Jeffrey A. Cohen, president of RIDCO Casting Co. in Pawtucket, grapples with the same problems facing many Rhode Island manufacturers – spiraling energy costs, higher health insurance premiums and foreign competition.
So the die casting company has enrolled in Rhode Builder, a one-year program geared toward helping established companies in the state to develop business strategies to address challenges in their industries.
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“We hope we become more efficient in the day-to-day things that we do, such as taking orders and managing operation costs,” Cohen said.
Rhode Builder counts almost half of its participants from the state’s manufacturing industry.
Manufacturers Pease & Curren, a Warwick precious metals refinery, and RIDCO are two of five companies using Rhode Builder. The program began a series of training sessions at Bryant University on Oct. 5, with a nationally recognized expert in U.S. manufacturing as guest speaker.
“Our premise is that (participating companies) are stuck in day-to-day firefighting and don’t have time to develop business strategies,” said Bret Hall, director of Rhode Builder and adjunct professor of management at Bryant.
One potential pitfall facing Rhode Island manufacturers is the rapid pace of change in the industry brought on by international competition and the speed at which information zips across the globe.
“So we are trying to get these companies to the point where they recognize all these changes, they have a strategy, and they know what to do,” Hall said.
The ever-evolving business landscape has forced businesses to adapt quickly or pay the price.
“If you don’t have a plan in place,” Hall said, “you will grind to a halt while deciding what you are going to do… We’re trying to help companies develop some strategies, and play to those strategies.”
Manufacturing jobs are continually shipped overseas where labor and other production costs are relatively cheap. “More people than ever before have the ability to manufacture whatever you are manufacturing in almost any place in the world,” Hall said.
High-skilled manufacturing is more difficult to outsource to foreign lands, however, clearing a place in the industry for companies in Rhode Island. Still, survival in the climate of change requires innovation.
Robert Flynn, senior vice president at Cranston manufacturer Taco Inc., is slated to lead a Rhode Builder training seminar next month called “Innovate!” Flynn has worked throughout the state with local industry group The Manufacturing Summit on so-called innovation audits, which offer companies free consultations from industry experts on how to bring new products to market and sustain growth.
“The tool that we are offering is perfect … because most small- to medium-sized companies lack the capacity to take the time to develop and bring new products to the market,” Flynn said.
Rhode Builder incorporates three phases – training, consulting and presentation – to help businesses develop strategic business plans. The training phase includes eight sessions covering topics such as marketing, innovation and globalization.
The program’s second component provides companies with up to 54 hours on consulting services of two experts from Bryant’s R.I. Small Business Development Center. The last phase brings company participants in front of a panel of Rhode Island Commodores, from whom they receive feedback on their new growth plans.
Companies pay $10,500 for the yearlong program, though they may be eligible for grants from the R.I. Human Resources Investment Council to defray up to 50 percent of the fee.
Hall said the creation of Rhode Builder came from a need to offer business development services to established companies, as so many programs are designed to assist startups.
“A lot of these (established) companies didn’t know where to go for help,” he added.
Rhode Builder launched a pilot program in June 2004 with Portsmouth-based MontegoNet Solutions, a touch-screen kiosk maker. The test succeeded in narrowing the company’s target markets to the banking and financial services industries.
The program is sponsored by Bryant, the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, accountants Piccerelli, Gilstein & Company LLP, Bank Rhode Island, Mastors & Servant LTD, the HRIC, the R.I. Commodores and the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island.
Only time will tell how effective the latest session proves to be, however. “I can’t give you any success stories because we’re not that far along yet,” Hall said. “Within the next couple of weeks or months perhaps we will.”
