INSIDE THIS ISSUE

News from the Director………………....….....1

LSSGB Ceremonies…………………....…………..2

Environmental and Energy Corner……...….3

Engineering Corner ….……………...…...……...4

Upcoming Events

• Open 12-week Lean Six Sigma Green

Belt— Sept. 6 thru Dec. 6

(Smyth Education Center, Atkins, Va)

• Save Energy—Home, Business and In-

dustry—August 11 (Wytheville Meeting

Center, Wytheville, VA) - Co-host with

WCC-WFD and Town of Wytheville

• Pump System Workshop—Sept. 15

WCC-Grayson Hall 219

• Lean Peer to Peer / Lean and Clean

events—October (Wytheville Comm.

College) (Exact date TBD)

• 1-Day LSS Overview with Lab Simula-

tion (Co-hosted with GENEDGE) —

Roanoke, VA —Sept. (Exact date TBD)

• Environmental/Energy Peer to Peer -

Fall (Exact date TBD)

July 2011

MTC www.mtcofswva.org

1000 East Main, Wytheville, VA

(276) 223-4799

Serving 17 counties and 4 cities in SWVA

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Thank you for reading our newsletter. Remem-

ber to visit our website at http://

www.mtcofswva.org to find out more about the

MTC, our staff and our upcoming events. MTC has received grant awards from the Appa-

lachian Regional Commission and Virginia To-

bacco Commission that will support the MTC

Green Manufacturing Initiative & Energy Effi-

ciency Development in Southwest Virginia. The MTC is assisting manu-

facturers over a seven- county region with identifying energy effi-

ciency opportunities in their manufacturing processes and plant opera-

tions. Counties included in this initiative are Bland, Russell, Scott,

Smyth, Tazewell, Washington and Wythe. Companies will be selected

for this initiative based on their interest and ability to implement iden-

tified improvements. If your company would like to apply for this initia-

tive, please contact me at 276-223-4881 or wcthomk@wcc.vccs.edu.

“The MTC will be recognized as the technical resource of choice for Southwestern

Virginia’s business community.”

Keith Thompson, Executive Director

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July 2011! It is amazing to think we are half way through the year.

Good news is that the economy is slowly rising—and this puts our peo-

ple back to work. However, other costs are keeping pace just as

quickly. It is mind boggling to see how the world is changing so

quickly and how employers and employees are to adapt to the changes.

I was curious about the unemployment rate in the MTC service region.

See the side chart to see a year’s difference in our region’s employ-

ment. For more in-depth information and also information on retail food and energy

prices, access http://www.bls.gov/ro3/apso.htm#ro3xg01apso.f.1. The MTC is here

to help should you need our services. We partner with VCCS, GENEDGE, ARC, To-

bacco Commission, EPA and USDA. We are a confidential not-for-profit organization

and will be happy to assist you with your needs. Give us a call (276) 223-4709. For

more information on the MTC, access www.mtcofswva.org.

County/City

May

2010

May

2011 Change

Bland 6.5 5.5 -1.0

Bristol City 8.5 7.5 -1.0

Buchanan 8.2 6.4 -1.8

Carroll 10.1 8.0 -2.1

Dickenson 8.2 6.8 -1.4

Galax City 10.0 7.8 -2.2

Giles 8.6 7.0 -1.6

Grayson 11.3 9.8 -1.5

Lee 7.8 7.1 -0.7

Montgomery 7.5 6.6 -0.9

Norton City 7.3 5.4 -1.9

Pulaski 9.5 7.1 -2.4

Radford City 10.6 8.8 -1.8

Russell 9.6 8.7 -0.9

Scott 8.8 7.8 -1.0

Smyth 9.7 9.2 -0.5

Tazewell 6.5 6.4 -0.1

Washington 7.9 8.1 0.2

Wise 7.0 6.0 -1.0

Wythe 9.2 7.5 -1.7

Floyd 7.1 6.2 -0.9

Linda Newman

http://www.bls.gov/cps/

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people

believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” - Sam Walton

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MTC AWARDS CERTIFICATES IN LEAN SIX SIGMA GREEN BELT

In a ceremony held April 24, 2011 at New

River Community College, the Manufactur-

ing Technology Center (MTC) presented cer-

tificates to six of ten local industrial profes-

sionals. A certificate for achieving the Green

Belt level of proficiency in the Lean Six

Sigma System of Continuous Improvement

was awarded to Bruce Banyai, Rob Day,

Steve Harvey, Paula Forehand, Sterling

White, and Randy Brown, Teresa Sollowin,

Rick Perfin, Pamela Lucas, and Dave Zim-

merman. L-R Herb Bird, Claire Pickrell, (Instructors, MTC), Bruce Banyai, Rob Day, Steve

Harvey, Paula Forehand, Sterling White, Randy Brown, and Nelson Teed

(Instructor, MTC). Not pictured: Teresa Sollowin, Rick Perfin, Pamela Lucas, and

Dave Zimmerman.

In a ceremony held June 8, 2011 at the

Southwest Virginia Technical Center in

Lebanon, Virginia, the Manufacturing Tech-

nology Center (MTC) presented certificates

to eleven industrial professionals. A certifi-

cate for achieving the Green Belt level of pro-

ficiency in the Lean Six Sigma System of

Continuous Improvement was awarded to

Lisa Musick, Sheila Cole, Deborah Musick,

Linda Dye, Reba Lester, Kim Snell, Major

Baisden, Donald Thomas, Mary Gross, Pam

Moore, David Bolinger, Sharon Peery, WFD-

VHCC, and Keith Thompson, MTC Director.

(Front) Lisa Musick, Sheila Cole, Deborah Musick, Linda Dye, Reba Lester, Kim

Snell (Back) L-R Nelson Teed, Instructor, Major Baisden, Donald Thomas, Mary

Gross, Pam Moore, David Bolinger, Sharon Peery (VHCC WFD), and Keith

Thompson, MTC Executive Director

M A N U F A C T U R I N G TE C H N O L O G Y C E N T E R

Lean Six Sigma is a revolutionary business process geared toward dramatically reducing organizational and

process inefficiencies that translates into bottom-line profitability. The key to the Six Sigma methodology

is a five-step process: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC). By systematically applying

these steps (with the appropriate tools), practitioners of this approach have been able to save substantial

dollars. There are 4 levels of certification ranging from the entry-level yellow belt through green belt,

black belt, and master black belt. Green belt training requires the completion of a rigorous 12-week training

program which runs in parallel with the student completing a successful Six Sigma project at their place of

business. The 12-week and 6-day LSSGB courses are taught by MTC Project Engineers, Herb Bird, Claire

Pickrell, and Six Sigma Black Belt instructors, Keith Thompson and Nelson Teed. We encourage anyone in-

terested in this course to contact the MTC at 276-223-4709.

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Keith Litz

On June 27-28, the MTC, in partnership with the other state and federal stakeholders, conducted an

E3 (Economy, Energy, and Environment) Initiative Planning Meeting. The MTC, through federal

and state grant funding, is joining forces with the community, manufacturers, and stakeholders to

promote sustainable manufacturing in Southwest Virginia. Beginning in early Fall 2011, the MTC

will be identifying industrial clients with the potential to enhance their operational performance

through process improvements, energy conservation techniques, and environmental impact reduc-

tion. This will be accomplished through technical assessments within these facilities provided by

MTC engineers, the Industrial Assessment Center at North Carolina State University, and other

MTC partners. E3 assistance will include energy assessments, Lean and Green events, environ-

mental assessments, energy manager workshops, Peer-to-Peer conferences, newsletters and the pro-

motion of renewable energy.

If you feel your facility is ready to address E3 improvements, contact the MTC team today. I can be reached at (276) 223-4858.

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ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY CORNERENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY CORNERENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY CORNERENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY CORNER

EEEE ngineering Corner

4

Many companies that are seeking or have achieved ISO or TS Quality or En-

vironmental certification struggle with the requirement of performing in-

ternal audits and maintaining their ISO systems. They are finding that:

• Audits and audit reports take too much time and too many staff resources;

• Personnel in the company do not have the skills to make the audits value added, ie audits

are performed based on compliance not effectiveness;

• the company is so small there is no one independent enough of the process to audit it;

• high turnover of Internal Auditors which requires constant training; and • Internal audits do not result in system improvements.

To overcome these struggles more companies are turning to outside sources to perform Internal audits and provide ISO system Management. The benefits of outsourcing Internal audits and ISO system Management are many:

• Save on training costs;

• No more borrowing resources from other departments or struggling to meet your audit

schedule;

• Performing your own internal audits consumes many resources for training auditors and

conducting audits. Outsourcing means all those resources are now freed up to pursue

other activities;

• In addition to auditing for compliance to requirements, experienced outside auditors au-

dit for effectiveness as well. This means that opportunities for improving a process, re-

ducing costs, or mitigating risks will often be uncovered by having an unbiased experi-

enced review of your systems;

• Reduce your internal audit costs by as much as 50%.

The MTC can perform your audits and manage your ISO system for you. We have staff members

who are trained and certified to perform Internal Audits against the following standards: ISO

14001; ISO 9001; ISO 13485; ISO 17025; and TS 16949. In addition, the staff members have

previous experience designing and managing ISO and TS Quality systems. So if you would like

to turn over the management side of your ISO system we can do that for you as well.

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