Progress 10/01/05 to 09/30/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: For the past three years, the project focus has been on firm specific factors that influence the success or failure of manufacturers in rural Oklahoma (Objective 5). As a response to the needs of manufacturers, the services that Oklahoma State University provides to manufacturers have been expanded at the OSU New Product Development Center. In particular, the NPDC has focused on the ability to develop innovative new products which appears to be a key determinant of whether firms are expanding sales, employment, and profitability. Firms are successful because of their ability to continuously evolve and meet the needs of customers with competitive and sometimes innovative products produced from cost-effective, well-organized manufacturing processes. During this project, the project PI has become the Associate Director of the NPDC at Oklahoma State University. Because of expanded grant funding, in the past year, the NPDC has added a new full-time Director and Research Professor, a Senior Design Engineer, a Design Engineer, and 14 new student interns. The NPDC has added to the social capital/assistance programs available to small, Oklahoma Manufacturers. In the past two years, evaluations of 135 proposed inventions and 30 case studies of innovation projects for small- and medium-sized manufacturers and inventors in rural areas have been completed. The case studies evaluate the market potential, competition, pricing, promotion, and design needs of projects. The case studies involve New Product Development Center interns, graduate students, students in classes, faculty from four colleges and at least six departments. To complete these projects, grant funds have been used from NASA, NSF, USDA (Challenge Grant and SBIR), the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, and most recently from NIST. Companies and individuals that participate in NPDC programs receive technical and business assessments that suggest whether their project appears to have an economic benefit. Engineering services are sometimes provided, and in some cases prototypes are produced. It some cases the output is a report that recommends against a particular idea. Our engineering focus has shifted to short-term product design and process problems that can be done in less than six weeks. Our three full-time engineers work closely with applications engineers, and Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Manufacturing Extension Agents to identify projects and companies who can, with assistance, create additional sales, jobs, and sustainable product lines. PARTICIPANTS: Daniel Tilley, PI/PD, Associate Director of New Product Development Center, Professor, Agricultural Economics Robert Taylor, Director, New Product Development Center Jennifer Vinyard, Senior Design Engineer Heather Lewis, Design Engineer Reema Nainani, Staff Assistant William Robertson, Graduate Assistant, Agricultural Economics Andrew Barth, Undergraduate Communications Intern Aaron Hoerst, Undergraduate Business Intern Thomas Obrien, Undergraduate Business Intern Nina McKosato, Undergraduate Business Intern Daman Bareiss, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Tyler Shirk, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Nick Langilotti, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Robert Elliot, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Thomas Buerger, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Nathaniel Scarborough, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Gabby Brown, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Karina Quintero, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Kimberly Olesen, Undergraduate Engineering Intern Partner Organizations: Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology Oklahoma Department of Commerce OSU College of Engineering Architecture and Technology NASA NSF Partnership for Innovation Program USDA SBIR Program School of Entrepreneurship, Spears School of Business Collaborators: Rodney Holcomb, Professor, faculty researcher and instructor, Agricultural Economics Paul Weckler, Associate Professor, faculty researcher and instructor, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Cindy Blackwell, Associate Professor, faculty researcher and instructor, Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership Development Ning Wang, Associate Professor, faculty researcher, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Chris Richards, Associate Professor, faculty researcher, Animal Science Joe Simmons, Graduate Research Assistant, Animal Science Doug Enns, Applications Engineer Ron Delahoussaye, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Kay Watson, Manufacturing Extension Agent, Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Shea Pilgreen, Applications Engineer Clay Buford, Applications Engineer Win Adams, Applications Engineer TARGET AUDIENCES: The principle target audiences for this project are small- and medium-sized manufacturers in rural Oklahoma, Oklahoma inventors, and students interested in innovation and new product design. Members of the target audience have been engaged in product innovation projects with faculty, students, and staff from Oklahoma State University as well as our collaborators. Mechanical Engineering, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Communications, and Agricultural Economics students participated on 16 teams to solve innovation problems for Oklahoma manufacturers as part of a senior design or capstone class in Spring and Fall 2011 (85 participants). Seven students from a diverse set of majors participated in an Entrepreneurship class entitled Introduction to Innovation in Spring 2011. Cooperated as a sponsor of the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship Cowboy Entrepreneurs Bootcamp, Fall 2011 (60 enrolled). PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: none
Impacts
The initial conclusions from this project were that differentiating macro level factors that influence manufacturing development in rural areas is challenging and that firm-specific factors had the most impact on success and particularly successful innovation. As a result, the principle impacts of this project are measured by improved engineering and business knowledge the individual companies and inventors have about their proposed product or process. Companies and inventors are delivered new product designs (in some cases have licensed technologies), and information about how to implement and use the product to create a competitive advantage in the market. In the past year, 20 new and modified products and processes have been implemented. Impacts of the projects are surveyed and reported through the NIST reporting system. Individual project impacts vary greatly. Client companies have new product innovations in line to be introduced in the market, new production methods, new markets, and improved distribution. Other companies have been given a more realistic view of their potential and have decided not to pursue particular product or service innovations. To analyze the financial implications of new product introduction and innovation, a template designed to evaluate cash flow, revenues, expenses, depreciation, and employment impacts under risky scenarios was developed. The spread sheet is capable of evaluating the impacts of seasonal sales variability, input price variability, changes in product mix, and production practices on financial statements and monthly cash flow.
Publications
- Robertson, William, 2011, Small manufacturer strategic decision making assistance tool (SMSDM): a case study of a small Oklahoma manufacturer. M.S. Thesis, Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University.
- Tilley, Daniel S., 2011, Annual Progress Report: Manufacturing Innovation and Revitalization Partnerships: Universities, Manufacturers, Government and K-12 Teachers. NSF Award #IIP-0917808, March.
- Simmons, Joe, 2011, Development of technology to exclude feral animal feed consumption from calf creep feeders. M.S. Thesis, Animal Science, Oklahoma State University.
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Progress 10/01/09 to 09/30/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: For the past two years, the focus has been on firm specific factors that influence the success or failure of manufacturers in rural Oklahoma. In particular, the ability to develop innovative new products appears to be a key determinant of whether firms are expanding sales, employment, and profitability. Our conclusion is that successful firms are successful because of the ability of the firms to continuously evolve and meet the needs of customers with competitive and sometimes innovative products and efficient manufacturing processes. During this project, the project PI has become the Associate Director of the New Product Development Center at Oklahoma State University. The project focus has transitioned to Objective 5. To complete Objective 5, in the past year case studies of the ability of more than 20 innovation projects for small- and medium-sized manufacturers in rural areas have been conducted. The case studies evaluate the market potential, competition, pricing, promotion, and design needs of projects. The case studies involve New Product Development Center interns, graduate students, students in classes, faculty from four colleges and at least six departments. To complete these projects, grant funds have been used from NASA, NSF, USDA (Challenge Grant and SBIR), the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, and most recently from NIST. Companies that agree to participate in the program receive technical and business assessment reports suggesting whether their project appears to have an economic benefit and in some cases prototypes are produced. It some cases the output is a report that recommends against a particular idea. We are currently adding to our short-term engineering consulting expertise. PARTICIPANTS: Daniel Tilley, PI/PD, Associate Director of New Product Development Center, Professor, Agricultural Economics William Robertson, Graduate Assistant Ryan Ramseyer, Undergraduate Assistant Partner Organizations: Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology Oklahoma Department of Commerce College of Engineering Architecture and Technology NASA NSF Partnership for Innovation Program USDA SBIR Program Collaborators: Rodney Holcomb, Professor, researcher and instructor, Agricultural Economics Ranji Vaidyanathan, Director of New Product Development Center, Professor, General Engineering Paul Weckler, Associate Professor, faculty researcher and instructor, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Cindy Blackwell, Associate Professor, faculty researcher and instructor, Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership Development Ning Wang, Associate Professor, faculty researcher, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Chris Richards, Associate Professor, faculty researcher, Animal Science Doug Enns, Applications Engineer Ron Delahoussaye, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Kay Watson, Manufacturing Extension Agent, Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Shea Pilgreen, Applications Engineer Clay Buford, Applications Engineer Win Adams, Applications Engineer TARGET AUDIENCES: The principle target audience for this project is small- and medium-sized manufacturers in rural Oklahoma. Members of the target audience have been engaged in product innovation projects with faculty, students, and staff from Oklahoma State University as well as our collaborators. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: None
Impacts
The principle impacts of these projects are measured by improved technical, business and communications knowledge the companies have about their proposed product or process. Companies are delivered new product designs (in some cases have licensed technologies), information about how to implement and use the product to create a competitive advantage in the market, and have drafts of campaign materials to use to market the products. In the past year, five new and modified products have been placed on the market. Several of our companies have received business and technical assistance that was not available internally. Others are engaged in developing strategic plans that include innovation strategies that have resulted in a series of new product innovations in line to be introduced in the market, new production methods, new markets, and improved distribution. Other companies have been given a more realistic view of their potential and have decided not to pursue particular product or service innovations.
Publications
- Riggs A., Smith, K., Blackwell, C., Weckler, P., Tilley, D., Holcomb, R., Sitton, S., & Ron Delahoussaye. (2010). Benchmarking the Innovations Capstone Course at Oklahoma State University: Lessons learned and changes made. Session presentation at the ASEE Midwest Section 45th Annual Meeting, Lawrence, KS.
- Weckler, P., Riggs, A., Sitton, S., Tilley, D., Holcomb, R., Blackwell, C., Delahoussaye, R., Tilley, M., Cavaletto, R., Zohns, M., Jones, D., & Yianaka, A. (2010). Conflict Resolution on Interdisciplinary Capstone Projects. Session presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Pittsburgh, PA.
- Tilley, D., Weckler, P., Blackwell, C., Holcomb, R., Sitton, S., Riggs, A., Delahoussaye, R., Tilley, M., Cavaletto, R., Zohns, M., Howard, W., & Jones, D. (2010). Collaboration and Communication Create Innovation Celebrations. Session presentation at the annual meeting of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, State College, PA.
- Tilley, Daniel, Vaidyanathan, Ranji, Blackwell, Cindy, and Enns, Doug (2010). Interdisciplinary Approaches to Enhance Engineering Education through Collaboration and Assistance to Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers in Oklahoma. GC2010-234, American Society for Engineering Education Proceedings, Singapore.
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Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The project has begun to emphasize Objective 5 which is designed to explain individual firm level behavior and determine why some firms are growing and others are not. Growth at the firm level appears to be primarily driven by their capacity to be innovative and introduce new products that allow them to gain new markets. The project PI has become the Associate Director of the New Product Development Center (NPDC) at OSU. The overall NPDC hypothesis is that access to university technical, business and communications expertise can augment the capacity of individual firms to be successful. The hypothesis is being tested by linking rural manufacturers with university expertise and financial resources from external sources that will allow them to successfully develop and introduce new products. Outputs of the project include market and business analyses, technical and engineering assistance, business communication assistance, and grant writing support activities that are provided to companies. In addition, in April of 2009, NPDC added the Inventor's Assistance Service to help inventors evaluate and commercialize their ideas and in June 2009, rapid prototyping capacity was added. During 2008/09, 23 new product development projects, 24 business analysis projects, 24 marketing communications projects, 12 grant assistance projects, and 3 rapid prototyping projects were completed for 49 companies. Projects involve faculty investigators as well as undergraduate student interns and graduate research assistants. Financial capacity to undertake innovation projects is a substantial constraint impacting manufacturers' abilities to create and market new products. NPDC has helped Oklahoma manufacturers and OSU generate $3.1 million of external grant support to engage in new product development projects in 2008-09. Most projects are multi-year projects and all involve manufacturing client companies and faculty investigators from multiple departments. Grants have come from NASA, NSF, the Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology, USDA, and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. Faculty investigators, collaborators, and staff support has come from the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of Business at OSU and Murray State College in Tishimingo, Oklahoma and Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. Other outputs include presentations at the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Annual Conference, the Durant Development Authority, North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture 2009 Annual Meeting, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 2009 Annual Meeting, and the American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting. PARTICIPANTS: Current collaborators on various NPDC projects include: Daniel S. Tilley, Professor of Agricultural Economics, project PI and Associate Director of the New Product Development Center; Ranji Vaidyanathan, Professor of General Engineering and Director of the New Product Development Center; Cindy Blackwell, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Education, Communications and Leadership Development (AECLD); Paul Weckler, Associate Professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE); Ron Delahoussaye, Professor Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE); Shelly Sitton Professor, AECLD; Rodney Holcomb, Professor, AGEC; Ning Wang, Assistant Professor, BAE; Chris Richards, Assistant Professor of Animal Science; Doug Enns, Applications Engineering Program leader, BAE; Gary Foutch, Professor, Chemical Engineering (ChemE); Raman Singh, Associate Professor, MAE; Cecil Carter, Murray State College; Arun Tiluk, CETES Director, Cameron University, and manufacturing extension agents Joe Genet and Kay Watson. The faculty and staff members have served as project leaders for specific projects for manufacturers, as instructors in classes that have used NPDC projects as student projects, and as leaders in identifying and coordinating project activities. In addition, 13 undergraduate student interns and 9 graduate students have been employed at various times in 2008-09 on NPDC projects. Key partner organizations involved in project activity include the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, the Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, i2e, Murray State College, the Center for Emerging Technologies and Entrepreneurial Studies at Cameron University, and the OSU Center for Innovation and Economic Development at OSU, and the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship at OSU. As a result of this project and our contacts with small rural manufacturers, real world experiences for students in the following classes have been offered: Agricultural Economics 4423 and 5423; Agricultural Communications 4403; Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering 3023, 4012 and 4023; MAE 4344; and Electrical and Computer Engineering 4013 and 4024. Approximately, 80 students participated on NPDC related projects in 2008/09. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audiences for this project includes small rural Oklahoma manufacturers, Manufacturing Extension Agents that work for the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance. students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology and faculty at other universities who have interests in bringing real world experience into their students' educational endeavors. As a result of this project and our contacts with small rural manufacturers, real world experiences for students in the following classes have been offered: Agricultural Economics 4423 and 5423; Agricultural Communications 4403; Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering 3023, 4012 and 4023; MAE 4344; and Electrical and Computer Engineering 4013 and 4024. Approximately, 80 students participated on NPDC related projects in 2008/09. The NPDC directors have made presentations to approximately 25 individual companies, were interviewed on an OCAST sponsored radio show on innovation, Native American tribal groups interested in economic development, inventors, and rural development agencies and groups in local communities. NPDC and the Inventors Assistance Service hosted the 2009 Oklahoma Inventors Congress which was attended by 53 inventors. The project PI also presented a paper at the July 2008 AAEA meetings and the June 2009 NACTA meetings. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: N/A
Impacts
The project has impacted the way senior design and capstone courses in Agricultural Communications, Agribusiness, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Students and faculty from these departments have been involved in interdisciplinary teams to design new products and processes, analyze business opportunities, and create communications materials and campaigns to market new products. Students with these experiences have found employers are interested in knowing about this work and students' experiences working on interdisciplinary teams. Impacts of project efforts on manufacturers are measured by surveys of client companies that are performed by Manufacturing Extension Agents that are employed by the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance. Impacts include changes in revenues, changes in costs, and jobs retained or created. In addition, inventors that receive assistance from the Inventor's assistance service are surveyed. The impacts occur because of the business cases evaluated, products developed, and marketing materials created. In 2007-08, the most recent year for which data are complete, the cost and revenue impact was estimated to be $20 million with 60 jobs retained or created. Given the increase in number of projects, we expect the 2008-09 numbers to increase. Other indicators of success include the 6 provisional patents submitted, 2 licensing agreements negotiated and signed, and 3 new products marketed by manufacturers as a result of the NPDC supported projects.
Publications
- Pruitt, J. Ross, Dicks, Michael R. and Daniel S. Tilley. Determinants of Students' First Impressions of Instructors and Courses. NACTA Journal 53 (Sept. 2009) http://nacta.fp.expressacademic.org/article.phpautoID=1701&issueID=2 60.
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Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A heteroskedastic Tobit and GLS models were used to analyze factors affecting firm location decisions and changes in employment Texas and Oklahoma counties from 1997 to 2005. Counties that are part of micropolitan areas and counties in Texas (relative to Oklahoma) are more likely to see positive growth in terms of employment. Counties with longer commute times are positively linked with employment growth although concerns about commuting time must be raised due to changes in commuting costs related due to gasoline price changes. We found that pull factors are not important in employment growth or location/expansion of manufacturing facilities. The fact that higher levels of sales taxes has such a negative impact on growth is surprising, but this fact may be attributed to retail stores not locating in areas with higher sales taxes. Counties that are micropolitan have significantly greater opportunities for new firm location (as measured through monetary size of investment, number of employees hired, or size of the facility) than those that are not classified as micropolitan counties. Counties that spend more per capita on fire services are also attractive to firms included in this study. Counties in the Oklahoma/Texas Regional Consortium (OTRC) are significantly different from other similarly sized counties in Texas and Oklahoma in employment growth, but not location or expansion of manufacturing facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Participants: Ross Pruitt (Agricultural Economics - OSU graduate student) TARGET AUDIENCES: County governments PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
A heteroskedastic Tobit and GLS models were used to analyze factors affecting firm location decisions and changes in employment Texas and Oklahoma counties.
Publications
- Pruitt, J. Ross. 2008. Essays on Business Location, Recruitment, and the Role of Evaluations in the University Classroom. Ph.D. Dissertation, Oklahoma State University.
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Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07
Outputs
The impacts of continuing trade restrictions on sugar containing products while at the same time implementation of NAFTA provisions that reduce restrictions on the imports of sugar-containing food products have created incentives for producers of these products to locate new manufacturing facilities in Canada and Mexico. Our empirical results suggest that despite the protective measures that remain in place to ensure sugar production in the U.S. in the face of increasing trade liberalization including NAFTA, confectionery manufacturers were not adversely affected by the agreement from 1993 to 2005. Manufacturing industries in Oklahoma have been decreasing in number and jobs have been lost because of the apparent reduced competitiveness. A data base on the impacts of over 100 OSU New Product Development Center business analysis, marketing communications, and engineering assistance projects is being developed. Models that relate the financial value of the projects to the
characteristics of the projects will be estimated. Preliminary analysis of data suggests that counties in South Central Oklahoma are benefitting from more new firm locations and economic growth per capita than are other counties in Oklahoma. Hypotheses about the reasons for the exceptional economic growth include location relative to Dallas, a large metropolitan area, location relative to recreational amenities, as well as the efforts of particularly active industrial development groups. Data to test the hypotheses are being collected.
Impacts
Numerous strategies are used at various local, state, and federal government levels to influence the location of businesses. The purpose of this project is to determine why companies are located where they are and whether local, state, and federal government policies impact location decisions.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 10/01/05 to 09/30/06
Outputs
Progress on the project has focused on two fronts. First, the impacts of continuing trade restrictions on sugar containing products while at the same time implementation of NAFTA provisions that reduce restrictions on the imports of sugar-containing food products have created incentives for producers of these products to locate new manufacturing facilities in Canada and Mexico. A game theoretical Cournot model illustrates how trade in sugar containing products and the location of sugar containing product manufacturers in North America is likely to be impacted by the combined effects of U.S. sugar policy and NAFTA. Current international agreements which affect sugar confectioners are incorporated. The perfect competition assumption is relaxed as three branded products are assumed to be produced. Preliminary results indicate that domestic firms are at a cost disadvantage to firms that export into the domestic market due to current international agreements and domestic
policy. The current trade policy affects the amount of sugar trade between North American countries as firms seek to gain an advantage in the cost of inputs as well as the volume of finished goods traded between countries. The second focus is on factors influencing business plans and innovation for largely rural, small manufacturers in Oklahoma. Manufacturing industries were selected as a focal point because of the loss of jobs and apparent reduced competitiveness of manufacturers in the U.S. Business proposals and plans for product innovations have been evaluated for 30 companies. While this effort continues, preliminary results suggest that many small rural manufacturing firms 1) need to better understand their cost structures and pricing decisions; 2) are facing succession issues that will potentially influence where the firms are located; 3) face shortages of dependable skilled labor; 4) frequently face cash-flow challenges; and 5) have difficulty determining how best to introduce
and manage new product development projects even though Oklahoma has an active support system for small manufacturers.
Impacts
Numerous strategies are used at various local, state, and federal government levels to influence the location of businesses. The purpose of this project is to determine why companies are located where they are and whether local, state, and federal government policies impact location decisions.
Publications
- Pruitt, Ross and Tilley, Daniel S. 2006. Impacts of U.S. Sugar Policy and the North American Free Trade Agreement in North American Sugar Containing Products. Contributed paper, American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meetings.
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