Technology Transfer Profile
Sharing Productivity to Gain an Edge

The Midwest Manufacturing Technology Corp. (St. Louis, Mo.), or Mid.Tec for short, is an illustration of how effective a public/private industry partnership can be. Mid.Tec, a not-for-profit, tax-exempt technology transfer center operates in some ways like a trade association, but in other ways like a technical school. The bottom line is: Mid.Tec assists small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies in becoming globally competitive.

The primary focus at Mid.Tec, according to Joseph A. Mowry, president, is education. This is accomplished through more than 150 technical seminars held annually, as well as hands-on demonstrations in the shop area. Funding comes from private industry - via membership dues and program fees - as well as through public grants, particularly from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Mid.Tec is based in a 51,000 square foot "Teaching Factory," complete with classrooms, a computer lab, a quality lab, and a demo shop floor. It is an active member of over a dozen local and national engineering and manufacturing organizations. Currently, more than 150 manufacturers throughout Missouri and southern Illinois are members of Mid.Tec. A board of directors comprised of manufaacturing executives governs the organization.

Mid.Tec does not do full production runs, but is equipped to do prototyping, pre-production, reverse engineering and consulting. "Mid.Tec rents time on its CNC (computer numerical control) and CMM (coordinate measuring machine) equipment to any interested company, and can provide operators to do a job or to train people, or a company can bring in its own people to run the machines," Mowry explained. "We have several CNC mills and lathes, including a swiss-type screw machine. We also have a fully functional quality lab with two CMMs, along with multiple CAD/CAM seats in our state-of-the-art computer training center."

Several companies use the Mid.Tec facilities to evaluate various manufacturing technologies without interrupting ongoing runs in their own shops. Other companies use the CNC equipment as a test-bed prior to making a purchasing decision, or for training employees. Some manufacturers have even used the facilities to do pre-production feasibility engineering before bidding on a new contract.

Increasingly, area distributors and national machine tool builders are consigning demo equipment to Mid.Tec.

Mid.Tec has earned national recognition for its Workforce 2001 Project, an initiative designed to encourage teenagers to consider careers in manufacturing. Through student internships with member companies and at Mid.Tec, development of a career video, student tours of the "Teaching Factory," and participation at area high school career fairs, Mid.Tec is assisting its member companies with recruiting and attracting young adults to the manufacturing profession.

Mid.Tec also offers a number of business support services to its growing membership, including group purchasing programs, rental of incubator and storage space, and quarterly networking sessions. It also sponsors an annual industrial and machine tool show held in St. Louis.

In sum, Mid.Tec is in business to help local manufacturing companies in three primary areas: on the shop floor, in the quality control lab, and with educational programs. As Mowry pointed out, "Shared productivity in a facility like ours may well be a wave of the future as the capital requirements to purchase or lease new technologies accelerate."

Mid.Tec can be reached at (314) 842-7552, .

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Technology Transfer Profile Sharing Productivity to Gain an Edge

Technology Transfer Profile
Sharing Productivity to Gain an Edge