600 Attendees Gather for 2017 Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference
In October, nearly 600 plastics professionals gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana, for the annual Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference. This year’s conference featured pre-conference sessions, motivational speakers, functional area networking and more than a dozen breakout sessions for attendees. From Connie Podesta’s comedic introduction on how to communicate and sell to anyone, to peer networking roundtables and evening receptions, all the way through Joe Theismann’s closing presentation highlighting the importance of listening, trusting and motivating your team, the event brought professionals of all levels together for an impactful and unforgettable day and a half.
This is what 2017 Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference attendees had to say:
“This conference should be attended by all. The knowledge gained from the floor personnel to top management is priceless.” – Gary Surowiec, Bamar Plastics
“I walked away with a greater appreciation for the MAPP organization. One industry, one common goal: to share lessons learned and best practices. Outstanding!” – Jeff Patrick, Dymotek
“Very few manufacturing conferences focus on improving organizations by understanding people and leading them from the front. I leave this event feeling enriched, invigorated and ready to face the next challenge with my team.” – Carl Bartle, Wisconsin Plastics Inc.
Save the Date: The 2018 Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference will be Oct. 10 through 12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
MAPP’s Continued Benchmarking: What to Expect in 2018
Each year, MAPP strives to provide industry professionals with the most relevant, timely and meaningful benchmarking in the plastics industry. MAPP is currently completing its final benchmarking study for 2017 on engineering services. Listed below are the reports MAPP members can expect to see in 2018:State of the Plastics IndustryDrugs in the WorkplaceMachine MaintenanceTuition Reimbursement PoliciesWage and SalaryMarketing in ManufacturingQuality in Plastics
Have questions on past, current or future benchmarking? Email [email protected].
Welcome New MAPP Members
MAPP’s staff and board of directors would like to welcome the following organizations to MAPP’s growing community of members:
- American Casting and Manufacturing, Plainview, New York
- Apex Plastics and Tooling, Garland, Texas
- Bennett Plastics Inc., Paterson, New Jersey
- Calico Precision Molding, LLC, Fort Wayne, Indiana
- DaMar Plastics, Inc., El Cajon, California
- Flexcraft Company, Neptune City, New Jersey
- Granite State Plastics, Inc., Londonderry, New Hampshire
- North Coast Plastics, Inc., Erie, Pennsylvania
- Parkway Products, LLC, Florence, Kentucky
- Performance Plastics Ltd., Cincinnati, Ohio
- Productive Plastics, Inc., Mount Laurel, New Jersey
- Sussex IM, Inc., Sussex, Wisconsin
- Teamvantage Molding, LLC, Forest Lake, Minnesota
- Tec Air, Inc., Munster, Indiana
- The Plastek Group, Erie, Pennsylvania
MAPP Introduces New Sponsors to Membership:
Creative Technology and 5Fold Agency
MAPP is excited to welcome two new sponsors to the MAPP community: 5Fold Agency and Creative Technology.
An industrial marketing agency with more than 30 years of plastics industry experience, 5Fold provides clients with the most effective and latest marketing strategies and tactics: web design and SEO, LinkedIn marketing, LinkedIn advertising, content marketing, brand collateral and Google AdWords. Just as manufacturing technology advances every year, manufacturers’ marketing strategies must advance to get attention from target demographics. Tactics from three years ago are losing effectiveness; organizations need to partner with an agency that knows where to focus to get the best ROI, produce top line growth and adjust to cut through the marketing noise.
Creative Technology is dedicated to helping American manufacturers through quality media. Creative Technology produces a wide range of technical and marketing materials for industry, specializing in plastics, mold and die manufacturing. Offering industrial photography and video, the company is equipped with the right gear and experienced at unusual techniques to capture challenging subjects, such as highly polished and reflective mold cavities and cores, clear plastic parts and cutting tools in action. The focus is on capturing those special images with the right equipment for the job to keep costs affordable while creating a distinctive image for you.
Coming Soon: 2018 Planning
MAPP is currently finalizing plans for 2018 – continuing to add plant tours, webinars, peer networking, young professionals events, summits and additional opportunities for members to network and gain additional value. Check the MAPP website for upcoming events as they are scheduled.
Bridge the Skills Gap with RJG’s CoPilot™
RJG recently released the latest in injection molding process monitoring software: the CoPilot™. The purpose of the CoPilot is to provide a simple and practical program that is so easy to use that technicians of all experience levels can consistently keep a process on template. The CoPilot observes actual machine settings and offers instructions to bring a process back into set parameters. Real-time notifications tell molders when a process is out of match, allowing them to address the problem sooner and limit the number of bad parts produced. The CoPilot is able to walk processors through a step-by-step order that is driven by Scientific Molding principles by prioritizing the most important out-of-specification variables.
Features of the CoPilot include the following:
- Step-by-step walkthroughs to return a process to match
- Real-time notifications when a process has changed
- Automatic process audits
- Automatic part sorting
- Process change logs
