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BOLI Reverses Long-Standing Position on Overtime in Manufacturing
In a surprising move, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is now taking the position that manufacturing employers should pay both daily and weekly overtime if earned in the same workweek, not merely the greater of the two amounts. Sometime in December...
Lean Purchasing for Manufacturers
Lean Manufacturing = Eliminating Waste For several decades, manufacturers have been pursuing lean on their shop floor to reduce costs and improve lead times through waste elimination and process improvement. Identification and elimination of the 8 Wastes, reduction...
It’s Not the Bottom, It’s the Foundation
I recently came across this blog post from marketing guru Seth Godin, and felt that it was very pertinent to manufacturers who want to make their workplaces great places to work. Read on for an insightful post about leadership, organizational transparency, and the...
6 Telltale Signs Your Manufacturing Company has a Learning culture
Learn the 6 steps to building a learning culture at your small manufacturing buiness.
New Year Resolution: A Value Proposition to Grow Sales
Can you believe it? It is nearly time for new year resolutions! It is also that time of year for 2017 strategic planning. Is growing your sales part of your 2017 plan? If so, let’s talk about why people buy what you are selling. Let’s talk about value propositions...
What OSHA’s New Drug Testing Interpretation Means for Manufacturers
If you’re like most manufacturers, your drug and alcohol policy probably allows you to test an employee following an accident or near miss incident. But when OSHA released new anti-retaliation rules earlier this year, it changed the way employers can apply...
Announcing NWB2B!
The Challenge As manufacturers, you depend on your suppliers to provide quality materials  at a great price, so you can turn them into products to sell to your customers. Yet, searching for a supplier can be like looking for a needle in a haystack! Say you need a...
National Manufacturing Day 2016 Wrap Up
Happy Manufacturing Day, Oregon! 2016 marked Oregon's largest manufacturing day yet! We say that every year, but every year this fantastic series of events continues to increase in participation and influence. 2016 marks the 5th anniversary of National Manufacturing...
Building Portland’s Maker Ecosystem
Thanks to Courtney Tait of Portland Made for this guest blog post In May of this year, a group of Portlanders passionate about supporting the city’s Maker Movement began meeting to discuss issues and ideas; services and strategies. Their goal? To help build and grow...
New Aerospace Supply Chain Quality Management Requirements
Guest blog post by Marcia Buser and Tristan Buser-Molatore In our last blog post, we reported on the new aerospace quality requirements for preventing counterfeit product as presented at the American Aerospace Quality Group aerospace auditors workshop held July 21 and...