BY: Jerry Kilpatrick, MEP Utah

This topic is about as pleasant as taxes. But, the fact is that you do need some sort of information system (or, Enterprise Resource PlanningSystem—ERP) to run your business, regardless of how unpleasant this is. And, most experts suggest that you should reevaluate your current system every 3-5 years for potential upgrade or replacement. From your own personal experiences, or from researching what others have done, you already know that more than 50% of implementations fail. You also know that they almost always run over budget and are rarely completed on time.

Selection and implementation of a new ERP system is a complex, difficult, and time-consuming process. You will face many hazards along the way; but there is hope. Read this article and you will find some helpful hints and gain some valuable insight on overcoming these "ERP Hazards" from a guy on the "inside".

BY: Patricia Panchak, IW's editor-in-chief

When most people talk about innovation, they're generally talking about high-cost, "high- technology" breakthroughs -- the latest computer chip, a new bio-engineered material or a hot new category-defining product such as the iPod.

Yet for the broader-based manufacturing sector, the source of innovation is much more varied. It must be. By definition, we can't all lead the latest and greatest technological advance. We can't stop manufacturing what we now manufacture and switch to building cardiac stents as quickly and easily as shareholders can buy and sell stocks. But that doesn't mean we can't all be innovators. Rather it means that many manufacturers must find other sources of innovation -- and to do that they need to define innovation differently.

MEP Utah has recently developed a production scheduling tool in Microsoft Project. Most high-level ERP systems include schedulers, but are usually so complex that companies don’t use them. Stand- alone schedulers can cost as much as $20,000 and take weeks to learn to use. MS Project retails for about $600, and can be set up for production scheduling in 3-4 days. For more information, contact us at: 801-863-8637.

The highly anticipated MEP Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2006 "Call for Nominations" is fast approaching. This year the MEP Utah will have available to the public a new online nominating form to make your nomination process quick and easy from our website.

Keep an eye out for the MEP Awards 2006 link on our homepage coming October 10, 2006.

To have a nomination form mailed to you, please contact Melanie at mbutterfield@mep.org with your name, address, and telephone number.

If you have any questions, please contact Melanie at (801) 368-0468.

Every quarter, the U.S. Department of Commerce surveys the clients of MEP Utah to make sure that the services they provide are having a positive impact on the manufacturers in the state.

Here are the latest impact results from the Department of Commerce Survey of MEP Clients - 2nd Quarter 2006.

NAM’s September 2006 annual report on labor and industry focuses on the impact that the significant increases in energy costs have had on both employment and compensation throughout industry.

You can download a copy of the NAM report, Energy Costs: Shrinking the Pie For America’s Workers below.