Manufacturing Innovation Network (MIN)

The Manufacturing Innovation Network (MIN) is an online community which facilitates and promotes awareness, excellence and innovation within the manufacturing industry in the Waterloo Region. This network connects manufacturers, partners, government agencies, academic institutions and other stakeholder groups to create a more responsive and globally competitive manufacturing community through improved collaboration and knowledge sharing.

The Challenges

MIN was developed in direct response to a survey of local manufacturers in 2007 in which 68% of respondents indicated they were keenly interested in participating in an online manufacturing innovation-type network. Manufacturers suggested the online network should be able to:

• Incorporate a method to share best practices, lean manufacturing concepts, and six-sigma protocols
• Support supplier networking to help businesses self-promote, and connect with other local suppliers
• Ensure that the needs of subsectors are represented and can connect with other similar companies to provide for focused networking and problem solving

In context of the manufacturing industry, the creation of the network was also prompted by a 10% decline in all manufacturing jobs in the Waterloo Region and over 10,000 jobs lost in the region in the past ten years.