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Manufacturing Consortium of Montana: Making Montana's Future at the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center
- 1. Making Montana’s Future at the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center Regional Economic Development Conference Regional Innovation Strategies Session August 2016
- 2. Senator Mansfield’s Vision • In the early 1970s, the Montana School of Mines, which Senator Mike Mansfield attended in the late 1920s, was in jeopardy of closing. • Senator Mansfield responded by creating a Center of Excellence focused on clean coal research—Montana Energy Research and Development Institute in 1974. • On the heels of the 40th anniversary and after $150 million of investment, the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center has been reinvented as multi-use innovation hub. • By leveraging past investment, the robust, flexible infrastructure is available to become an engine for economic development in Southwest Montana
- 3. Mission and Vision • Mission MCMT increases manufacturing activity in Montana by providing mentorship, knowledge, space, and infrastructure to small businesses, innovators, and researchers to take their products and processes to the next level • Vision Become a recognized engine for economic development in Montana and a key player in the resurgence of manufacturing in the US
- 4. Mansfield Prototyping Center Unique Connection to 2 gigabit per second fiber optic network National lab infrastructure in small town America—$150 million R&D facility EDA awards under the i6 Challenge and Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership programs Over 100,000 square feet of industrial/office space 20 MVA substation Rail spur Mansfield Makes makerspace— metal working, fabric, electronics and the arts National recognition on White House blog:https://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/05/11/ rural-communities-rising-i6-challenge MCMT’s “programs aim to foster an entrepreneurial culture that will allow small businesses—the lifeblood of rural communities—to develop and grow.” Mansfield Center touted as “Butte’s Secret Weapon for Economic Development” by Angelou Economics—http://mtstandard.com/ news/local/county-mse-teaming-up-to-foster- entrepreneurship/article_65bea47c-7cc6-56a6- 807c-105a3804484c.html-
- 5. Current Mansfield Center Tenants —Anchor, engineering services, analytical laboratory and assembly of industrial control panels and SCADA hardware —Anchor, bottles distilled spirits and manufactures boutique distillery equipment Eagle Engineering—Metallurgical Engineering firm —TEMPER process development skid —tests fracking sand and other fracking materials for the oil and gas industry Hellfire —embroidery business addressing supply chain n issue for several lifestyle clothing brands
- 6. Custom Embroidery Digitizing World Domination
- 7. Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership Grant Award • Economic Development Administration Program • $200,000 plus $200,000 match • Team Butte Local Development Organization Butte-Silver Bow city-county government Center for Advanced Mineral Processing at Montana Tech Highlands College MERDI MSE
- 8. IMCP Awards Highlights • Leg Up Innovations—Medical device— “Captain Crutch” • technical support • 3-D printed prototypes • market testing with physical therapists and patient • patent search and associated legal advice • development of a mold to mass produce the product • Maternal Life International—Mobile Surgical Unit • prototype fabricated by volunteers • Medical-grade equipment donated by local hospital • Provides safe, sterile environment to deliver babies or have other minor surgeries/medical procedures
- 10. i6 Challenge Grant Award • Economic Development Administration Program • Mansfield Protoyping Center and Mentorship Series • $150,000 plus $150,000 match • Team MERDI Butte Local Development Organization Butte-Silver Bow city-county government MSE Montana Manufacturing Extension Center Montana Technology Innovation Partnership
- 11. Fabric, 3D Printing/Scanner, and Electronics Makerspace
- 12. Industrial Machine Shop Makerspace
- 13. Mentorship Program • Fast Flight Lean Lego—MMEC Workshop • Business Tax 101—Erik Nelson, CPA • Business Planning • NERD Night—Build a 3-D Printer—Coming in September • UPTOP Mentorship Session—Starting and Growing Your Small Business • Business Model Canvas
- 14. Mentorship Program • Leadership Training: Everyone Brings Something to the Fight
- 16. Boutique Distillery Stills/Control Systems
- 17. Lift Gate for Shipping Containers
- 18. Commercialization Assistance • Patent searches—Montana Technology Innovation Partnership • Proposal Writing Assistance for Local, State and Federal Programs • Technical Assistance • Market Studies • Identification of Potential Investors • “Keep it about the founders” • “Sell, Sell, Sell”
- 19. Lessons Learned • Carefully screen applicants • Coachability • Continuous tinkering on prototypes • Realistic budget expectations • Slipping schedules
- 20. Challenges • Matching Funds • Pay It Forward • Makerspace • Insurance/Liability • Holding Costs • Membership • Sponsorship • Competition amongst EDOs • Utilization of Mansfield Center
- 21. Innovative Approaches • Popup Shops • Retail when appropriate • Traffic through available buildings • Product exposure • Pay-It-Forward • Proto$fund • Provide training • Provide Mentorship • Manufacturing Sector Partnership • Agencies take a back seat and listen • Workforce Issues • Resource Guide for Entrepreneurs
- 22. Call to Action • New economic development will come from within the community • EDA IMCP and i6 Challenge grants have been key to foster entrepreneurship • If investment in startups results in only a few successful businesses—game changer for Butte and Montana • Start A New Business • Put your ideas into action • Create jobs • Utilize resources and programs • Start lean and fail fast
- 23. What Will Success Look Like? • Transformation of Mansfield Center into innovation hub to maximize leverage of previous investment • Upgraded Mansfield Center infrastructure—energy efficiency, new roofs, and HVAC systems • New building on available land at Mansfield Center • Thriving manufacturing innovation hub with expanding companies locating in the Montana Connections Business Park in Butte-Silver Bow’s Tax Increment Financing District • New support and value-added businesses in manufacturing, natural resource, interconnectivity, and manufacturing key industry networks • Sustainable, diversified economy in Southwest Montana
- 24. Transforming Mansfield Vision Transformation Underway Previous investment in Mansfield Center’s being leveraged to create an engine for economic development in Southwest Montana Targeted Economic Development District (TEDD) at Mansfield Center and surrounding area is near completion From single project focus to multi-use innovation hub
- 25. Acknowledgements Contact Helen O’Connor Joyce email: helen.joyce@mse-ta.com email: mcmt@mse-ta.com Website: manufacturingmt.com Twitter: @manufacturingmt
Editor's Notes
- Thank you for the kind introduction. I am grateful and honored to be asked to speak at EDA’s Denver regional conference—Create, Challenge, Change. I am hear representing the Manufacturing Consortium of Montana, which is a public/private partnership between the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute or MERDI, and the Butte-Silver Bow consolidated city-county government, and the Butte Local Development Corporation. The Manufacturing Consortium of Montana has been working together to spur the resurgence of manufacturing in our state with the help of EDA and the Regional Innovation Strategies program, more specifically the Investing in Manufacturing Communities and i6 Challenge initiatives. The MCMT likes to say that “We are making Montana’s Future at the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center.
- So, what is the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center? The Mansfield Center was built after Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana (yes, you heard me right—Senate Majority Leader from Montana) secured funding to develop a Center of Excellence focused on clean coal research in the mid-70s during the energy crisis. Senator Mansfield had noted that most Centers of excellence were located on the coasts, and he wanted to change this by creating one in Butte. The year was 1974, and Montana Tech was in jeopardy of closing and Senator Mansfield made it possible for Butte to have a Department of Energy facility located in my hometown. Mansfield had a soft place in his heart for Butte, as he had worked in the copper mines as a mucker and met his wife in Butte and had attended the School of Mines (now known as Montana Tech). He probably also appreciated all of the votes he got from Butte—a democratic stronghold in a very red state. Since 1974, a variety of work has been performed at MSE’s Mansfield Center for numerous government agencies and private clients. MERDI came to own the facility in 1995 when Department of Energy privatized the facility and MERDI purchased the assets. The MCMT partnership has made it possible to increase utilization of the Mansfield Center, by leveraging the past investment to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem through development of the Mansfield Prototyping Center.
- So Butte has this amazing facility that was built as a center of excellence based on energy research that is currently underutilized. Available space was used for manufacturing of products in the past, so we thought that a good area to focus on was manufacturing. A public-private partnership was formed between MERDI and BSB, and the Manufacturing Consortium of Montana was born. MCMT’s mission… MCMT’s vision… Dream Big!
- The Mansfield Prototyping Center is unique in several ways. Butte is the 1st community to embrace the broadband economy. Project 1st connected schools and now focusing on lateral fiber runs to connect businesses and the general public. Other bullets… We have received recognition in the White House blog and the facility was recently touted as “Butte’s Secret Weapon for Economic Development.
- Besides getting grants to increase utilization of the Mansfield Center has been taking on tenants since 2011 to utilize parts of the facility that MSE had mothballed. The Mansfield Center was built right by the Government and provides an ideal place for a business to lease office or industrial space. By assisting companies under the i6 Challenge, MCMT hopes that some of them will become long-term tenants. The facility currently has 6 tenants. Headframe Spirits—is a small distiller and tasting room in Uptown Butte, but they have a large bottling operation at the Mansfield Center and they are an anchor tenant. In addition, they also fabricate distillation systems for other boutique distilleries at the Mansfield Center. Their distillation equipment uses a novel continuous distillation process, while traditionally small distiller have used batch processes. Headframe leases an entire building at MSE that is 12,000 square feet. This building has been a warehouse and fabrication shop for MSE in the past. I am convinced that this open-span building could be used for practically any purpose. Unfortunately, Headframe is moving out the Mansfield Center and relocating to a building owned by the city-county government Butte-Silver Bow. It is difficult to compete with the Government! Due to the lack of economic development, there is currently a race to the bottom. UTRS—UTRS currently leases a portion of MSE's high test bay. They also own a building in the Industrial Park south of the Mansfield Center. They are currently developing a revolutionary titanium production process called TEMPER. In order to run their furnace, they needed robust electrical infrastructure, and MSE's Mansfield Center fit the bill because we have our own 20MVA substation. UTRS hopes to scale the process up and lease all of the high test bay building within the next couple of years. In addition to being more economical than the traditional titanium production process, which is called the Kroll process, UTRS' TEMPER process can use a wider variety of ores to produce titanium. Global Energy Labs--Global Energy Labs tests fracking sand and other fracking materials that are used in the fracking process. Brandon DeShaw bought the business from a Bozeman entrepreneur and moved it to Butte. By collocating at MSE, Global Energy Labs has utilized MSE chemists to develop new methods and the MSE Lab routinely analyzes samples for Global. By working in close proximity with our tenants, connections have been made, and we have worked with all of them on joint projects. One of my goals is to attract even more businesses to the Mansfield Center to help them thrive and find mutually beneficial outcomes when working with other companies. I call this Coopetition. The companies at the Mansfield Center have teamed and pursued many opportunities, resulting in Win-Wins. Hellfire & Brimstone is my own company. My nickname is Hellire, so my business partner took one for the team and became Brimstone. One of the companies that MCMT has been helping is UPTOP Clothing Company. This company began when some siblings and friends made a t-shirt showing a chest bump. It was sort of their group thing. Soon, all of their friends started asking for a shirt. Since that time, one of the principals has become a professional football player, and they make many shirts and hats reminding their customers to “Enjoy the Moment”. They have never taken on debt and have grown at just the right pace even though they execute the “No-plan plan”. Hellfire & Brimstone was created to address a supply chain issue for UPTOP, who was experiencing the lack of timely and quality embroidery. Uptop bought the embroidery machines for us and we are paying them back. Uptop also had another local person start a screen-printing business, so Uptop alone has spawned these 2 businesses to address issues they were having. Uptop has single-handedly done more for economic development in recent history in Butte than any of the agencies with this goal. So starting Hellfire & Brimstone has been a very rewarding experience for me.
- Another great bonus about starting my own business was credibility with businesses that MCMT is assisting. Too often agencies charged with helping startups have no first-hand experience. Now much of my free time is spent Breaking Thread.
- Out of necessity in 2012, MSE had to find other ways of using the facility to generate revenue besides just taking on tenants. President Obama's State of the Union address provided a potential path forward. The federal government was going to start investing in manufacturing and wanted to use existing facilities before building new ones. The ultimate goal is to reshore as many manufacturing jobs as possible. In concert with Butte Silver Bow, the Butte Local Development Corporation, and MERDI applied for and was awarded a grant from EDA under its Phase I Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership whose mission is “to revolutionize the way federal agencies leverage economic development funds and encourages communities to develop comprehensive economic development strategies that will strengthen their competitive edge for attracting global manufacturer and supply chain investments.” The assets at the Mansfield Center were perfect for this initiative.
- Under the IMCP, MCMT assisted 12 fledging manufacturers with developing or otherwise taking their operations to the next level. After responses to the call for proposals started to roll in, it became evident that there was a need for investors to help inventors and companies get that first prototype built. There is not a lot of venture capital in Montana and many of our manufacturing incubatees just had a concept, but no way to move forward due to capital access issues. A couple of highlights are featured on this slide. Wes Harmon of Leg-Up Innovations in Missoula, Montana was the Manufacturing Consortium of Montana's first incubatee. His idea was a medical device to assist patients during recovery from a leg injury. With the Manufacturing Consortium’s assistance, Wes has built several prototypes and is now in the process of doing market analysis/testing and refining his product before finalizing his design and getting an injection mold made to begin to mass produce his product. His product name “Captain Crutch” was brilliant. The largest project performed with the manufacturing grant is a prototype of a mobile surgical unit. This is the brain child of Maternal Life International, a 501(c)3 nonprofit committed to improving women and family health care through safe, practical, life-affirming, and innovative medical and resource-support programs. Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones, a Butte doctor has seen 1st hand the conditions that 3rd world citizens go through when a simple medical procedure is necessary. The mobile surgical unit prototype was built at the Mansfield Center is the first step to provide those in Africa, Haiti, and elsewhere the opportunity to have clean, safe, and sterile environment to have a child or simple surgeries, something we take for granted in the US. Other significant outcomes of the IMCP grant include: strategic partnerships with Montana Manufacturing Extension Center and Montana Technology Innovation Partnership; Idea to start a makerspace. A makerspace allows members to utilize a variety of equipment to make products without having to make a large investment in equipment. Makerspaces also spark innovation and partnerships to help the economy where they are located fluorish.
- Here are some pictures of the mobile surgical unit prototype today. It is now complete and will be moved to the local hospital for tours for potential investors. Ultimate proof-of-concept of course will be when a baby is delivered in the unit.
- After failing to move to Phase II of the IMCP program, MCMT applied for and was awarded an i6 challenge grant under EDA’s Regional Innovation Strategies initiative. Match is a huge issue. MCMT’s award was $300K, while other i6 challenge teams received $1M. If MCMT could attract more match, our grant request would have been higher. However, sometimes a lower grant request is an advantage if you can squeeze your grant into the available funding.
- Through the i6 Challenge, the Mansfield Makes Makerspace has been launched. The makerspace offers 3D printing, 3D scanning, fabric arts equipment, and electronics equipment.
- In addition to the small maker space equipment, which is located in office space at the Mansfield Center, the makerspace members also have access to industrial machine shop equipment, such as lathes, mill, presses, and saws.
- Under the i6 challenge, a mentorship program was undertaken to assist the businesses. Suggestions for speakers often came from the companies being accelerated. The Montana Manufacturing Extension Center was the first workshop held. The Fast Flight Lean Lego Workshop to teach the principles of lean manufacturing. A local accountant volunteered to give a course on Business Tax 101. Montana Tech’s business college assisted with a multi-week business planning exercise. A nerd night workshop is coming in September to build a 3D printer with makerspace members and others interested. Clothing cluster has been identified, led by Uptop. Cluster includes clothing manufacturers like MontanaCo (Dennis Crowley) and handbag manufacturer Purse for the People (Carol Murphy), it also includes a growing number of businesses creating clothing lines targeting the booming lifestyle clothing market as well as specialized hunting markets. Larger, established clothing companies have been extremely helpful mentoring new companies and have spawned new businesses as they’ve grown. Upcoming Business Model Workshop by Robert Edwards (Example of Paying it Forward)
- Probably the most unique mentorship workshop was leadership training provided by the Peak, a Butte company that does military training for soldiers around the world. They have utilized the Mansfield Center several times for a variety of training sessions. The leadership training is called “Everyone Brings Something to the Fight” MCMT was the first test of the training which applies military principles to business. It is based on a scenario that a company’s personnel has been kidnapped in a foreign country, and staff go on a rescue mission. It can illuminate how teams work together and whether personnel are in the right roles. Each team is given clues to find their colleague. The training involves paintballs and was very exciting to watch unfold. Since this training last fall, the Peak has given the training to several entities, such as the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Montana.
- Now I will quickly go through some of the larger prototypes that were built with through i6 Challenge. The first is a modular greenhouse that can be set up anywhere for local food production. The prototype was recently completed and is growing tomatoes for a local restaurant.
- Headframe Spirits is an anchor tenant at the Mansfield Center—Headframe is a Boutique distillery and manufacturer of stills for continuous production of spirits 1st manufactured distillation system did not work properly during a factory acceptance test MSE, another Mansfield Center tenant fixed this system and designed a more robust and easier to use control system. Collocation of companies creates win-win collaborations like this one.
- Michael Moore of Anaconda invented a lift gate to affix directly to universal shipping containers that could create world-wide savings in fuel costs, mileage, labor and time. Moore Sea Lift was recently awarded a Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund Planning grant to assist with plans to build a manufacturing facility in Butte-Silver Bow County. The company has identified an unmet need for the global shipping industry for a liftgate system, which will improve trans-loading operations.
- Retail is struggling. Butte’s Uptown area has many traditional retail spaces that are now empty. Butte also has a festival economy during the summer months, so MCMT has started to open popup shops using vacant buildings. The 1st popup shop was during Butte’s epic St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Multiple companies have rented spaces. 10 local companies with no full-time storefronts have participated in one of our six pop up shops over the past 3 years. This has enabled companies with little or no social media presence to get brand exposure with social media giant UPTOP, given business owners actual retail experience setting up and running a store, filled an otherwise vacant building during a Butte festival and generated revenue for both the small business in the pop up shop and the building owner.
- I think Butte sometimes focuses too much economic development energy and resources on trying to attract large employers, when perhaps, the solution lies with all of us. Having recently started a business, I would recommend it. I think this would be an effective way to grow local economies.
- While MCMT and its partners have had some success in reinventing the Mansfield Center to benefit the broader community, for the ultimate vision to become a reality, there is a lot of work remaining. Some goals, future plans, and outcomes that would indicate success include. Our ultimate goal is to grow our own economy. MCMT can do all the recruiting, but it’s also very beneficial to invest and nurture what’s already in your community. The idea is that we’ll get some of these to go into full manufacturing production, then when they outgrow the MSE facility, they will locate in the Montana Connections Business Park.
- A recent economic development study commissioned by BSB called the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center, “the secret weapon for economic development in Butte”. You just do not typically find this kind of facility and associated infrastructure in small town America. I know that Mike Mansfield would be proud of efforts to transform his original vision of a Center of Excellence focused only on clean coal research to a multi-use innovation hub that is an economic development engine for Butte. Previous investment… TEDD…
- So grateful to speak with all of you today. I look forward to hearing about challenges that you have overcome. EDA’s regional office and national office has been key to the MCMT’s success. Shoutouts to Justin Fazzari and Kirk Keysor in helping MCMT and others guide our work. Most importantly, I want to acknowledge my husband Bill and our 5 children—by far the best things that I have ever manufactured. Thank you.