Amid the rumblings from the sagging U.S. economy, the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership is helping South Carolina manufacturers cry “Eureka!” in 2008. SCMEP, the private, non-profit group that is the state’s leading resource for business improvement services, is offering a new innovation program that accelerates top-line growth. Eureka!® Winning Ways, the first system customized specifically for small and mid-size manufacturers, helps companies drive growth and profit margins through the discovery, measurement and development of new product ideas.
The Eureka! Winning Ways program is available now exclusively through SCMEP to small to mid-size enterprises (SME’s) statewide. For SME’s in 14 South Carolina counties in and around the Upstate, there is an added plus. SCMEP, with the support of the Greenville Area Development Corporation (GADC), was recently awarded a grant from AdvanceSC to subsidize 50% of the program’s already reasonable cost to participating companies. AdvanceSC is an LLC funded with profits from Duke Energy’s Bulk Power Marketing program, and supports education, economic growth, existing manufacturing and public assistance agencies in the company’s South Carolina service area.
“The board of AdvanceSC receives many applications from worthy organizations on a quarterly basis,” said Carol Burdette, president of AdvanceSC. “SCMEP and the Greenville Area Development Corporation share the goals Duke Energy used in establishing our organization, and we’re privileged to partner with them in order to benefit so many people in our community.”
The GADC and its CEO Jerry Howard played a key role in assisting SCMEP in requesting and obtaining funding from AdvanceSC for the program. Through Eureka! Winning Ways, SCMEP and GADC are partnering to bring innovation to the Upstate and surrounding counties within SME’s, resulting in job creation and corporate growth in the community.
In the National Association of Manufacturers 2007 Small Manufacturers Operating Survey of small and medium size manufacturers, “development of new or improving existing products” was ranked #1 in importance in improving their companies’ growth. Chris Wayne, SCMEP’s Growth Services Manager, helps small and mid-size manufacturers in South Carolina achieve significant top-line growth through developing new products and services. Wayne described Eureka! Winning Ways as part workshop, part leadership training program, and part speed development system. “This program,” he said, “helps companies identify great ideas, measure their probability of success in the marketplace, and coach them to bring them into production and to start developing growth pipelines.”
The Eureka! Winning Ways program has had a profound impact on Spartanburg-based Contec, Inc., a leading manufacturer of contamination control products for cleanrooms and mission-critical industrial applications. “As an organization we didn’t struggle with generating new product ideas,” notes Stephen Leung, Contec’s Director of Development. “What we needed to strengthen was a framework for focusing not just our Development group, but our entire organization, on substantial, profitable opportunities. We’ve now internalized Eureka! Winning Ways’ three principles of new product success – offering overt benefits, dramatic differences, and real reasons to believe – so that it’s an integral part of our business process, a language and discipline that we now use every day.”
SME’s in the following counties are eligible for the 50% subsidy for Eureka! Winning Ways made possible by AdvanceSC: Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Chester, Greenville, Greenwood, Lancaster, Laurens, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, Union, and York. For more information about SCMEP and Eureka! Winning Ways, please contact Chris Wayne, SCMEP Growth Services Manager, at (864) 414-8458 or cwayne@scmep.org, or visit them online at www.scmep.org.
via: SCMEP (South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, GADC (Greenville Area Development Corporation)
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