CLARIFICATION: A Sept. 10 article about the new ConnStep Collaboration Circles programs may have been unclear on its focus. The program encompasses the entire manufacturing sector, focusing on growth, particularly in the subsector of advanced manufacturing.
Seeking to grow the manufacturing industry by at least 5 percent, ConnStep is putting together a new program to increase collaboration by companies and strengthen Connecticut’s innovation network.
The new Collaboration Circles program will launch during National Manufacturing Month in October, looking for up to 40 Connecticut manufacturers to meet on a regular basis to discuss problems and opportunities within the industry.
“Business leaders need to do a better job of working together,” said Ken Cook, managing director of East Hartford-based Peer to Peer Advisors Group, which is help ConnStep develop Collaboration Circles.
The program was founded on the idea of enhancing the advanced manufacturing industry in Connecticut. Cook and ConnStep spokeswoman Rebecca Mead were attending an economic conference in Rhode Island when the topic turned to how advanced manufacturing will be a major source of high-paying job growth in the nation, particularly southern New England.
New England could add between 7,500-8,500 advanced manufacturing jobs annually over the next decade, according to a study by Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Connecticut — with its 167,300 manufacturing employees across all subsectors — along with Massachusetts and Rhode Island will be a major driver of that advanced manufacturing growth, Cook said. Connecticut is particularly strong in advanced realms such as aerospace, biomedical, and energy.
Through establishing Collaboration Circles, ConnStep hopes to round up the leading minds in the state advanced manufacturing industry to discuss topics such as leadership, marketing, workforce training, and operational improvements.
ConnStep hosts manufacturing roundtable now focusing mostly on operational improvements, but Collaboration Circles takes the idea to be more encompassing of all the issues faced by manufacturers.
“This is an intimate setting allowing the leaders to open up and solve each others’ problems — collective intelligence,” Mead said.
By linking businesses together, the manufacturers can learn best practices and work together to improve the industry as a whole, Cook said. The circles will help with innovation in the state, as the members will discuss their individual research and development and how they can complement each other.
“We really want to go cross-functional in the organization,” Cook said.
ConnStep and Peer to Peer sent out mailers in August to 70 manufacturing companies, looking for Collaboration Circle participants. By the end of the year, the organizations hope to have two or three circles set up with 10-12 companies each.
Cook expects the companies to participate in the program for about two years, leave for about a year, and return to discuss new topics. The concept calls for a continuously evolving and growing organization that will match the changing needs of advanced manufacturing.
