Total System Thinking: Learn To Truly See Your Business
So often business owners make decisions based on intuition, luck, or the magic 8 ball. As a small or mid-sized manufacturer, there are so many factors that can affect your company’s profitability, both inside and outside of your control. How do you make proactive decisions for the betterment of your…
WANTED: WA County Manufacturers
Washington County Manufacturers: We Need Your Help! Consider opening your doors to allow high school students to tour your facility during National Manufacturing Day on October 4. When you open your doors for a few hours to students, you open students eyes to exciting careers and fill your future…
Increase Your Skilled Worker Hiring Pool with Apprenticeships
Increase Your Skilled Worker Hiring Pool with Apprenticeships Manufacturers in all sectors struggle with finding, developing, and engaging employees. Getting candidates in the door is a challenge. Once they’re hired, it’s difficult to onboard them effectively and get them to full contribution quickly. After investing in training and onboarding, we’ve…
Are You Prepared for a Successful Descent?
By Ron Wolfe, Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager, KeyBank Linda Hamilton, Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager for KeyBank According to a study put out by the Pepperdine Private Capital Market’s report, the number one reason business owners contacted a broker or investment banker…
One Thing You Need To Do To Save Your Computers From Virus Attacks
Laptops and PCs lock and freeze all the time, right? It’s no big deal, we all know to “turn it off and on again.” It’s a pretty standard problem and one that happens daily in your business. You have your security firewalls all up to date with premium security and…
CTE – Connecting You to Your Future Workforce
One of the biggest struggles for employers is finding and retaining skilled employees. Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offer educational training and career development pathways to help reduce this issue and are vitally important for manufacturing industry growth. What is CTE? Career and Technical Education (CTE) instruction are high…
Oregon’s New Commercial Activity Tax Law Could Affect Manufacturers
By: Ashley Klaus In May 2019, Governor Kate Brown signed into law HB 3427A (the Commercial Activity Tax) after the bill successfully moved through the House and the Senate. The bill will impose an annual tax, beginning in 2020, on all commercial activity — regardless of the business entity…
Toyota Kata: A Lean Strategy for Keeping Up with the Pace of Change
By: Brian Lagas “Why are our changeovers taking so long?” If you’ve asked this question on the shop floor, more than likely you were met with blank stares by your employees. Open-ended questions like this are overwhelming, so employees try to find quick answers that don’t…
Reduce Your Company’s Tax Liability to Reinvest in Your Employees
By Roy Deaver, Partner, International Services; Mark Woodward, Partner, State & Local Tax Services; and Susan Mehlman, Director, Compensation & Benefits Tax Services Your employees can be among your most valuable assets—and retaining and attracting top talent is vital to your company’s financial success. With competition fierce and workers…
RAPID and the MEP – A Boon for Small Businesses
OMEP was recently featured in the RAPID newsletter. The original post is below. RAPID’s partnership with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) continues to bear fruit. An invaluable resource, MEPs help small manufactures effectively engage with RAPID. To date, MEPs have identified and helped attract six new members, initiated three…