It’s known as a non-partisan, non-political manufacturing think tank, but with the recent announcement of its Sustainability Framework Model, the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM) is becoming a more proactive project-based practice.
The NACFAM Sustainability Framework, released in June, was the brainchild of Eric Mittelstadt, who retired as NACFAM’s CEO that same month. Taking over Mittelstadt’s seat is Robert “Rusty” Patterson, who also serves as the organization’s chairman.
Patterson, who recently retired from Raytheon where he served as vice president of Six Sigma Business Excellence, has been a member of NACFAM for 20 years and is very familiar with the types of policies and incentives that manufacturers need to be more productive, competitive, and profitable. To that end, two years ago, Patterson and Mittelstadt adjusted the association’s agenda, adding project work, conducted with its members, to directly address workforce development, technology and innovation, supply chain integration, and sustainability/green manufacturing — the four issue areas that remain NACFAM’s focus.
The organization’s first deliverable is the Sustainability Framework Model. The model, which is delivered in an Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded for free from NACFAM’s website, takes users step-by-step through everything in a manufacturing project, calculating both the financial and environmental impacts related to energy efficiency, materials management, chemical management, and even upstream environmental impacts.