In the past four quarters (2018Q1-2018Q4), manufacturing clients of IES or IES’ NCMEP affiliates returned surveys to NIST’s third-party survey company, reporting the following results they attributed to work done by NCMEP affiliates: $694M in economic impact; 1,470 jobs created; 3,837 jobs retained; $122M retained sales; $171M increased sales and $20M cost savings.

We continued to diligently collect data about our clients’ needs and restructured the use of our resources so we could develop solutions to meet those needs more efficiently and effectively.

Here are some of the accomplished highlights:

• Hosted a successful 2018 mfgCON manufacturing conference with Business North Carolina. Highlights included a 12 percent growth in attendance and 2018 Manufacturing Leadership Awards were recognized by Governor Roy Cooper
• Rebranded mfgNC Connections to MNC Network and hosted two program events: Information Security and Disaster Preparedness
• Served as a panelist for Business NC magazine Manufacturing Roundtable and participated in National Manufacturing Day as a speaker on advanced manufacturing technology applications at Make it in Union County event in Monroe, NC
• Dispatched ambassadors to events across the state in honor of National Manufacturing Day
• Piloted a Training Within (TWI) educational program
• Updated the North Carolina Awards for Excellence (NCAfE) program
• Grew federal grant awards through continued recognition of team’s broad capabilities
• Expanded industry training programs through better leverage of college expertise and technology
• Made our professional learning solutions more accessible with the introduction of webinars and online workshops
• Enhanced awareness of Baldrige Examiner classes
• Launched a new course evaluation process in our CRM (Salesforce) that includes a new customer case model to elevate customer feedback into an action team for resolving opportunities for improvement.
• Created a podcast blueprint and recorded three podcasts to launch in July 2019
• Refined video production capabilities, delivering multiple product and customer reference videos. Learned a new product demo/animation app: Vyond
• Delivered 171,184 campaign/promotion emails with an average 21.77% open rate + 10.69% click rate
• Attracted 110K users to the IES website of which approximately 108K were new users. These users engaged in 146K session for an average time per session of 1.42 minutes and 273,809 page views. IES Twitter: Approximately 324 tweets over the past 12 months, 104,705 impressions
• Manufactured in North Carolina (MNC), our online supply chain database, attracted 148,055 visitors, 456,000 page views and 1990 inquiries to companies
• Participated on the advisory board for planning the 2018 IndustryWeek Manufacturing & Technology Conference
• Hosted several NC legislators at plant tours across the state to highlight the importance of manufacturing
• Improved our understanding of the DoD supply chain in North Carolina and its impact to the state

But even with our long list of accomplishments, we’re not done!

In the coming 2019-2020 year, we’ll continue to explore alternate avenues of communication with our clients, including virtual contact and informal learning groups. We’ll pursue grant opportunities that align with the College of Engineering and North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership priorities.