IMEC Teams up with Gardner Intelligence to Maximize Benchmarking Opportunities for Illinois Machine Shops

PEORIA, Ill., Aug. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Illinois machine shops are a critical component of the small and mid-sized manufacturing community and are the foundation of metal manufacturing supply chains. Competition in this industry is fierce, as most shops are small, employing 20 or fewer employees.  Success in this sector relies on being able to adopt new technologies, have effective quality control, access to a multiskilled workforce, and being able to customize your services to different needs.

IMEC is partnering with Gardner Intelligence and the Modern Machine Shop's Top Shops Program to provide a fully funded opportunity to attain custom reports and benchmarking analysis of their current operations. The Modern Machine Shop's Top Shops Program has been available to all machine shops in the country for 10 years. IMEC is getting involved with this prestigious organization to assist machine shops in Illinois to increase their ability to compete and win business.

Why Benchmark?

For small manufacturers in an industry that provides so much customization, it may be difficult to know how / if their firm is stacking up against the competition. This is where the benchmarking survey helps.

The information collected allows Gardner Intelligence to provide customized reports with insight into all areas of running a productive machine shop, including but not limited to:

• Shop floor practices (lead time, machining time, set-up time, average age of equipment, etc.)
• Business performance (access to customer forecasts, use of customer satisfaction surveys, profit margin, etc.)
• Human resources (use of employee training programs, annual labor turnover rate, average years of experience per employee, etc.)

Like most industries, the revenue and domestic employment rates in this sector are decreasing as a direct impact from COVID-19. Benchmarking is always important to see if there are areas companies can improve and become more profitable, but it is even more essential now in the current economy. Benchmarking allows companies to improve by doing the following:

• Highlighting strengths and weaknesses
• Providing better insight into key customers' needs and wants
• Identifying areas of opportunity or differentiation
• Monitoring company performance
• Setting goals and performance expectations

Illinois manufacturers who are interested in being one of the exclusive machine shops to participate in the survey and receive custom market research and insight can complete an online application today.

About IMEC 

IMEC is a team of improvement specialists who are dedicated to changing lives and creating a positive impact on Illinois' workforce and economy. With a mission to drive growth through enterprise excellence, they help organizations become more effective and efficient by identifying issues, developing and implementing solutions, and providing the necessary support that will allow them to excel in areas of leadership, strategy, customer engagement, operations, workforce, and measurement and results. In 2019, they assisted 770 companies and created over 4,600 jobs, resulting in over $435M aggregate impact to the Illinois economy. IMEC has seven offices statewide and 47 full-time industry improvement specialists. For more information, visit www.imec.org. 

SOURCE IMEC