Presentation of Dr. Jon McCarthy at the Regional Materials and Manufacturing Network (RM2N) Spring 2016 Symposium.

1. Industry Focus Group Summary
RM2N Spring Symposium
May 2, 2016
J. J. McCarthy
Wisconsin Materials Institute
1

2. Purpose of Industry Focus Groups was two fold:
• Mission Check -
“Increasing your opportunity, efficiency and access to materials and
manufacturing resources by collaboration in the greater Wisconsin region. “
- Make UW system resources (equipment, expertise) more visible and easier to find
• What can we improve on?

3. Mission Check: First Goals and Actions
Goals: (Dec 2013)
Increase collaboration
among regional academic institutions
• Support regional industry with
easy access to materials resources and
expertise
• Equipment access
provide increased equipment access
via distributed equipment network
Initial Actions: (2014-2015)
Web Portal to:
• Find available resources;
• Practical mechanism for sharing equipment
resources
• Academic Members recruited
• Member data collected
• wiscmat.org introduced at September
2015 RM2N Symposium.
wiscmat.org

4. wiscmat.org

5. What can we improve on?
• Discovery:
– What your Customers needs are
• What services can RM2N provide?
–What is their user experience with the UW System
• How can the experience be improved?
We chose to user a standard product design tool for discovery:
Focus Groups
–Funded by

6. Five Focus Groups were held with Industry across the state
Focus Group Participation:
• 31 Industry Companies
• 18 RM2N University Faculty and Staff
members
• Two centers, One Institute in the UW system
• Over 150 ideas were generated:
• Listing of industry needs
• Suggesting New Services to offer
• How to market RM2N

7. Focus Group Process
Brainstorming ideas --- 15min
Write on Post-its, stick on Easel paper sheets
Silent sort of Post-its --- 15min
Move Post-its around to group similar ideas together
Name the groups
Multiple voting --- 15min
Select top two ideas in each group
Use sticky dots to vote

8. Major Findings
• Make it easier for industry to work with UW-system
• Need for “Virtual” consulting
• Improved equipment access (Fee for Service)
• How can RM2N best make contact with industry
After the voting process, the 150 ideas reduced to 22 “most voted” for suggestions.
These 22 were sorted into topic headings shown below, in order of most total votes.
More detail is recorded in the next three slides, along with actions being implemented

9. Make it easier for industry to work with UW-system
 Flow Chart for industry to take when interacting with a member
university. Steps to be published on the Web Portal.
(Next Talk by Marlann Patterson and Anna Courtier)
 Show templates of collaboration agreements on your website
(In Progress)
 Simplify IP concerns: Negotiations, exclusives and sharing of IP
processes.

10. Need for “Virtual” consulting
Provide opportunity for industry to discuss a particular problem
with RM2N subject matter experts: I have a manufacturing /
production / R&D problem.
• Proposed Solution: Agile Solutions for Industry Challenges
(ASIC). RM2N campus contacts organize teams for initial
discussion, and team develops a proposed solution.
(More in Doug Dunham's Presentation in this session)

11. Improved equipment access (Fee for Service)
 Web portal access to all UW-system instrument calendars.
(In Progress)
 Provide interpretation of data collected from characterization
measurements rather than just reporting individual spectra/data.
(Possible at most comprehensive Campuses now)
 Fast turnaround times are critical
(Possible at most comprehensive Campuses now)

12. How can RM2N market to industry
 RM2N presence at conferences or society meetings that industry
attends.
 A partial list of meetings to sort through: ASM, Northeast WI Manufacturing Alliance,
Society of women engineers, Society of Plastic Engineers, Society of Automotive
engineers, ASTM, Metal Powder Industry Federation, TAPPI, DRUPA, Interpack, RAPID.
–We will attend Manufacturing Advantage Conference, Manufacturing Matters!, and
the New North Summit in the fall of 2016
 Include success stories, testimonials and company contacts, on the
wiscmat.org website.
(starting - see Doug Dunham Presentation)

13. Summary
• Focus Groups provided a wealth of information on how
RM2N can better serve WI Industry.
• Implementation has begun on some new initiatives– You will
be asked to evaluate and contribute in this Session
•Please Consider becoming a Sponsor or Industrial Affiliate of
RM2N

14. An initial group of has been meeting regularly to help develop the RM2N
Susann Ely
(UW-Madison
sely@wisc.edu (608) 890-
3134
Dane Morgan
(UW-Madison)
ddmorgan@wisc.edu (608) 265-
5879
Jon McCarthy
(UW-Madison)
jjmccarthy@wisc.edu (608) 890-
3134
Tom Kuech
(UW-Madison)
tfkuech@wisc.edu (608)
263-2922
Marlann Patterson
(UW-Stout) pattersonm@uwstout.edu
(715) 232-2626
Palash Banerjee
(UW-Stevens Point)
palash.banerjee@uwsp.edu (715) 346-
4187
Doug Dunham
(UW-Eau Claire)
dunhamdj@uwec.edu
(715) 836-5312
Gokul Gopalakrishnan
(UW-Platteville)
gopalakrishg@uwplatt.edu (608) 342-
7339
Seth King
(UW-La Crosse)
king.seth@uwlax.edu (608)
785-8671
If you are not an RM2N member – please join! Email Susann Ely sely@wisc.edu
Jennifer Mihalick
(UW-Oshkosh)
mihalick@uwosh.edu
(920) 424-7095
Anne Courtier
(UW-Whitewater)
courtiera@uww.edu (262)
472-7161
Ben Church
(UW-Milwaukee)
church@uwm.edu (414) 229-
2825