For over 20 years NACFAM has been the voice of advanced manufacturing in Washington, D.C., helping its members’ bottom line by providing projects and policy/program solutions for U.S. manufacturing in NACFAM’s four major issue areas:

• sustainable manufacturing
• workforce education and training
• process technology and innovation
• supply chain relations through network centric manufacturing (NCM)

 

NACFAM is a non-partisan, non-lobbying action/think tank that brokers intense collaboration among its stakeholders from manufacturers (small, medium and large), education, research entities, government, trade and professional associations, and individuals to develop policy recommendations to accelerate manufacturing innovation and build a more globally competitive U.S. manufacturing sector. NACFAM also does projects to improve the bottom line and sustainability of manufacturing organizations.  The results from these projects also inform the policy/program development process with real world experience.

 

In the area of policy, NACFAM has consistently called on the White House to designate someone who has easy access to the President to represent U.S. manufacturing.  We finally have that person in Ron Bloom who President Obama appointed last September as “Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy”.  NACFAM met with Mr. Bloom to convey recommendations from our October 6-7 Policy Conference and we continue to be in touch with him.  NACFAM has also been asked to provide suggestions and is in contact with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President, as well as to senior staff people in the office of Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL) as they draft legislation requiring a quadrennial Manufacturing Strategy.  You and your company can benefit by being part of “the voice in DC” to work with these people and others for supportive federal policies.

 

Please consider Joining NACFAM so together we can continue to play an important role in these critical policy developments.  Even if you cannot do a membership, please consider Doing a Project with NACFAM as a way to directly improve your bottom line and/or to keep aware of how policy developments affect your operations.    

NACFAM membership is available to companies, educational institutions, research entities, government agencies, labor unions, trade and professional associations, workforce development groups, economic development groups, and individuals who want to have a voice in making policy proposals to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and to learn about ways they can enhance their bottom line.  (Please Note: Some NACFAM participants treat their payment as a project instead of a membership -- see items 7, 8 and 9 in the next section below.)  

 

The newest way to join NACFAM is to become a member of its Sustainable Manufacturing Council (SMC) for a $5,000 annual contribution. Its goal is to advance U.S. manufacturers toward sustainable manufacturing by helping them close resource and supply chain loops, drive through efficiency into industrial ecology, develop objective research-based policy recommendations, and create business opportunities and job growth within the sustainable manufacturing paradigm. The SMC addresses topics determined by its membership and current issues such as:

• Sustainable manufacturing of any product, including upstream activities and end-of-life management.
• Manufacturing of “sustainable” products (e.g., renewable energy products, energy efficiency products, etc.)
• Green Jobs in all sectors of Manufacturing
• Life Cycle Sustainable Manufacturing Concepts and Business Decision-Making Models
• Regional Sustainable Manufacturing
• Sustainable Supply Chains
• Sustainable Manufacturing Measurement and Metrics

 

Many membership candidates join NACFAM’s Advanced Manufacturing Leadership Forum (AMLF) for a special introductory $5,000 annual contribution. The AMLF is the leadership group that shapes the policy recommendations NACFAM will carry forward in the four major issue areas on which the organization focuses its efforts. Forum members are able to:

• Participate (at the maximum discount) in AMLF policy events where you network with your peers to help shape policy and program recommendations
• Discuss your organization’s policy views with senior members of the Administration, Congress, and Congressional staffers contiguous with our AMLF annual event
• Receive a $5,000 discount on projects done with NACFAM
• Participate (without additional contribution) as a member of the NACFAM Sustainable Manufacturing Council (see above)
• Receive information on breaking manufacturing news through the NACFAM Weekly and quarterly reports such as Manufacturing Metrics and Policy Insights

 

Candidates also have the option of applying for membership at the Alliance level with an entry-level membership fee of $1,000 annually.  Benefits at this level are:

• Participate (at a lower discount) in AMLF policy events where you can network with your peers to help shape policy and program ideas.
• Receive information on breaking manufacturing news through the NACFAM
• Weekly and quarterly reports such as Manufacturing Metrics and Policy Insights

 

(Note: NACFAM is a 501c3 non-profit organization so all contributions are tax deductible.)

Given the increasing importance of sustainability to business-to-business, government, defense and commercial customers most of NACFAM’s new projects are in Sustainable Manufacturing.  We look forward to working with you to find a way NACFAM can help you and your colleagues take advantage of the opportunities offered by Sustainable Manufacturing and become a leader in this 21^st century manufacturing paradigm.

      

We also have extensive project experience in the areas of Workforce Development, Supply Chain Relationships/Network Centric Manufacturing and Manufacturing Process Technology.  Thus you can improve your bottom line by engaging NACFAM to:

 

1. Do a specific detailed Sustainable Manufacturing project for you including identifying barriers and existing policies/programs to overcome them, determining supply chain impacts, application of NACFAM’s proprietary Sustainability Framework Model to that project, etc.

 

2. Do a more general project to show you how to use the Sustainability Framework Model to quickly evaluate both the environmental and financial impacts of all of your projects.  This would give you early knowledge about whether each project has positive or negative environmental impacts to answer possible questions, and/or an idea of which ones need more work to improve the sustainability effects, and/or to determine which ones to spend more time and resources on, etc.  The model can also be used to track the detailed project implementation to assure it meets both environmental and financial goals set in the earlier quick evaluation.

 

3. Do a project to increase your organization’s knowledge of Sustainable Manufacturing opportunities, best practices, etc., by funding a part of the development of the NACFAM Sustainable Manufacturing Council (SMC) and related information exchange capabilities.  (Note that NIST MEL and DoC MAS are both doing this kind of project to better inform their Sustainable Manufacturing initiatives with the ideas, best practices, experiences, etc., of the broader NACFAM SMC membership base.)

 

4. Do a project on Workforce Development.  NACFAM has done projects including co-managing of the first national foundational skill standards for manufacturing (MSSC), assisting in the development and communication of the Department of Labor Advanced Manufacturing Competency Model, leading the development of Nano-manufacturing skill standards, co-leading regional STEM conferences, etc.  Please let us know of your needs here so we can match NACFAM’s experiences and skills to your specific requirements, not limited to but including “green jobs” training issues.

 

5. Do a project in the area of Network Centric Manufacturing (NCM).  NACFAM has done projects helping a member understand how to better engage its suppliers and utilize the MEP system to develop them, doing research for a government agency on how manufacturers work with their suppliers to develop new products, co-leading three Annual NCM Forums, leading the industry-government advisory activity for a Defense Department business architecture project, etc.  Again please let us know of your needs here so we can match NACFAM’s experiences and skills to your specific requirements, not limited to but including “green supplier” networking development.

 

6. Do a project about Manufacturing Process Technology.  NACFAM has done projects helping a member understand what technologies were available from the federal labs, leading the industry-government advisory activity for a Defense Department next generation manufacturing Initiative (NGMTI), etc.  Again please let us know of your needs here so we can match NACFAM’s experiences and skills to your specific requirements, not limited to but including sustainable manufacturing technology needs.

 

7. Set up a project to get a periodic report about the results of the interaction in the NACFAM Sustainable Manufacturing Council (SMC); this would be less focused on your specific needs than a project per item 3, but would inform your organization of general trends, best practices, areas for further detailed and specific study, etc.

 

8. Set up a project to get a periodic report about the results of the interactions of both the NACFAM SMC and the NACFAM Advanced Manufacturing Leadership Forum (AMLF) to get both the SMC benefits in item 7 and the opportunity to add to the voice for Advanced Manufacturing in Washington, DC through interaction with Congressional and Administration leaders, including the recently appointed “Senior Counselor for Manufacturing” Ron Bloom.

 

9. Set up a project to receive the Alliance level periodic updates on NACFAM’s activities so you can understand where trends are going, what individual NACFAM activities your organization would be interested in pursuing in greater detail, etc.

 

(Note that items 7, 8 & 9 are set up as a project to inform your organization in each area if that is preferable to membership dues.)