University of Massachusetts Boston, College of Management: UMass is Boston's public business school. Their demanding and internationally accredited undergraduate and MBA programs provide a competitive and high value education. As you may know, the GBMP is located inside of the College of Management at UMass Boston.

North American Shingo Prize: The Shingo Prize was established in 1988 in honor of Shigeo Shingo to promote world-class manufacturing and recognize companies that achieve superior customer satisfaction and business results. The philosophy of the Shingo Prize is that world-class business performance may be achieved through focused improvements in core manufacturing and business processes.

Society of Manufacturing Engineers: SME is dedicated to bringing people and information together to advance manufacturing knowledge. GBMP co-produces the Lean Manufacturing Pavilion & Business Improvement Conference with SME at EASTEC, the premier manufacturing event in the Northeast.

Lean Enterprise Institute: LEI is a non-profit training, publishing and research center, founded by author and Lean expert Jim Womack, to give people simple but powerful tools that describe in plain language how to apply lean thinking. LEI is not a consulting company that provides solutions for individual firms. Instead LEI shares its knowledge with the lean community through our workbooks, events and on-site training. GBMP performs the training for LEI and is endorsed by Jim Womack.

LeanRI.org: LeanRI is a collaborative effort of private citizens, business leaders, educators, government staff and elected officials with the sole purpose of transitioning a fundamentally broken system into a highly productive engine of growth that is sustainable and continuously improving. Through education and implementation of best practices with a climate of CI, Rhode Island will begin to differentiate itself and retain and grow its existing workforce and attract new business.

Association for Manufacturing Excellence: Founded in 1985, AME is an association of 6000 executives, senior and middle managers who are dedicated to the understanding, analysis and exchange of productivity methods and their successful application in the pursuit of excellence.

The Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund: DET, an agency of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Workforce Development, administers the Workforce Training Fund. The fund provides resources to Massachusetts businesses to train current and newly hired employees. Its goal is to help improve employee skills and maintain the economic strength of the Commonwealth’s businesses. GBMP has helped its clients capture over $10 Million in funding through the DET.

Brian Maskell Associates: BMA specializes in Lean Accounting and works in conjunction with GBMP to bring workshops on that topic to Massachusetts employers.

Select Strategy, Inc.: Select Strategy, Inc. is a management consulting firm with heart! Their sophisticated consulting processes and online systems have helped Fortune 500 companies and small to mid size companies improve employee hiring and selection, employee safety and well being, skills development and an understanding and alignment of customer and employee needs. The result is greater business productivity. GBMP has secured discounts for their members and GBMP customers can benefit by integrating these processes with their Continuous Improvement programs.

The Visual Workplace Quality Methods International: Founded by Dr. Gwen Galsworth, Visual Workplace is in the business of helping companies, large and small, implement the technologies of a visual workplace — on their production floor and in their offices. A visual workplace is a work environment that is self-explaining, self-regulating, and self-improving — where what is supposed to happen does happen on time, every time, day or night because of visual devices.

Linford E. Stiles: Mr. Stiles is a retained executive search firm that has assisted companies of all sizes in the recruitment and selection of senior-level executives. Every assignment managed by Linford E. Stiles Associates includes the involvement of a principal experienced in helping clients build high performance management teams.

Business Development Strategies, Inc.: Lynn Tokarczyk is President and Founder of Business Development Strategies, Inc. (BDS), a government incentives consulting firm. Lynn and her team have first-hand experience with state and local government programs and use their knowledge to help clients identify, negotiate, and secure incentives to accelerate their real estate expansion plans. BDS helps firms access state investment tax credits, municipal property tax relief in the form of Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) and other state and local programs designed to spur business investment and job creation. Over the past 12 years, Lynn and her team have helped Massachusetts companies save more than $35 million in state and local taxes and attract more than $3.5 billion in private investment to the Commonwealth.

The Boston Tooling and Machining Association: BTMA helps members of the precision custom manufacturing industry in New England achieve business success in a global economy through advocacy, advice, networking, information, programs and services.

The Northwest Lean Manufacturing Network: NWLEAN provides information about understanding production systems, designing lean systems, and assuring successful lean implementations. GBMP is a non-profit sponsor of this group and its mission.

New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center: NETAAC's mission is to help New England manufacturers increase profitability and retain employees while competing with imported products. NETACC offers cost shared assistance for import-injured manufacturers through a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Other helpful links:

The National Association of Manufacturers www.nam.org
The Bureau of Labor Statistics www.bls.org