MCAA Management Solutions
Welcome to the MCAA Management Solutions area. Think of this area as a virtual Newsstand featuring extremely valuable insights on industry advancements and how to implement them into your management practices.
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Management Solutions Articles
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ITR created a summary document to show how to use rate of change and analyze the data trends it provides. The overview outlines the steps of how to turn static snapshots of your business into a view to trends that will show you where you are in the business cycle and what direction you are headed. Read More.
The certification process, if not planned and executed properly, can derail product launch dates and lead to missed market opportunities. Understanding the phases of the certification process, when and how to submit products for evaluation, leveraging best practices, and setting expectations, all play a vital role in a successful product launch. This guide, provided by CSA Group, will be a helpful resource as you navigate the product approval process. Read More.
When speaking at conferences and I ask what is the definition of “Team Selling” I always get sharing in the responses. The word I rarely get is Leveraging. I believe companies can achieve a competitive edge by sharing and leveraging information. Read More.
The U.S. Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair this year (2018) ruled that a state may require collection of sales tax by out-of-state internet retailers who sell into the state (“remote sellers”), so long as the law does not discriminate against or place excessive burdens on those engaging in interstate commerce. MCAA Members login to download the recording and full report.
There are an almost endless variety of social media platforms that are available both to companies and to individuals today. Navigating through them for the best solution for your company or for yourself is daunting. MCAA has created a series of webinars to bring insight to its members on this subject.
This March 2018 webinar was the first in a series of quarterly presentations by Tanya Donnelly, President of Canobie Landing LLC.
The vast potential of IIoT is finally giving industrial companies the ability to control their business performance in real time and drive operational profitability improvements – safely and sustainably.
On May 17, 2018, Brian Gardner, founder of SalesProcess360, hosted the quarterly CRM roundtable in partnership with MCAA. The discussion included ways to use CRM data to make better business decisions. One of the hot topics was Account Profiling and how using a 4-dimensional approach can help grow your business volume with focus on where your sales team should spend their time.
The R&D Tax Credit is one of the most valuable tax breaks for U.S. manufacturers. It rewards work done to increase the efficiency of an automated factory system or ensure that multiple systems within a facility work as one.
On October 25, 2017, Brian Gardner, founder of SalesProcess360, hosted the second roundtable in partnership with MCAA. The session focused on using CRM to make better business decisions. Members shared their CRM challenges and best practices. A variety of topics were covered, but tracking opportunities on the front end of the sales cycle was a dominant theme.
Smart Manufacturing is here and it continues to evolve with initiatives such as Industry 4.0, Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 (AMP 2.0), China Manufacturing 2025 and others around the globe which champion new approaches, technologies and standards that enhance the productivity and performance of industrial operations. But what changes are required in today’s manufacturing environments to be able to realize the vision these initiatives represent?
Social Media enables users to create and share content. Sounds easy—but what tools do you use? How do you measure ROI? How do you keep content relevant and engage customers? The list of challenges goes on and on. During this session at the MCAA Industry Forum on April 24, 2017, a panel of industry experts addressed these questions and shared their experiences on issues that resonate across the industry today.
On July 25, 2017, Brian Gardner, founder of SalesProcess360, hosted a roundtable in partnership with MCAA about getting the most out of CRM. Members shared their CRM challenges and best practices, and Brian threw in his own two cents along the way. A variety of topics were covered, but the challenge of weaving a new or existing CRM system into a company’s culture was a recurring theme.
On April 24, 2017, Varun Nagaraj presented ideas that could hold the key to unleashing innovation at industry organizations and asked the MCAA audience the following questions: how innovative and proactive is their project portfolio? How subject are their organizations to the Top 10 innovation-killing biases? To provide answers he discussed Design Thinking and how industry companies using it to spark creativity and fuel innovation.
Manufacturers and distributors must work together to meet the needs of customers in a dynamic marketplace. Traditional relationships are under pressure from industry consolidation, online commerce, global sourcing, new technologies, alternative distribution channels and more. On April 24, 2017, Mr. Segal discussed these topics with MCAA member executives. He looked at how manufacturers and distributors can turn these trends to their mutual advantage. He reviewed the fundamental concepts that link manufacturers and distributors, the importance of joint business planning, the critical role of setting channel compensation correctly and pointed to tools to manage channel conflict especially in today’s world of e-commerce.
There are any number of problems that plague an engineering firm working on a large project when it comes to finding the support needed from manufacturers, channel partners, reps, distributors, etc. The source of the purchasing money tends to get the attention—sometimes leaving the non-purchasing specifier to struggle with getting the needed support. On April 24, 2017, Mr. Pflantz, who also serves as the ISA President this year, explored some problems, defined the needs and offered up solutions on how to make the relationship much more beneficial to all sides.
Control Magazine reports that the Industry Forum, hosted by the Measurement, Control & Automation association, helps members ‘Confront the Future’ by exploring the economic and technical state of instrumentation, measurement and analysis in the process industries. The attendees represented 244 association members and guests, 138 companies and six nations.
During the April 2017 Industry Forum, a panel of MCAA members offered their thoughts about Social Media. Sponsored by the CSA Group, the panelists were Michelle Bunte, Vice President of Marketing at SOR Inc., Tanya Donnelly, Global Social Media Director of Schneider Electric and Michael Gallagher, President and CEO of CENTRO Inc. The session, moderated by Bryon Atkinson, President of Boost by Design (which developed the new MCAA website) focused on how businesses in our industry are using social media and whether there is an industry disconnect in this area.
Read thoughts from this session from Mike Gallagher of Centro Inc.
Paperwork, whether in hard copy or digital form, is the bane of many industrial projects. MCAA member DocBoss recently conducted a survey of suppliers and engineering companies to see what makes the documentation process so frustrating, and analyzed the results to offer suggestions for making the process less painful.
The results of the Supplier Documentation Best Practices survey launched by DocBoss are in. The survey gathered feedback from both Supplier and EPC contacts with the goal of understanding their experiences working on project vendor documentation. In addition to presenting both sides of the story, the final report includes suggestions to improve the process for your company.
We are pleased to announce that DocBoss President, Brad Bowyer is making the final report available to his fellow MCAA members. To request a copy of the report please click on the link below.
