Kapterev is not associated with UniTherm Insulation Systems – we just happen to share the same ideas about presentations.
Do you find yourself preparing or giving sales presentations? What insights would you share with your peers in manufacturing?
Up next: Presentation mediums – choosing the best format for your particular audience. It’s not always deck and spiel.
Untapped Energy Savings in Process Heating
Almost all industrial facilities use some form of process heating, but most companies, even those with strong energy management programs, often overlook the huge potential for energy savings in hot industrial processes.
Industrial facilities make up nearly one-third of the nation’s total energy consumption and according to a recent Department of Energy study, plants with hot processes stand to save 5 – 20% on energy costs by implementing process heating system best practices.
Taking proper steps to reduce heat loss from process equipment, tanks hoses or pipes that reach temperatures of 250°F can significantly reduce energy costs in multiple ways. In many processes, temperatures often exceed 500°F requiring significant amounts of energy to maintain process temperatures and cool a facility’s ambient air temperature. For manufacturers that continuously operate production equipment, the potential energy savings increase exponentially.
The easiest and lowest-cost method of of eliminating energy waste in hot industrial processes lies in insulating process equipment, hoses and hot air ducting. UniVest systems by UniTherm are custom insulation jackets designed to snugly fit equipment and direct heat where it belongs – inside high temperature equipment. [Read more…]
Updated: Michigan Energy Rebates and Incentive Programs
100% of available funds for the CI Prescriptive Electric Program have been paid or reserved. All new prescriptive electric applications will be placed on a waiting list.
Both Consumers Energy and DTE Energy in Michigan are currently offering incentives to plastics manufacturers who take action to control their energy consumption. Both of these electricity providers offer an array of prescriptive incentives that are very easy to take advantage of.
September 1st Rebate Status
They also both offer custom programs for projects that are not already outlined in their custom program listings.
Take advantage now, because these programs each run on a budget and funds are allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
Below is a short list of incentives all plastics processors in Michigan should consider:
Petroleum Industry 1901-2011: A Timeline
The history of American oil and gas industry tells a sometimes forgotten story of innovation and progress. It not only serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come in the last century but also highlights our capacity for improving energy technology for the future.
1901 North American Oil Boom
The first oil “gusher” blows in Texas at the Spindletop field, boosting annual American oil production from thousands to millions of barrels per year. Interest in oil surges, ushering in the modern age of petroleum.
1913 New Methods of Refining Oil
In Germany, chemist Freidrich Bergius introduces a process known as high-pressure hydrogenation, significantly improving gasoline output from the refining process.
1930-1940 Nylon and Polyester Invented and Commercialized
Led by research at American DuPont Chemical, chemists develop groundbreaking synthetic materials from oil-refining byproducts. Within a few years, nylon, and polyester are used to produce clothing, parachutes and a variety of industrial materials.
1942 Fluid Catalytic Cracking
Exxon implements the world’s first commercial Fluid Catalytic Cracking system. FCC revolutionizes oil refining by creating a lighter, more usable product. FCC remains an important part of the oil refining business and is still used in refineries today.
1950-1970 Synthetic Oil
AMSOIL and Mobil Oil lead development of synthetic oils designed for high-performance military jets. In response to the success in military applications and a worldwide oil crisis, petrochemical companies introduce synthetic oils for automobiles in the 1970’s.
1970 Wave and Pulse Technology
US Department of Energy’s, National Energy Technology Laboratory aids in introducing seismic technology and mud pulse telemetry to the industry. Using seismic wave to locate oil and mud pulse telemetry to measure while drilling, oil companies save millions while locating and drilling for oil.
1990-2011
Fueled by the US Energy Policy Act of 1992, companies implement more efficient methods for producing and using alternative energy sources. These new energy efficiency standards lead to a surge in research and development and investments in alternative fuels and natural gas production.
Do We [Manufacturers] Belong In Social Media?
I recently came across this article (are social media right for all manufacturers? maybe not) on AJ Sweatt’s blog. First of all – his blog is a fantastic resource for anyone (especially marketers) in manufacturing. I’ve just started to dive into the content there and have found several fantastic articles.
This article in particular takes a look at social media and the payoff for manufacturers. (It also refers to and briefly touches on another insightful article by Mike Collins – Industrial Marketing is Not Consumer Marketing, but that’s a discussion for another time). AJ breaks down 3 weaknesses of the use of social media to serve industrial and manufacturing buying cycles;
- Serving Discovery
- Serving Research Behaviors
- Building/Sustaining Your Brand
AJ makes some valid points about adoption rates among our peers and the negative effect that has on social media results. (Most of us just won’t have hundreds or thousands of customers following us on Twitter and friending us on facebook). While everything he says is for the most part true right now industrial marketers shouldn’t be abandoning their social media efforts – but instead carefully considering their strategy and setting realistic goals and expectations.
Reading AJ’s words did make me stop and think about what we’re getting out of social media, particularly our time spent on twitter. We may not be hitting on everything AJ laid out, but here are some things we are getting out of it:
- Building relationships with our peers– the number one, most important, key objective of spending our time on Twitter is to build relationships with our peers. They may or may not be our potential customers, right now that doesn’t really matter – because they serve a greater purpose. They are companies and individuals we learn from. They feed us important industry news, they advise us in decisions we make, they answer the questions we couldn’t even ask before. Our social network actually helps fill a knowledge gap that Mike Collins addresses, giving us the industry training and knowledge we probably didn’t receive in school or previous consumer-facing jobs.
- Endorsements, referrals, evangelism – while it may be near impossible for any manufacturing or industrial organization to connect with thousands of their customers through social media right now it is becoming easier and easier. More and more members of the supply chain are getting in on twitter. Manufacturers, eps, distributors, OEMs and of coarse consumers are all out there, and every day they become more and more engaged, active, and aware of the relationships they can build through social media. The daunting task is finding and connecting with these key contacts.Those relationships we mentioned previously actually do most of the driving for us on this goal.
There is an overwhelmingly positive cycle of promoting (not self-promotion, but promoting others) in social media. Take for instance #FollowFridays (or #FF) a Twitter-wide Friday tradition of suggesting your favorite Twitter accounts to follow. And even #FBLT Facebook Like Tuesdays – a manufacturing-centric tradition of promoting each others’ Facebook pages every Tuesday.Every week we find ourselves forging relationships with relevant – potentially synergistic companies and individuals, generally thanks to the endorsement, evangelism, and promotion our network provides.
- An opportunity to share our content – I know, I just said social media is not about self-promotion, that’s not what I’m talking about here. As any marketer involved in online, social, web2.0 etc marketing knows – when it comes to driving traffic to your website, creating inbound interest and generating organic leads – content is king. AJ mentions that a manufacturer’s website is the place where all the information industrial buyers need should live. The dilemma? Driving traffic to your site where all that hard-earned content lives.Social media is an appropriate place to share and even promote your own content – when done in the right way. We post several links back to our blog several times a week, we link to our own website on regular occasion, and don’t feel there’s a problem with that because we keep the content relevant to our audience and we don’t overwhelm followers with the density of shares. If we were to look at all of our tweets, only a small fraction (perhaps 1 in every 30 or so) tweets promotes our own content. Everything else is about our followers and the folks we follow.
There are also no secrets about the importance of social media in SEO. More and more search engines are indexing social content and weighting their algorithms towards social shares, visits from social networking sites, and authority of social profiles. Want to show up higher in Google? Social networking will help you work toward that goal.
So, do we [manufacturers] belong in social media? Our answer is an overwhelming yes. While the goal of any industrial or manufacturing organization is to drive sales, the way to get there is often a long and winding path – one that includes several strategies, methods, and sometimes the occasional hope and prayer. Involvement in social media will not drive an immediate increase in website visitors, brand recognition, and certainly not sales. It will however, if cared for properly, make a difference in all of these things over the long haul. We promise you’ll learn a thing or two along the way, forge some fantastic relationships, and feel more connected to your peers in manufacturing than ever before.
What’s your take on social media for manufacturers? Are you seeing the same benefits we do, or something different? Let’s continue the discussion in the comments. And check out AJ’s blog.