RM2N Industry Focus Group Summary

Industry Focus Group Summary

RM2N Spring SymposiumMay 2, 2016

J. J. McCarthyWisconsin Materials Institute

1

Purpose of Industry Focus Groups was two fold:

• Mission Check -“Increasing your opportunity, efficiency and access to materials and manufacturing resources by collaboration in the greater Wisconsin region. “

- Make UW system resources (equipment, expertise) more visible and easier to find

• What can we improve on?

Mission Check: First Goals and Actions

Goals: (Dec 2013)Increase collaborationamong regional academic institutions

• Support regional industry witheasy access to materials resources and expertise

• Equipment accessprovide increased equipment accessvia distributed equipment network

Initial Actions: (2014-2015)Web Portal to:• Find available resources;• Practical mechanism for sharing equipment

resources

• Academic Members recruited• Member data collected• wiscmat.org introduced at September

2015 RM2N Symposium.

wiscmat.org

http://wiscmat.org/

wiscmat.org

http://wiscmat.org/

What can we improve on?• Discovery:

– What your Customers needs are• What services can RM2N provide?

–What is their user experience with the UW System• How can the experience be improved?

We chose to user a standard product design tool for discovery:Focus Groups

–Funded by

Five Focus Groups were held with Industry across the state

Focus Group Participation:

• 31 Industry Companies

• 18 RM2N University Faculty and Staff members

• Two centers, One Institute in the UW system

• Over 150 ideas were generated:• Listing of industry needs• Suggesting New Services to offer • How to market RM2N

Focus Group ProcessBrainstorming ideas --- 15min

Write on Post-its, stick on Easel paper sheetsSilent sort of Post-its --- 15min

Move Post-its around to group similar ideas togetherName the groups

Multiple voting --- 15minSelect top two ideas in each group

Use sticky dots to vote

Major Findings

• Make it easier for industry to work with UW-system

• Need for “Virtual” consulting

• Improved equipment access (Fee for Service)

• How can RM2N best make contact with industry

After the voting process, the 150 ideas reduced to 22 “most voted” for suggestions.

These 22 were sorted into topic headings shown below, in order of most total votes.

More detail is recorded in the next three slides, along with actions being implemented

Make it easier for industry to work with UW-system

Flow Chart for industry to take when interacting with a member university. Steps to be published on the Web Portal.

(Next Talk by Marlann Patterson and Anna Courtier)

Show templates of collaboration agreements on your website(In Progress)

Simplify IP concerns: Negotiations, exclusives and sharing of IP processes.

Need for “Virtual” consulting Provide opportunity for industry to discuss a particular problem with RM2N subject matter experts: I have a manufacturing / production / R&D problem.• Proposed Solution: Agile Solutions for Industry Challenges

(ASIC). RM2N campus contacts organize teams for initial discussion, and team develops a proposed solution.

(More in Doug Dunham's Presentation in this session)

Improved equipment access (Fee for Service) Web portal access to all UW-system instrument calendars.

(In Progress) Provide interpretation of data collected from characterization

measurements rather than just reporting individual spectra/data. (Possible at most comprehensive Campuses now)

Fast turnaround times are critical (Possible at most comprehensive Campuses now)

How can RM2N market to industry RM2N presence at conferences or society meetings that industry

attends. A partial list of meetings to sort through: ASM, Northeast WI Manufacturing Alliance,

Society of women engineers, Society of Plastic Engineers, Society of Automotive engineers, ASTM, Metal Powder Industry Federation, TAPPI, DRUPA, Interpack, RAPID.

–We will attend Manufacturing Advantage Conference, Manufacturing Matters!, and the New North Summit in the fall of 2016

Include success stories, testimonials and company contacts, on the wiscmat.org website.

(starting - see Doug Dunham Presentation)

Summary• Focus Groups provided a wealth of information on how RM2N can better serve WI Industry.

• Implementation has begun on some new initiatives– You will be asked to evaluate and contribute in this Session

•Please Consider becoming a Sponsor or Industrial Affiliate of RM2N

An initial group of has been meeting regularly to help develop the RM2N

Susann Ely(UW-Madison

[email protected] (608) 890-3134

Dane Morgan(UW-Madison)


Jon McCarthy(UW-Madison)


Our growing Team!

Tom Kuech(UW-Madison)


Marlann Patterson(UW-Stout) [email protected]

(715) 232-2626

Palash Banerjee(UW-Stevens Point)


Doug Dunham(UW-Eau Claire)


Gokul Gopalakrishnan(UW-Platteville)


Seth King(UW-La Crosse)


If you are not an RM2N member – please join! Email Susann Ely [email protected]

Jennifer Mihalick(UW-Oshkosh)

[email protected](920) 424-7095

Anne Courtier(UW-Whitewater)


Ben Church(UW-Milwaukee)


mailto:[email protected]

Engineering

RM2N Industry Focus Group Summary