Innovation

A Story of Student-Run Manufacturing Enterprises

October 31, 2022

National Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) provides students, parents and communities a glimpse of modern manufacturing. It’s held on the first Friday of October and

Innovate Your Way to Growth While Minimizing Risks

April 14, 2022

Manufacturers work hard to minimize disruptions to their operations and invest significant resources to minimize production risk. They also are under constant

Inventor Saves Thousands on Design and Testing

June 22, 2018

Many people have ideas for inventions, but only a few act on them. Doug Gaus of Innovation in Mind quietly produces numerous inventions from his home in Boise

Production Problem Solved, One Pellet at a Time

May 22, 2018

This article originally appeared on Industry Week. Guest blog post by Phil Mintz, director of the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NCMEP) and

Overcoming Challenges with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program

February 21, 2018

Over 45 percent of the manufacturing companies that the MEP National Network TM serves identify product development as one of their top three challenges over

Manufacturing – Creating Opportunity through Innovation

September 6, 2017

op·por·tu·ni·ty äpərˈt(y)o͞onədē, noun, a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. When we think of champions of manufacturing

Let Us Now Give Thanks for the Munchifier!

November 21, 2016

Three years ago I put together a post for this blog about how to use a Raspberry Pi controller to get your Thanksgiving turkey to provide you with status tweets

DOE Labs “Road Tour” Opens Doors to their Treasures

October 26, 2016

This autumn was hot for four states selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to host bootcamps, associated with the MITEC pilot discussed in a previous blog

White House Week of Making—Good for Makers and MEP Centers

June 1, 2016

The third White House Week of Making will be held from June 17 – 23, 2016 and NIST MEP is once again participating! It’s an opportunity to showcase how the MEP

Five Technological Applications Impacting Manufacturing Innovation

May 24, 2016

“Let’s go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday.” – Steven Jobs A manufacturer can be innovative in various ways beyond the use

MITEC is Our Tech

May 17, 2016

Last week, a few folks from Oak Ridge (ORNL), National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and Sandia got together with a few folks from MEP Centers and some of their

VA Innovators Network Continues to Make Progress to Improve the Veteran Experience through Innovation

April 26, 2016

This article originally appeared on VAntage Point, Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Guest blog post by Andrea Ippolito, VA Innovators

Funding U.S. Manufacturing Innovation with SBIR

March 9, 2016

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research

Medical Alley and Innovation Celebrated at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

January 4, 2016

In the 1950’s a doctor and an engineer in Minneapolis, Minnesota helped to launch an entire industry and with it, the fortunes of an entire region, Medical

The Manufacturing Resurgence in Rochester

October 22, 2015

This article originally appeared in the FuzeHub Blog. Guest blog post by Steve Melito, Owner, Thunderbolt Business Services. “Rochester, the future is here,”

Manufacturing Innovation: Gaining the Advantage In a Fiercely Competitive Global Economy

February 23, 2015

This article originally appeared on the Commerce Blog. Good ideas—for new products, new processes, or new services—are terrible things to waste. Yet

Learning by Example from Manufacturing Success Stories

January 13, 2015

I have a confession: I’m not a fan of PowerPoint presentations. I just struggle to learn when I’m being taught things via bullet points on slides. For me, real

Reclaiming “Innovation” for Small- and Mid-sized Manufacturers

December 9, 2014

What comes to mind when your hear the word, “ innovation?” Quick – grab a pen and paper and jot down the first five things that you think about. Many decades

Zombie Coffee

October 31, 2014

Grow manufacturing business by picking brains Imagine: You find someone you’d like to connect with on LinkedIn. You email them to ask if you can “pick their

Reflections on the I-Corp Training Experience

October 28, 2014

This article originally appeared on SBA.gov. Guest blog post by Javier Saade, Associate Administrator for Investment and Innovation, and G. Nagesh Rao, Chief

Smalltime Superheroes

October 21, 2014

It looks like the suit of armor Tony Stark wore in Ironman. But instead of flying up into the stratosphere, it allows an explorer to dive deep into sea, and go

Digital Intensity – To Live or Die in the Digital Age

October 16, 2014

To be, or not to be, that is the question— Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a

The Five Hottest Innovation Tools

September 16, 2014

This article originally appeared in the InnnovationTrends monthly newsletter. Guest blog post by Robert Tucker, president of The Innovation Resource Consulting

Wearable Technology In The Manufacturing Workplace

June 12, 2014

This article was originally posted on Manufacturing.net. Guest post by Kylene Zenk-Batsford, Kronos Incorporated Today, wearable technology — devices such

A Simple Guide for Manufacturers on When to Choose a Robot

June 3, 2014

When considering automation, the first thing that many people will imagine is a robot. As a result, many of us who work in the design of automated systems find

Smart Bolt

January 29, 2014

Waiting for me in my inbox this morning was an e-mail from a long-time friend who works in the financial industry (that fact is sort of important later). The

Cobblers Elves are Hard at Work Shaping our Future

December 24, 2013

Long gone are the large R&D infrastructures vertically integrated within large companies: ah, the good ol’ days of Bell Labs, Kodak, and Xerox. Well we

What’s In Your Garage?

June 3, 2013

The idea of the garage as an incubator for start-up businesses is as American as hot dogs, baseball and apple pie (although I like apple cobbler better). From

Secrets

May 6, 2013

“All the secrets of the world worth knowing are hiding in plain site.” ― Robin Sloan , Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Some secrets are intentional, some

This is not your child’s paper mache

April 30, 2013

Materials for 3D printing are no longer limited to plastics and metals. And 3D printing is not happening only in garages or nifty service salons. European

Manufacturing Innovation Blog