Grab Top Shops Executive Summaries at IMTS

One nice thing about this September issue is that it is delivered to you just prior to IMTS. That’s why, like our hefty August issue, this edition contains a special section covering some of the new products that will be displayed at the show.

What’s also nice is that it gives me an additional opportunity to invite those who will be attending the show to visit our magazine’s booth (W-10) at the entrance to the West Hall to pick up a free copy of our 2014 Top Shops Executive Summary of benchmarking survey results. (I also hope you’ll attend an awards ceremony in our booth Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. that will include a casual Q&A with principals of shops that were Honors Program winners in each of the four main survey categories.)

The 21-page Executive Summary enables you to see responses from the numerous questions included in our comprehensive survey. It compares responses from our elite Top Shops benchmarking group with the other shops that participated in the survey. That way, you can compare your practices and performance with industry leaders and also consider what elements of your operation you should target as you look to become more efficient and effective.

While my Top Shops benchmarking article highlights key findings from the survey, the Executive Summary contains data for all the survey questions. Our goal in providing this is to help companies like yours, whether yours is a small job shop or a large, captive operation, become better overall businesses.

Top Shops is one element supporting our company’s overall IMTS booth theme in what we call our Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC). This year, we’re concentrating on promoting the wealth of manufacturing information we aim to provide to our readers. (This was also reflected in the unique collage that appeared on the cover of last month’s issue, which we had an artist create from pieces of pages from our magazine.) Other elements supporting this theme that will be represented in the AMC include automation, additive manufacturing, data-driven manufacturing and automotive’s revival. In fact, these five elements represent trends and technologies that strike us as some of the most far-reaching and significant for our industry.

If you’re not attending IMTS this month, or if you’d like a sneak peek at the Executive Summary, you can access a digital version here. If you are attending the big show, try to stop by our booth to pick up a copy and take part in the awards ceremony on Wednesday. But if that day doesn’t work for you, pop in our booth some other day to say “hi” and see what the AMC offers.