The initiative is a substantive outgrowth of the state s highly-successful Manufacturing for the New Millennium public awareness campaign. This gives manufacturers the opportunity to talk with other managers, to get first-hand accounts and advice on how they replicate these practices, said Grande. The HPMN is in its infancy but its parents hope it will grow to become a fixture in Tennessee manufacturing. Besides Dell Computer, two other facilities have hosted visits Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corp. in Smyrna and the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg. A visit to Bosch Braking Systems, a disc brake manufacturer in Clarksville, is scheduled.
Organizers hope to sponsor a visit to a different manufacturer each month.
All manufacturing businesses have issues around inventory and quality of product, Martin said. You look at what they are doing, and say, hey, we could do that. Even though there are not many companies quite like Jack Daniel s in the state, or anywhere else for that matter, some of their practices and tools can be used elsewhere, Grande said. Frankly, when we went there, I wondered where the cross-over would be. But with their quick turnaround of product, you could see the lights go on among the audience.