KENT CENTER SEEKS TO HELP SMALL MANUFACTURERS INNOVATE TOOLING UP TO FACE THE COMPETITION
Long before technological innovation was associated with a computer screen or a laboratory test tube, it could be found in hundreds of machine shops and manufacturers in places like the Kent Valley.
Those manufacturers are still engines of experimentation, innovation and emerging technologies, says Tom McLaughlin, a 30-year veteran of the industry.
Manufacturers, he says, are "the ultimate in the entrepreneurial mind-set - that tinkering mentality. They are risk takers."
The risks they're taking to stay in business and continue to innovate are greater than ever, what with the competitive challenge of lower-cost, offshore production. Furthermore, small and medium-sized manufacturers often don't have the resources of much larger companies to meet those challenges and stay ahead of competitors.
There's a new source for those tools in this region, in the form of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound.
CAMPS, a project of the city of Kent and the Kent Chamber of Commerce, opened its doors earlier this year. For the moment, it's actually one door, in Green River Community College's Kent Station branch campus, and one employee - McLaughlin, who is executive director.
But CAMPS' aspirations for the services it can provide to its member companies are far greater than its modest operating quarters. The center hopes to "pull these capabilities together and give these small companies the ability to operate like a large company."
The Kent Valley, he says, is an ideal place for such an effort. Aside from a concentration of manufacturing jobs as a percentage of the total work force that is more than double the statewide average, "This valley is basically a $20 to $22 billion economy," McLaughlin says.
Manufacturers aren't trying to preserve old-line manufacturing or stop change in its tracks, McLaughlin says. They already recognize they can no longer compete with offshore producers when it comes to high-volume, low-margin, labor-intensive commodity items.
That's not the only trend they're coping with. Many of those small and medium-sized manufacturers serve larger manufacturers such as The Boeing Co. and Paccar Inc., which are changing their traditional relationships with suppliers. Boeing in particular embarked on a program to reduce the number of suppliers it works with; for those that remained, it expected them to be much more integral parts of the supply chain, including greater certification and documentation of their processes and incorporating the ability to conduct business electronically.
"Is (manufacturing) dying?" says McLaughlin. "No. Is it changing? Yes. Is it changing for the better? Absolutely."
"Manufacturing has been under assault for decades," adds Dean Conti, owner of Alpha Precision Machining Inc. in Kent. "We can roll over and play dead, or we can fight back." Conti, whose company was the first to join CAMPS, says it's in the nation's interest that manufacturers choose the latter.
"Our country can't exist without manufacturing," Conti says. "The only way we can compete is we have to be very smart about what we do and be very good about developing products."
The idea of helping manufacturers cope with those shifts grew out of a strategic plan done six years ago by the city and the chamber, followed by a feasibility study (paid for with $650,000 raised from federal, state, local and private sources) on what an advanced-manufacturing center might look like.
The survey found considerable interest from manufacturers in the concept, as well as some specifics as to what they most needed help with: learning about the latest in innovative products and production techniques, learning how to be the kind of supply-chain participant the big companies are looking for and having access to experts and specialists.
"There isn't a clear voice out there for manufacturing," says Jon McQuiston, president of Kent-based Fabrication Services Inc. and a CAMPS board member. "A number of organizations assist all businesses including manufacturing," but CAMPS will be valuable because of its focus on that sector.
Manufacturers do have access to other sources of help, including Washington Manufacturing Services in Mukilteo and the Washington Technology Center at the University of Washington. McLaughlin says each has a slightly different focus and structure - Washington Manufacturing Services, for example, emphasizes lean manufacturing and quality control programs, while the technology center helps commercialize technology.
"The three programs fit together nicely," he says.
What McLaughlin and founding members do not want CAMPS to become is one more consultant.
"Every manufacturer has a story about a bad relationship with a consultant," says McLaughlin, who himself was a partner in a consulting firm.
Those stories stem from consultants and clients not understanding what was to be accomplished, or consultants who didn't really understand the field in which they were supposed to be offering advice.
One of CAMPS' projects is to compile a list of pre-reviewed and qualified consultants and experts to whom manufacturers can turn. Also on the agenda are a database of credible, current information on innovation, and what McLaughlin calls "supply-chain boot camp" to help manufacturers understand what's expected of them by bigger companies and how to get themselves qualified to work with those large firms.
Manufacturers also wanted "executive-team interactivity, a peer-to-peer roundtable, a forum (in which) they can meet, get to know each other and who their counterparts are," he says. McQuiston says such sessions will be "not just for business but business solutions, sharing experiences and challenges and how to overcome them."
Longer term, CAMPS will look at such issues as work force recruitment and training and financing.
CAMPS' own initial financing came from leftover funds from the feasibility study, as well as another $150,000 the state awarded last year and some matching funds to come from the city of Kent. Eventually CAMPS hopes to build a revenue stream through membership dues and referral fees. "We've got to keep CAMPS' costs real low," McLaughlin says.
CAMPS - or at least the public-funding component - isn't without criticism. The Washington Policy Center and Citizens Against Government Waste included the state's appropriation in its list of examples of wasteful government spending. Calling Kent "one of the most thriving and economically advanced cities in the state," the organizations said eliminating the allocation "would have no effect on the local or state economy."
McLaughlin, though, says that given the potential for increased sales, cost savings, investment, jobs created and retained, and new tax revenue generated, "the return on investment is tremendous."
P-I reporter Bill Virgin
can be reached at 206-448-8319