The Metal Treating Institute (MTI), established in 1933, represents the commercial and captive thermal processing market, as well as the suppliers for those over 17,000 companies. MTI’s progressive Board of Trustees and innovative leadership helped position MTI well both financially and program wise to serve its members during the economic downturn.
As manufacturing continues to grow in 2011, MTI will put its focus in five main areas to help its members be successful.
Connecting people and information — MTI’s online community allows members and their employees the ability to be matched automatically to other members with the same professional compatibilities. This helps engage young people, as well as new hires, into the industry through immediately building a network of peers who are in the same area of expertise.
MyMTI also allows members to solve daily operational issues and engage in industry discussions through group forums. One of the greatest features is the access to very valuable financial and technical data inside the MyMTI Resource Library. Members are easily able to search via category or keyword for important financial data, technical papers or management documents to help them in budgeting, problem solving, quality and metallurgy.
Training and education — With over 80 technical and management courses available, MTI has seen over 12,000 courses passed in the last five years and continues to see enrollments grow. The MTI Online Academy will be launching a new 12-hour Leadership Mastery Course, as well as 10+ new technical training courses in 2011. With training being so important in the audit process of ISO, Nadcap and other accreditation groups, MTI makes quality training user-friendly and affordable.
Expanding market and enhancing productivity — Cutting costs for manufacturers is a key to driving up productivity and margins. MTI will put a lot of focus in a educational marketing effort in 2011 for Outsourcing Partnerships. MTI will use a combination of videos and website materials to share with manufacturers the benefits of outsourcing the labor and capital intensive process of heat treating to commercial heat treaters.
Decreasing cost of doing business — MTI continues to have a variety of business services as well as eight key professional consultants who assist members with safety, insurance, quality, environmental and metallurgy.
Government affairs partnerships —MTI will continue to be a grassroots partner of the National Association of Manufacturers with over 250 other small to medium manufacturing associations. Through the partnership, MTI members are able to help educate their legislators on the impact laws and regulations are having on their companies.
Tom Morrison is the CEO of The Metal Treating Institute. Visit www.heattreatonline.com for more information.