Feb 1, 2006
By Deborah Nason – VIRGINIA BUSINESS Magazine. Almost everyone has heard of agricultural extension services, which “extend” university expertise to the public through programs related to farming and household management. But fewer people know there also are extension services for manufacturers.
The National Institute of Standards and technology sponsors the NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a network of affiliated manufacturing extension offices across the U.S. In Virginia, the manufacturing extension network is the Virginia’s A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership (VPMEP), a state agency.
Many wonder about VPMEP’s mouthful of a name. Late Virginia House Speaker A.L. Philpott sponsored legislation for the original center, explains Jeff Kohler, the agency’s executive director. The organization’s name is awkward, he acknowledges, “so people just refer to us as ‘Philpott.’”
Based in Martinsville, Philpott also has field offices in Lynchburg, Richmond, Winchester, Norfolk (in partnership with the Virginia Applied Technology and Professional Development Center of Old Dominion University) and Wytheville (partnering with the Manufacturing Technology Center at Wytheville Community College).
Philpott also works closely with two Virginia Tech entities, the Continuing and Professional Education group and the Center for High Performance manufacturing. Virginia Tech also certifies Philpott’s workshops for continuing education units.
The agency’s mission is to improve the productivity and performance of existing small- and medium-sized manufacturers in Virginia. “We market primarily to small manufacturers, but we’ll help large organizations also,” says Kohler.
VPMEP’s two dozen staff members and its pool of third party providers deliver services such as needs assessment, general-business assistance, business-systems improvement, manufacturing-process improvement, materials and product engineering, quality improvement and identification, selection and implementation of technologies.
Kohler says Philpott’s fees are based on a sliding scale, running generally a few thousand dollars per engagement. In one recent project, VPMEP worked with a small company in Southwest Virginia, providing engineering for the installation of new equipment. A Virginia Tech professor was also brought in to develop a specialized bonding process for the client.
While Philpott is able to provide general engineering assistance to its clients, its primary services are in the area of “lean enterprise,” a specific manufacturing methodology related to improving production and reducing waste. VPMEP provides assessments, active-learning workshops and consulting.
Kohler describes two types of lean consulting venues:
Kaizen events. “These are rapid improvement activities of a few days duration, where team members make on-the-spot changes.”
Value-Stream Mapping. This refers to “mapping a process flow and looking for any activities that result in waste in the eyes of the customer. We then create a ‘future state’ map of the ideal state, followed by an implementation plan,” he says.
Besides lean enterprise consulting, Philpott also works in the area of quality systems, with programs in ISO 9000 preparation and Six-Sigma (described by Kohler as a program with a “very statistic and data-driven focus on eliminating defects”). VPMEP has taken the Six Sigma system a step further, with the introduction of training courses in “Lean Six Sigma.”
Philpott also is the fiscal agent for the brand-new Virginia Small Manufacturing Assistance Program. Since July, 19 awards have been granted across the commonwealth, for projects in diverse areas such as CAD systems, quality systems, shipment scheduling, and market assessments.
