What do a food manufacturer, a life sciences company and a manufacturer of electronic assemblies have in common?
Plenty, it turns out.
They are among nearly 20 local manufacturers who meet about every six weeks, to share their problems, concerns and ideas. They also tour plants during these get-togethers, which opens up more give-and-take.
“I’ve never left a meeting and thought, ‘Well, that wasn’t worth it,’ ” said Michelle Potter, co-owner of Parker’s Great British Institution, a food manufacturer in Cheektowaga. “I’m always leaving, excited to get back to try some of these ideas and investigate some of the things that we’ve talked about.”
The peer group is organized through Shift 2.0, a program hosted by Buffalo Manufacturing Works aimed at helping manufacturers innovate. The peer group is free to join and continues to accept new members. The location where they meet changes, based on where the tour happens.
Among the issues that come up frequently in the peer group’s discussions are workforce, cash flow and technology implementation.
“We’ve seen that it’s helpful because everyone is dealing with similar problems, but you can learn from each other in different industries, and because there is not as much competition, sometimes people can speak freely,” said Elizabeth Callahan, who oversees Shift in her role with EWI, which operates Buffalo Manufacturing Works.
Peer group organizers take steps to prevent having participants’ competitors or customers in the group at the same time, so that no one feels inhibited about sharing, Callahan said.
Ben Rand, president of Insyte Consulting, facilitates the peer group meetings. He enjoys seeing the participants get comfortable talking to each other and discovering they have things in common.
“It’s not that anybody is going to know your business and your challenges better than you – it’s that they’ve seen something similar in their life, maybe addressed it, and they may have an angle on this that you never thought of, and that could be very, very helpful,” Rand said.
The meetings are about a half day commitment. Potter, who joined the peer group in May, said there is value in getting away from the pressing, everyday needs of the business for a little while, to concentrate on strategy.
“I’m pretty new to it, but I’m already seeing a massive change in the way that I think about my business, getting lots of help and advice from some really experienced entrepreneurs who are all very helpful and friendly and willing to offer their time,” she said. “And sometimes, when you are so in the thick of running the day to day business, you struggle to see the wood for the trees.”
The companies involved are from Erie and Chautauqua counties. Callahan said the group’s size is just right to keep the discussion flowing.
“We try to find that balance of having enough different ideas and discussion, but not so many people that people can’t get a word in,” she said.
Ron Kostorowski, president of Sparcz Engineering in Lancaster, has been part of the group for over a year. His business has 20 employees, and he likes the variety of companies he gets to meet with.
“What’s what’s really good about it is, you’re getting somebody else’s point of view is in a completely different business, and they have a completely different viewpoint on how to solve things,” he said.
Scott Chamberlain, chief information officer and part owner of ARX Sciences, a life sciences company in Amherst, said being part of the discussions – even if just listening – can be enlightening, since businesses have so much in common. “You get your wheels spinning,” he said.
Rand said the tours are an important part of the peer group meetings. When the participants walk the floor together, businesses owners soak up ideas about how another company might lay out its plant floor differently for greater efficiency, or uses technology like “cobots” for routine tasks. After the tour, they provide feedback on what they saw.
“Those tours really get the juices flowing,” Rand said.
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