Technical services available to manufacturers through Chamber partnership with CIRAS, IMEC

Even with a sprawling 250,000 square feet under roof at its East Moline facility, Service Steel knew it needed to change up how it utilized space and moved product through the manufacturing plant.

With his production crew keeping a new multi-million-dollar laser tube cutter working around the clock, Service Steel’s new district manager Jeff Smith saw how increased sales were creating a bottleneck in the production process. “We needed efficiencies to improve how we get material from the north end of the building to the laser cutters,” he said.

To identify possible solutions, the steel service center turned to the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC), an organization it first met via the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce. IMEC engineers developed a factory optimization plan for Service Steel that included vertical racking systems and trafficking changes for product flow – all recommendations it is seriously considering.    

This is just one example of the technical services and expertise that IMEC and its Iowa counterpart, the Center for Industrial Research and Service, or CIRAS, can provide for local manufacturers. In fact, thanks to a new partnership with the Chamber, IMEC and CIRAS expect to broaden their outreach across the region.  

“Businesses have been hit hard. We know the pressures they’re under,” said Chamber President and CEO Paul Rumler. “Most businesses have been and are talking about how to adjust, how to innovate. They need to find growth opportunities. We know it’s best they do this with help of experts.”

To expand the region’s ecosystem of experts, the Chamber signed formal partnership agreements late last year with IMEC and CIRAS, who are part of the National Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or MEP. The partnerships have led to a deeper commitment to work together to help manufacturers and defense suppliers grow their businesses, improve their operations and overcome today’s challenges.

“When we show up, we show up with the backing and support of our experts,” Rumler said. “This is the sustainable way we continue to provide support and expertise for our manufacturers.”

Single solution

The partners are providing solutions to small and mid-sized companies on ways to expand and diversify their markets, improve their factory operations, address workforce challenges as well as a web of other issues.

While the Chamber is no stranger to the MEPs, Bill Ratzburg, the Chamber’s manufacturing and defense director, said the new partnership contracts have streamlined their efforts and improved their relationships. A prime example, he said, is the fact that the Chamber now makes joint calls and visits to area businesses.

“It’s just a lot more efficient way to approach, help and evaluate companies,” Ratzburg said, adding that a single meeting is a huge benefit to a small business owner.

“Between recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, complex global trade issues and Industry 4.0 impacting every manufacturer in Iowa, no organization can do it alone,” said Mike O’Donnell, the associate director for CIRAS, based at Iowa State University, Ames.  

By working with the Chamber, O’Donnell said “We’re able to provide business leaders with a single solution that blends the local needs with the depth of statewide resources and our national networks.”

IMEC President David Boulay applauded the Chamber for providing companies with the resources they need to thrive. “At IMEC, we are committed to this same mission by providing manufacturers the resources to plan for the future, implement strategies to grow and excel, and in turn, create quality job opportunities for the Illinois manufacturing workforce,” Boulay said.

Defense focus

The Chamber’s connection with IMEC has been evolving since 2015 when the Quad Cities received an initial $4.4 million Department of Defense (DoD) grant to strengthen the region’s DoD supply chain.

“Together we’ve been able to serve manufacturers in the area with solutions to solve their problems and grow their businesses in size, sales and profitability,” said Jeff Allspaugh IMEC’s regional manager for Northwest Illinois. “We’ve also provided improvement projects and educational training and events for all Quad Cities manufacturers.”

The federal funding – from the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation – helped finance more than 30 projects at Quad Cities companies ranging from additive manufacturing to shop floor optimization, lean manufacturing, search engine optimization, marketing bootcamp, digital assessments, material flow and part cost analysis.

A third round of funding, a $140,000 DoD grant that began Jan. 1, will focus on emerging issues. It will assist manufacturers in the Illinois Defense Network, which is made up of the Quad Cities, Peoria, Rockford and Chicago. The Illinois Defense Industry Resiliency Program will focus on three areas: cyber security, workforce and supply chain resiliency.  

“The DoD is very interested in businesses diversifying away from defense work,” Ratzburg said. “We know the workload is going down. They want these companies to remain healthy and survive (to be available for future contracts).”

Allspaugh said IMEC’s relationship with the Chamber is the envy of his peers. “My partners in IMEC are jealous of the commitment and dynamic partnership we have with the Quad Cities Chamber.  We’re very blessed and pleased that they are so committed. They have a heart for manufacturing.”