by Paul V. Arnold

Is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Manufacturing firms view the industry’s current economic state with either optimism or pessimism.

Instead of arguing, why not just go to the tap and fill the glass?

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence provides such a fulfilling opportunity at its annual conference, October 8-12 in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Thirsty? The event features more than a dozen plant tours, a full day of workshops, a half-dozen keynote speakers and two full days of presentations divided into four targeted flights.

Whether your company is scuffling or thriving, the time is ripe to improve your practices and status, says AME conference chairperson Steve Chilton.

"AME educates companies in lean practices. Therefore, good economic times are good for us, and bad economic times are good for us," he says.

The message is universal. It’s all how you look at things.

The upcoming AME conference provides the chance for senior managers (at the corporate, plant and departmental level), as well as engineers and quality professionals, to gain insight from the best and brightest, learn how to apply others’ best practices and network with industry peers.

More than 1,200 people attended last year’s event. Chilton is confident the 2001 conference will draw at least as many.

"I think this is the strongest program schedule we’ve had," he says. "It’s 2 1/2 years in the making."

Here’s the program highlights:

Keynote speakers: Tom Peters, author and lecturer; Nancy Wendorf, senior project manager, Motorola; Lloyd Ward, former CEO, Maytag; Donna Shirley, manager, NASA Mars Exploration Program; Mike Krzyzewski, head coach, Duke University basketball team; John Kasich, former Ohio congressman.

Plant tours: Alcatel, Channel Master, C-MAC Network Systems, Consolidated Diesel Company, Danaher Controls, John Deere, Flextronics, Marconi Commerce Systems, MCMS, Nypro, SAS Institute, Sanmina Enclosures, Schindler Elevator Company and Solectron.

Workshops: Topics include business-to-business supply chain management, lean manufacturing techniques, Six Sigma and RosettaNet open Internet-based business standards. Workshops are coded by degree of difficulty: B for beginner, I for intermediate and A for advanced.

Presentations: Twenty-two sessions help attendees eliminate non-value-added activities, serve customers more effectively, make the most of resources and improve overall efficiencies.

Presentations are divided into four flights: "Innovative Enterprise at Work," "Competitive Trends, Emerging Applications," "Bring Out the Best: People/Technology" and "Quest for Excellence."

Each session is coded by degree of difficulty: B for beginner, I for intermediate and A for advanced.

To learn more about the conference, visit AME’s Web site at www.ame.org, call or e-mail .

back to top

back to Industry news archives