Learning to Change: Opportunities to Improve the Performance of SmallerManufacturers

摘要

State and local governments have created industrial assistance services, thefederal government has multiple programs aimed at helping small businesses, and there is strong interest in the Clinton administration in creating a national network of industrial assistance centers (Clinton and Gore, 1993). Expanding the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Technology Centers (MTCs) program is one mechanism for creating such a national assistance network. Given this context--rapid changes in manufacturing, growth in the numbers of smaller manufacturers, and their apparent lag in modernization effort--NIST asked the Manufacturing Studies Board to form a committee to examine the barriers to manufacturing improvement in smaller firms and to identify the appropriate role of the MTCs in addressing those barriers. In addition to discussing barriers facing smaller manufacturers, both company representatives and assistance providers discussed opportunities to help firms overcome these barriers and to improve significantly their production costs, quality, and market responsiveness. The recommendations of the committee reflect the changed circumstances that have resulted from the emergence in early 1993 of substantial additional federal funding for industrial assistance activities, as well as President Clinton's proposals for the creation of a national network of manufacturing extension centers.