Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Rupy Sawhney believes U.S. manufacturers must sell value and not just a product if they expect to keep pace with consumer demands in a dynamic and increasingly competitive global marketplace.
The director of the University of Tennessee's Center for Productivity Innovation predicts the closing of multiple manufacturing plants by General Motors and Ford will result in the loss of 60,000 jobs over the next several years.
"Are the predictions of gloom and doom for U.S. manufacturers true?" asks Sawhney. "The answer is only 'yes' if U.S. manufacturers do not respond in an appropriate and timely manner to customer demands.
"The customers no longer are only demanding a product, but are demanding 'value' from the manufacturers," he observes. "How many U.S. manufacturers actually have a paradigm of selling value rather than a product?"
He adds: "Value can be defined and customized for each manufacturer to include such things as the ability to manufacture current products quicker than competition, and introducing more reliable new products to the marketplace in a shorter period of time. Yet, value has to be provided to the customer in a manner that allows the manufacturer to sustain changes."
On March 9, Sawhney, whose premier research center provides high-quality training and assessment tools in the fields of lean manufacturing and simulation modeling, will keynote the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems Showcase at Mississippi State.
"Dr. Sawhney brings a visionary outlook on current trends in industry and how these trends will affect small, mid-size and world-class manufacturers," said CAVS director Rand German.
Business and industry leaders from Mississippi and neighboring states will get a first-hand look at CAVS resources while networking with faculty, researchers, students and each other during the daylong (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) program.
The CAVS facility is located in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park located immediately north of the main MSU campus.
CAVS is an interdisciplinary center that provides engineering, research, development and technology transfer teams focused on complex problems such as those encountered in technologies designed to improve human mobility. It is a part of the Bagley College of Engineering at MSU.
Sawhney's keynote presentation, titled "For Manufacturing to Survive in the USAâ¦," takes place 1:30-2:30 p.m. in the CAVS seminar room.
Other speakers and topics during the day, in addition to welcoming remarks and a CAVS overview by German at 9:30 a.m., include:
--10-10:30 a.m., "Challenge X Competition," by CAVS research associate David Oglesby and senior mechanical engineering major Bill Bain.
--10:30-11 a.m., "Buying Down the Risk: Technology Transfer, Licensing and Company Creation," by Wayne Causey, CAVS manager of technology development for commercialization.
--11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., tour of CAVS, tabletop displays, research posters and a provided lunch.
--3-3:20 p.m., "Engineering Education Trends and Impact on the Workforce," by Kirk Schulz, dean of the Bagley College.
--3:20-5 p.m., a series of 20-minute research presentations by MSU professors Marshall Molen, principal investigator for the radar power program at CAVS; Mark Horstemeyer, who oversees CAVS' multiscale research related to cradle-to-grave modeling of automotive and truck components and systems; Dean Norman, director of the CAVS Extension facility in Canton; Zach Rowland, CAVS deputy director and leader of the center's human and systems engineering thrust; and Paul Wang, manager of CAVS' computational manufacturing and design thrust.
For more information on the showcase, contact Robert Kirkland at (662) 325-1454 or Kirkland@cavs.msstate.edu.