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Newletter Winter 2009

warningConsidering Layoffs? Not Without Notifying NYS!
Revised WARN Regulations take effect February 1, 2009

ExporTech Program Kicks Off Successfully

ITAC's new ExporTech program kicked off successfully this fall with ten companies that intend to develop a more systematic approach to exporting their products. Working closely with the Harlem US Export Assistance Center, The SUNY Levin Institute, and partially funded by the Empire State Development Corporation, the program offers coordinated training sessions as well as access to an abundance of appropriate resources to assist each firm with the development of a viable export plan. Participants have met over a period of three months to both to learn from and support each other through this process. In addition, they have been working with different companies that have already succeeded in penetrating global markets.

Formal sessions were held three times during the training. The first session focused on the rationale for international growth, presented successful export strategies and reviewed the plan components. Session two was on the mechanics of exporting, including discussions on finance, risks, intellectual property issues, licensing, and logistics. Throughout the program, attendees received information and guidance of relevance to their specific company and its particular export needs. In the final session, participants presented their plans for panel review and obtained feedback from industry experts as well as from their peers.

The response to ExporTech has been excellent. An automotive parts manufacturer was particularly pleased, saying, that the program " exceeded our expectations on all levels: the content was rich, the speakers very knowledgeable and the take away very useful." A second, three-session ExporTech program series will begin again on April 2nd.

For information, please call Veronica Price at 212-442-2990 or email her at vprice@itac.org

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NYC & NYS Training Grants Available

Both New York City and New York State have announced new or continuing training grant programs.

The NYC Business Solutions Training Funds program is accepting pre-applications for a new round of its popular grant program, which offers businesses the chance to create and retain jobs, increase wages, build skills and help workers advance in their careers. Grant amounts have increased to $400,000 and companies with fewer than 100 employees can use funding to cover up to 70% of costs. Eligible projects include occupational training and improving work readiness skills, like adult literacy and numeracy and ESL. Employers must submit a 5-page written application that includes the proposed training curriculum in addition to a brief pre-application online. Pre-applications are available on January 28, 2009, and are due February 11, 2009. For more information about this training program, click here.

New York State's STEP (Skills Training and Education Program) grant is also open for the foreseeable future.There is $6.4 million in its grant pool. Trainees must be current employees (full or part time) and must work in and be paid in NYS. Employees MUST be in line for career ladder positions and the employer must guarantee a 3% wage increase for all trainees within six months. There is a firm cap of $2,000 per trainee and a company cap of $50,000. Companies with more than 100 employeees must contribute 25% of instructor costs. If an outside trainer is used, three bids must be obtained. The STEP grant application is completed online at the Department of Labor Web site. Applications are accepted on an oingoing basis. To apply, click here and follow instructions.

If you need assistance from ITAC to help your firm take advantage of either of these opportunities, please call Pam Bradley at 212-442-2990 or email her at pbradley@itac.org

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What Should You Do Next?

If you're feeling confused by the economy and unsure what to do next for your business, don't waste down time. ITAC will send a trained engineer to your site, FREE, to help you identify immediate cost cutting measures or how you can quickly increase cash flow. We will look at:

  • Space Utilization - to see whether you are making the most of your space. We can also help you identify ways to streamline, improve processes, reduce inventory, and/or cut costs.
  • Waste Stream - to help you minimize it, recycle it or otherwise divert it from the landfill.
  • Eligibility for R&D Tax Credit - Don't throw money away!! A common misconception is that the R&D tax credit only applies to traditional manufacturers and high tech companies involved in new product development. But, it also applies to process improvements, like Lean, Six Sigma, ISO, new equipment or other improvements in function, reliability and quality to existing products. Let a professional determine whether you are eligible and how to cash in.
  • ISO/Quality Control - Are you aware of the newly published ISO 9001:2008 certification criteria? We can visit your firm and assist in either preparing for initial certification or upgrading your current system to be in compliance with the new requirements. You must upgrade your system to maintain certification.
  • Workforce Development - Smart companies use down time to train and cross train their employees. Both NYC and NYS encourage employee training opportunities, many of which are underwritten by government grants [see article above]. We can guide and assist you with the various grant applications which can be somewhat complex and time consuming.

Let us help you! To make an appointment with an ITAC professional advisor, please call Veronica Price at 212-442-2990 or email her at vprice@itac.org

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6 Tips to Leading in Turbulent Times

by John Ryan, President and CEO of the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive education that develops better leaders through its exclusive focus on leadership education and research. Reprinted with permission.

Globalization, talent shortages and roller coaster market dynamics are just a few of the complex challenges facing today’s businesses. So how do you lead effectively in this turbulent environment? “Complex challenges—ranging from expanding into overseas markets to dealing with the fallout of natural disasters—often don't respond to conventional approaches and knowledge. Instead, they require innovative thought and action. Six important things you can do to become a more effective leader include:

  • Collaborate. Collaborative leaders can get tremendous results. CCL research shows that the ability to collaborate is a skill that top executives believe their men and women should have. In fact, 97 percent of the executives we surveyed identified collaboration as a key to their organization's success. And yet, just 47 percent of those same executives believe the leaders in their organizations are skilled collaborators.
  • Act authentically. Executives we talk to frequently emphasize the importance of authentic leadership: doing your job without compromising your values, beliefs or personality. But leading authentically is not easy. Executives in CCL's survey acknowledged that trying to keep up an executive image of being decisive and all-knowing can compromise their authenticity.
  • Sustain talent. It can take years to groom effective senior leaders— and organizations will need to develop new generations of leaders who will be able to succeed amid the complex challenges. Organizations will need to create pools of candidates with high leadership potential and then put our talent where it can excel.
  • Develop judgment. In their 2007 book Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls, Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis argue that leaders need to develop three kinds of judgment: 1) People judgment: the ability to get the right talent on the team; 2) Strategy judgment: the ability to frame the right questions; and 3) Crisis judgment: knowing your values and goals.
  • Value learning agility. Work challenges are constantly changing and the flow of information is nonstop. Effective leaders, then, have the ability to learn on the fly and to act on the spur of the moment.
  • Manage your health. CCL research involving senior executives shows that effective leadership and regular exercise are strongly linked. Executives who exercise are rated significantly higher by their co-workers on their leadership effectiveness than non-exercisers. In fact, exercisers score better than non-exercisers in all leadership categories, including organization, credibility, leading others and authenticity. And, of course, regular exercise improves your energy, stamina and overall health.

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ITAC Testimony Encourages Growth of NYC Tech Sector

This fall, ITAC presented testimony to the Committee on Economic Development and the Committee on Small Business of the Council of the City of New York encouraging continued support of an important, but often overlooked sector: advanced technology. The testimony highlighted several recommendations from ITAC’s 2007 report, Buried Treasure: New York City's Hidden Technology Sector, which underscored the importance of providing the infrastructure and finances needed to help the sector reach its full potential. Often overlooked because of its complex nature and the fact that it is deeply embedded in other industries, the tech sector could offer New York City tremendous opportunity for high-level employment. Instead, we are being drained of human and financial resources as technologists and venture capitalists leave to take advantage of perceived opportunities elsewhere (Silicon Valley, North Carolina or Boston). For the full testimony, presented by Colleen Gibney, Technology Practice Project Manager, on October 27, 2008, click here.

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Considering Layoffs? Not Without Notifying NYS!

If you have more than 50 employees, your business MUST now comply with the New York State Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act which requires employers provide 90 days’ notice prior to a plant closing, or layoff of more than 25 employees. This law now affects companies with 50 or more employees, not 100 employees, as it has in the past. Notice must be provided to affected employees, the New York Department of Labor and the local workforce investment board at least 90 days before the event. For employers planning layoffs shortly after the new law takes effect (February 2009), notice would have to be provided prior to the law’s effective date to meet the 90-day requirement. The state WARN Act applies to private employers with 50 or more workers who layoff at least 25 employees. Violations are enforceable by the Commissioner of Labor and are subject to civil penalties and back wages. To see a copy of the law or to obtain information about where to send notifications, click here.

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Shared Work—A Layoff Alternative

Maybe your company’s sales are down. Maybe your firm just lost a big contract. Whatever the reason, your company is facing some tough economic times. You know the situation is temporary. But you can’t afford to keep the employees you value on payroll at this difficult time.

Consider applying for the NYS Department of Labor Shared Work program. It’s a smart alternative to layoffs—and it makes good business sense.

Under an approved Shared Work plan, you can reduce the number of hours of all workers, or just a particular group and employees may collect an equivalent percentage of unemployment insurance benefits for up to 20 weeks. For instance, if your company receives approval to reduce the number of hours of a group of workers by 40% for ten weeks, these employees could receive 40% of their weekly benefit during that time (after serving an unpaid waiting period of one week).

To find out more about the Shared Work Program and how it might benefit your business, just call the Department of Labor at 518-457-2635, or write to the following address: NYS Department of Labor, Unemployment Insurance Division, Liability & Determination Section, State Office Building Campus, Albany, New York 12240. For more information about this program from the NYS Department of Labor website, click here, or email John Hausler, Associate Unemployment Insurance Review Examiner with the NYS Department of Labor at John.Hausler@labor.state.ny.us

 

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Jump Start Your Commercialization

To be successful today in an environment based on competition, technology and innovation, small businesses rely more and more often on their local universities. ITAC partners with the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) to offer direct access to Cornell University’s resources and expertise to its network of small businesses

If you have recently embarked on, or are in the midst of, an innovation process, the CCMR Small Business Outreach Program can help your company move forward.

This program, funded by NYSTAR, actively seeks to provide New York companies with access to the CCMR’s materials expertise and equipment. It aims to help small companies optimize their manufacturing processes, turn their innovative ideas into products, and explore new markets.

Facilities 101 is a one-day workshop for regional businesses is currently scheduled to be held at Cornell University on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 from 9:30 to 4:00. It provides an in-depth introduction to the Cornell Center for Materials Research Shared Experimental Facilities. The program is designed for manager and engineers looking to better understand materials in their products, and who might benefit from Cornell's capabilities in materials analysis, processing and problem solving. The cost for the workshp is $100 and includes reference materials on the facilities, lunch, and parking. For information and/or to register, click here.

The Jump Start Program is designed to solve businesses’ concrete short-term problems using Cornell faculty expertise and experimental facilities. The program, entering in its fifth year, has catalyzed significant results for small businesses in New York State. Twenty-five projects have been conducted since 2005, three of them underway in the fall of 2008. The 25 projects addressed a broad range of business objectives related to material issues:

  • Measurement or characterization of the materials: 6 projects
  • Solving materials related problems: 14 projects
  • New directions (technology, product, market): 5 projects

For more information, please call Veronica Price at 212-442-2990 or email her at vprice@itac.org

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The Small Manufacturer’s Expanded Role in the Value Chain

Click the headline above to read this excerpt from Forging New Partnerships: How to Thrive in Today’s Global Value Chain, a report produced by RSM McGladrey and The Manufacturing Institute. Future issues of ITACNews will feature other sections from this important report.

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National Institute of Science and TechnologyNew York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation

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ITAC Events
click event for details

Lean 101 - Feb 12
Process improvement for cost reduction.

FastTrac Masters - 12 week series begins Mar 11
Call 212-442-2990 for info.

New Product Development
Mar 18 - A proven set of world-class tools to help you develop products and achieve early entry into the marketplace.

ExporTech - Apr 2, Jun 3 & 30
Develop a viable export plan.


Other Events

Accountant's Empire Zone Breakfast - Jan 29 EWVIDCO presents changes in Empire Zone tax credits.

Small Biz Tech Summit - Feb 3
Business & technology: how to find and keep customers for life.

Facilities 101 - Apr 8
 (Introduction to Cornell University's Center for Materials Research, held in Ithaca, NY)

LEED-Ready Specs - Mar 12
Next in the Spec It Green series.
Learn what specifiers need to know about the green features of your product.

 

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