Everyone at ASK Power is excited to experience the growth and success mHUB has generated since opening in March. In less than 9 months, mHub has tripled its membership to over 300 members.
mHub connects the many segments of manufacturing, entrepreneurs, engineers, small to medium manufacturers, and large companies in the innovation game. It’s an experiment that is working, working to produce better jobs and a more competitive industry.
“The manufacturing industry has certainly experienced its share of change, evolving from what many still envision as ‘traditional’ manufacturing… to today's manufacturing that is digital, high tech and driven by ideas and innovation.
When I think of modern manufacturing right here in Illinois -- I think of mHUB (https://mhubchicago.com/), Chicago's innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing. “
- Greg Baise, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association
As a sponsor of mHUB, ASK Power represents the model for how small and medium sized manufactures in the Chicago area will gain access and expertise to equipment, facilities and workers not readily available before. mHub’s state of the art building provides 63,000 square feet with 10 fabrication centers and over $2,000,000 in product design, rapid proto-typing and 3D printers, metal shops and other low-volume micro-factory machinery.
Global manufacturer of electrical components for the utility and industrial marketplace
SITUATION
After several years measuring against an internal set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Steve Kase, Managing Director of ASK Power knew how the business tracked to their own performance, but had no perspective for where they fell relative to their competition. The organization reached out to key customers for performance reporting according to quality and customer-specific deliverables, but the ASK team was lacking the targeted feedback needed to develop strategic, actionable improvement objectives. Needing to take their planning to the next level, Steve leveraged his relationship with IMEC to undertake the Promoting Business Excellence (PROBE) global benchmark assessment for the organization. “As our trusted partner, I knew through Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) we would be able to use the international benchmark to realize the level of industry data needed to be more strategic,” said Kase.
IMEC SOLUTION
Interested in the feedback for how they perform on a global level on a variety of functional objectives, the ASK team used the PROBE assessment to align their departmental priorities with the best-of-the-best in the industry; ultimately identifying the largest areas for improvement in human resource and accounting systems, as well new product development and technology. “The benefit of the transformative assessment was that it truly helped us compare our performance to successful competitors,” said Kase. “The sheer visibility of the areas where we are stronger than we need to be and those where we are weaker than ideal has been eye-opening and is unprecedented data for us.” Through a more strategic focus on the workforce, Kase and the ASK team were able to gain a lot of buy-in and feedback throughout the organization for the ideal future state. Instituting training for two and three levels of employees, prioritizing staff development, and optimizing the newly added roles in technical sales and engineering have been fruitful for the organization. Similarly, an investment in new product development secured them a new collaborative partnership with an industry leader yielding improvements in sales and technology growth that was not previously attainable. Kase indicates that following the PROBE assessment the initiative to add new people, target new markets, and bring new products on board has been successfully implemented, but that the upcoming year will truly be the year to harvest those investments for future growth and sustainability.
RESULTS
$5,000,000 investment in new products and technology
3 jobs created
$100k cost savings
$500,000 in new sales
“Our IMEC experience, historically, and this year, has been a major source of continuous process improvement, critical to our success.” Steve Kase, Managing Director – ASK Power
ABOUT IMEC
Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center was established in 1996 to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Illinois' small and mid-sized manufacturing firms. We leverage the Baldrige Excellence Framework as a foundation for driving organizational improvement and then prioritize those improvements through a range of hands-on, goal-oriented solutions in continuous improvement, strategy, workforce, and more. Learn more at www.imec.org
World trade and political discussion emphasize how automation threatens the traditional manufacturing employee. How to support the evolution of these employees in the face of global competitive challenges is the question. Steve Kase, ASK Power’s Founder and Managing Director, the Illinois Manufacturing Association, and Chicago’s mHub have an answer: expand the skills and roles of the front line manufacturing person to create a valued worker who can evolve with automation and maintain a quality career.
This idea is being put into practice through Chicago’s new manufacturing innovation center, mHUB. Workforce Development and Manufacturing Innovation are the concepts that have made ASK Power the success it is today. “Training our employees to be full service process managers of Efficiency, Quality Control, Tooling Setup and Machine Maintenance,” explains Mr. Kase. “This investment in people has dramatically improved the delivery times and quality performance for our customers.”
The mHUB facility was designed to attract and support STEM trained personnel. These engineers and entrepreneurs in turn will provide innovative application solutions for small and medium-sized manufactures. “When we solve customer product development needs, we require new sets of talent and resources. mHUB is being set-up to help companies like ours,” says Mr. Kase.
1674 Frontenac Rd | Naperville, IL 60563