Advancing manufacturing advances Indiana

John Sullivan

The summit's keynote speaker was Al Frink, the nation's manufacturing "czar" at the U.S. Department of Commerce. More than 400 Indiana manufacturers, policy-makers and academics also heard from the leaders of several national manufacturing trade associations.

We wanted to make our Indiana manufacturers aware of opportunities outside the state and to make national and regional policy-makers and grant reviewers aware of Indiana manufacturing.

One of the lessons of the highly competitive global marketplace that we've learned since these summits began in 2002 is that even the most independent, strongest willed, small company cannot withstand global competitive pressures alone. And no protectionist wall or moat will keep those competitive pressures at bay for long.

So those of us who value Indiana manufacturing — and make no mistake, manufacturing is the foundation of the state's economic future — understand that we need to view ourselves as part of the Midwestern, as well as global, supply chain.

Supplier-based manufacturing is based on long-term relationships in a 500-mile radius, so we need to think about Indiana manufacturing regionally. Auto parts flow to and from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. Our Indiana wood products producers deal with suppliers, wholesalers and retailers in surrounding states to compete globally.

Supplier relationships today encompass much more than delivering parts to manufacturers. For example, to compete globally in terms of both quality and price means designing parts for manufacturability. To accomplish this, suppliers and manufacturers must understand one another's products and businesses and employ strategies, such as product life-cycle management, to understand the stages — from inception to obsolescence — a product will go through over a period of time.

Since our summit last year, we've held regional advanced manufacturing summits in South Bend-Elkhart, Anderson-Muncie and New Albany. At those summits, we heard from manufacturers with urgent concerns about education and health care, and we discussed those issues at the most recent statewide summit.

The realization has come that manufacturers need education at every level — from the factory floor to the CEO's office. No single Indiana institution can provide all this education. However, Indiana has a competitive advantage in our statewide network of large and small institutions of higher education that have a stake and an interest in contributing to a vibrant manufacturing sector. Our educational institutions need to work together to develop certificate courses to address the needs of specific industries and make those courses portable enough to take to manufacturers anywhere in the state.

Like education, health care is an issue manufacturers cannot afford to ignore. American automakers are struggling to compete in the hypercompetitive car business when they must add almost $2,000 per car to pay for worker and retiree medical benefits. Some of our companies are working to deal more effectively with worker benefits, and there are statewide efforts to rein in health-care costs and increase quality by applying principles from industrial engineering, management and information technology.

Indiana manufacturing companies have made changes in the last several years, and in many ways the state has done well compared to other Midwestern states in a tough and changing marketplace. For the future of our state, though, two facts are indisputable: Indiana can't do without manufacturing, and manufacturing can't go it alone.

John Sullivan is director of Purdue's Center for Advanced Manufacturing and a professor of aeronautical and astronautical engineering. He can be reached at (765) 494-1279, sulivan@purdue.edu. Regional manufacturing summits are scheduled for Fort Wayne and planned for Gary, Evansville and Terre Haute.

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