NEW BALANCE FOOTWEAR, STILL MAKING ATHLETIC FOOTWEAR IN AMERICA

     Some of you who read my blog must think I'm a starry eyed idealist to believe that it still makes sense to make  small, lightweight, intricate products in North America.  Sure you say.  I've given some local examples in my blog of companies like Custom Leather(belts), Salus(lifejackets), Kodiak(workboots), Roots(Leather Bags) and Cutco(kitchen cutlery) who produce some or all of their production on this…

                                                                              "OWN THE PODIUM"

                WHAT CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS CAN LEARN FROM OUR WINTER OLYMPIC SUCCESS STORY

     Arguably, the overwhelming success of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and our Canadian athletes should be a shining example of what it takes for Canadian manufacturers to compete on a global scale.  After winning the Olympic bid, an audacious(some would say unCanadian) plan was put in place called "Own the…

Factories may not be the first place you'd expect to see demand for social technologies. But social networks are changing how manufacturers view their operations.

In a recent survey of 268 manufacturers, 63% of respondents said that enterprise resources planning (ERP) software will provide its highest value when integrated with social computing technologies. Users want ERP software to perform the functions of collaborative technologies and social networks.

But why do manufacturers want social…

Winning crowdsourced logo design by Greg Scott

Two weeks and 122 logo design submissions later ...  success! I actually found the perfect new logo design for my company, Integrated Website Solutions Inc., and I couldn't be happier with the results of my crowdsourcing experiment!

Crowdsourcing this project allowed me to tap into a rich pool of international design talent and ask "creatives" to provide me with their designs "on spec". The award I offered to the winning designer in this logo…

I'm now one week into my quest to find a new logo for my company using www.crowdspring.com, a well-known crowdsourcing website.

For the uninitiated, crowdsourcing is a way for anyone to tap into a large pool of skilled workers and international talent at a reasonable cost. You can crowdsource anything these days from graphic design, research and development, computer programming to photography.

Detractors of crowdsourcing mock it as a poor substitute for hiring "true professionals" such as those…

IS THE WORLD FLAT OR ROUND?

IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE PRICE OF OIL

     In my last blog, The Last (Man)-ufacturing Standing Strategy, I argued against Canadian manufacturers liquidating their factories and becoming strictly importers and distributors from Asia.

To me, maintaining your ability to make product on this side of the pond  makes good sense as a hedge against unforeseen events that could change the cost structure of your imported goods literally overnight.

In his recent Canadian bestseller…

Jeff Howe is a writer at Wired magazine and a Neimann Fellow at Harvard who coined the term "crowdsourcing" in 2006. In this video he explains the basic concept behind crowdsourcing and its impact on the way companies do business.

What is Crowdsourcing?

Wikipedia, which is itself a crowdsourced online encyclopaedia, says "crowdsourcing" as a combination of the words "crowd" and "outsourcing". It is defined as,

"the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or a contractor, and…

There is a cost to participating in social media. Although social sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are "free", before jumping on the social media bandwagon, a company must understand the supporting costs involved in 1) launching a presence and 2) maintaining a following on these sites.

Costs include the dedication of staff to this social media effort. Employees must be trained in the effective use of social media for promotion and, more importantly, human "conversational" contact…

THE LAST "(MAN)-UFACTURER" STANDING STRATEGY

     When you enter the lobby of Custom Leather's 60,000 sq. ft. men's belt manufacturing company in Kitchener's new Bingeman Industrial Park, the unmistakable smell of leather greets you.  For me, this smell takes me back to my early days of selling cutting dies to Kaufman, Greb, Bauer, Savage, New Balance and the many other local companies that once converted leather hides to shoes back in the 70's but no longer exist today.  Then I ask myself. …