Accountability is Big Story for Nation and the Robotics Industry

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

As we approach the New Year, an automotive rescue plan is a topic that dominates the national media. Close on its heals is a growing number of reports that the federal treasury cannot fully account for how money was used after it was injected into the financial market bailout. Whichever way one looks, accountability seems to be the central issue of the biggest news stories.

When it comes to your business, should you pull back on spending or is this the time to crank up the budget? Some members of RIA say hold on to your money. Others say spend. Both choices require accountability.

If congress chooses to deny the request by Detroit’s Big Three for financial assistance, they would be doing what the public wants according to major news polls. CNN says six in 10 people are against a “bailout” as reported on December 3, 2008. In other words, let the car companies be accountable for their own success or failure.

In a story worthy of Hollywood’s best cliffhanger productions, the same people that should have safeguarded the public against the financial crisis that ravaged the U.S. economy are in charge of the fate of the nation’s automotive industry. A weary public says, “No more. Don’t spend the money to bail them out.”

President elect Barack Obama has stated publicly he favors support for the automotive industry, and by many accounts this includes financial assistance. At least one school of thought says invest now or lose the manufacturing base that won several wars and almost single-handedly rescued the economy after 911 with zero-percent incentives that kept consumers spending.

And as long as they could get loans, consumers did spend. Then gas zoomed from two bucks to four in one summer. As quickly as it went up, gas prices crashed even faster, now to lows not seen since 2004. Right in the middle was a historic meltdown in the banking industry that froze credit tighter than a lobbyist’s hold on special interests. What does it all mean?

Money is at the center of the debate, that’s for sure. Banks and business need it. At one time they could practically mint it in the form of fantastical (some might say predatory) loans and big ticket vehicles. Now, the government (which really does mint the nation’s currency) is dolling out cash faster than the treasury can keep track.

In marketing, there is a basic tenant that when times are bad make sure consumers know how great you are. This may require investment in your sales force, your training, your manufacturing facility, and for sure your corporate image. Those who stop broadcasting their sales and marketing story will suffer from customer migration, especially when times improve and people gravitate to companies that are perceived as better or stronger than the competition.

A trade association such as Robotic Industries Association can be instrumental in promoting a solid case to do business with members. Membership is one way to get extra attention for a company’s sales and marketing message with a minimal investment. Membership is testimony to a company’s dedication to a particular marketplace. Membership makes it easier for customers and partners to do business by illuminating who is involved, and therefore credible, in a particular sector.

If you are in the banking business, you probably want to make loans to good customers and secure credit from companies that are qualified to lend. If you make cars, you want to sell to good customers and do business with companies that understand car manufacturing. If you use or can use robots, you should get to know the members of Robotic Industries Association. This dedicated bunch knows robots and their membership affirms their true nature as serious players. It even helps determine the best solution providers inside and outside the automotive sector.

Let RIA help you get your sales and marketing message out in a way that reflects well on your company and maximizes your marketing dollars. A New Year is coming soon and promises to be amazing. America will look to its first ever African American president for leadership amidst the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. A new automotive landscape will evolve from the legacy of one of the safest and most productive manufacturing centers in the developed world. Energy technology will make advancements in ways not seen since the atom was split. And at some point a recovery will be at hand and business will boom for those who are ready.

We hope you’ll be with us when it happens. RIA is accountable to its members and pledges to help them grow and prosper. Thank you and have a wonderful holiday season.

Rank higher in Robotics Online search results with free POP points!

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

 

For a limited time, you can get free POP points that allow you to rank higher in Robotics Online searches. Normally $495, POP points are included at no charge with any advertising bundle order in October.

 

What is a bundle?

Qualified members get free or deeply discounted ads in the Robotics Industry Directory. A bundle upgrades these ads from good to better and includes online ads at discount rates. Bundle advertisers save money and stand out online and in print.

 

What is a POP point?

Similar to how AdWords work on Google, POP points increase your visibility to Robotics Online users through a weighting system that jumps member content ahead of those with less points in a category. You choose the categories and apply the POP points yourself. Order an ad bundle and get FREE POP points!

 

Why October?

Robotic Industries Association goes into production for its 2009 Robotics Industry Directory soon. Members must tell us now of any plans to use their ads. For most, that is free. The bundle is for anyone anticipating 12 months of online ads beyond the print Directory and interested in an arrangement that saves money. POP points are for good customers and a way for us to give sincere thanks.

 

Order Bundle by                   Get this many POP points

October 10                             10 ($4,950 value!)

October 17                             8 ($3,960 value!)

October 24                             6 ($2,970 value!)

October 31                             4 ($1,980 value!)

 

How to order a bundle

Call me and I’ll handle the paperwork (see below for rates). At some time, the process will be run from the Member Control Panel. Soon, it will be so you can purchase and manage your ads in full from this dashboard. Until then, please contact me at 734/994-6088 or by email.

 

For people in the business, Robotics Online is the number-one website on industrial robotics technology and generates thousands of advertising clicks every year. According to Google Analytics, some 18,000 “Absolute Unique Visitors” come around each month and do so much they make better than five times their mass in “Pageviews” running toward 98,000 per month. Thanks to search engine optimization, it is common to see member content indexed by Google and served up from Robotics Online in their searches. POP over and see what you get – great things are waiting for you.

 

FYI – Bundle Rates

Bronze Supplier: $1,500 ($2,160 in pieces)

Silver Supplier: $7,900 ($11,420 in pieces)

Gold Supplier: $7,500 ($10,135 in pieces)

Platinum Supplier: $7,300 ($11,535 in pieces)

 

Integrators: $3,910 ($5,535 in pieces)

 

Sincerely,

Brian Huse

Director, Marketing & PR

Robotic Industries Association

900 Victors Way, P.O. Box 3724, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

734/994-6088

bhuse@robotics.org

 

Robotics Online 2.0 in the Making

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

Two weeks ago a contract was signed to re-do the Robotic Industries Association Web site. The agreement was the culmination of more than two years of study, committee input, database investigation, specifications writing, a few bidding rounds, and high powered consultation. Meanwhile at RIA, event management continued unwaveringly and membership grew both those years, especially in the user and integrator categories.

In the last two weeks, RIA and its Web developer (AIMG out of New Jersey) opened up the secret lab where ingredients were mixed to grow the DNA of the new Robotics Online site. The new site’s life will have its inspiration drawn from basic building blocks developed about four years ago by RIA’s MARCOM Committee. Also contributing to the magic is bits and pieces from the Statistics Committee, the Membership Committee, the New Markets Committee, the Education Committee, Board members and others with a stake in the robotics industry.

Even people who visited the old site (i.e. the one that’s up while I write this blog) contributed through survey input. The tradition of comprehensive inclusion continues.

Along with a rich heritage, big changes are at hand with the new site. For one thing, database interaction will be enhanced exponentially. Flood gates will open and more data than ever will transfer to site visitors and members. Members will have dashboard access to their corner of a site that is alive with thousands of visitors per day.

Visitors who always have been drawn to the site will have far more to be attracted to when it comes to robotics. Search aids will speed their navigation and increase their productive time on the site. Information will flow from far more sources as the Association enhances its database with more functionality. Results will be easier to get, ever more relevant and increasingly meaningful.

Stage one of the Web site is scheduled to role out in time for Robots 2008: What’s Next. More than 3,000 documents will be touched when it is done. Member’s Only access will be more than rewarding; it will be useful in running a business.

In the last two weeks, we here at the RIA lab have been working on deployment of a new Robotics Online Web site. It started with intense data mining, and will commence with a fury, building at the same time a marketing wave launches for Robots 2008 this June. Look out, cyber world and robot buffs everywhere; Robotics Online “two-point-oh” is in the making.

RIA: Association of Choice for Robot Users

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR (RIA)

User membership is on the rise at Robotic Industries Association. In fact, membership in all categories is up for the year, but a special emphasis has been placed on recruiting companies that use or plan to use robots and results are very good.

Out of 274 members in November 2007, 57 were users. Few trade associations even have a user category, let alone a mix where 20 percent of the membership is from customers in the very market it serves. From its Board of Directors (which includes users, plus suppliers, integrators and researchers) to RIA committees, the Association has always held the interests of users in mind.

One reason users are such an important mix within the trade association is the mandate for safety. In the U.S., the end user company is ultimately responsible for the safety of its workers. Robots present a very dynamic safety challenge thanks to their combination of speed plus power; a wide variety of applications and an ever-increasing playbook of programming options.

Factory workers are more and more likely to operate and maintain robots in today’s global market. According to everything I’ve ever seen and heard, their safety record in North America is stellar.

Robots are used around the world wherever quality and safety is a concern. Robots take workers out of dangerous situations, which is one reason North American unions have been supportive of these multi-axis, reprogrammable manufacturing tools.

Unfortunately, there are places in third world countries where workers still toil under ridiculously unsafe conditions. Many industrialized nations have worked hard to safeguard their workforce with health and safety standards that are enforced by government agencies (such as OSHA in the U.S.). Robots have proven to be not only a good alternative where conditions are unsafe (even life threatening), but one that allows companies to compete against low-wage industrial nations that have no culture of workplace safety.

I recently saw a video that showed four or five guys sitting under a large stamping press that raised and lowered right over their heads. Between cycles, they removed finished parts and inserted sheet metal blanks. The press cycled every few seconds and the men literally had to duck under it each time it came down. How much do you want to bet that for a predictable percentage of the operation, a few of these workers literally became part of the press?

The video footage seems almost too outrageous to be true, but one of our members shared it during the last Robotic Grinding, Deburring & Finishing Workshop, and it seemed completely authentic. I gather the operation was somewhere in Asia.

Of course, the point is that today’s manufacturers have to contend with this kind of global competition. The thing is: robots have become so affordable that the business case of safety plus quality is easily made even where wages are low, and the fact is robots are used quite a bit in China, India and many other places with cheap labor.

RIA embraces and values the user with a very affordable membership category. The Association provides a forum for the user’s voice to be heard by suppliers and integrators, and is a pipeline of information for robot safety and best practices. In fact, RIA sponsors the ANSI/RIA R15.06 Robot Safety Standard, and welcomes participation from user companies around the world.

If you haven’t joined yet, please take a look at RIA corporate benefits. You’ll be in good company.

Click here to see RIA membership details.

Platinum Members Emerge at Top of Industry during Robotics Industry Forum

by Brian Huse (Director, Marketing & PR, RIA) 

Four new Platinum members emerged from the Robotics Industry Forum in Orlando last week (November 7-9, 2007) and – along with others at this elite membership level – will be honored in media campaigns throughout 2008. I think it is safe to say this is the biggest news that has come out of the Forum in ages, and is a testament to the energy and leadership of the volunteers in RIA’s Membership Committee.

Two of the new Platinum Suppliers are from the Membership Committee itself: EPSON Robots and Stäubli Robotics. Kuka Robotics also stepped up to Platinum Supplier, and Genesis Systems Group became a Platinum Integrator.

Catherine Morris of ATI Industrial Automation chairs the RIA Membership Committee, and in one morning while at the Forum she and the rest of the group formulated a plan to honor RIA’s supplier and integrator members in the Platinum category. These are companies that pay more for dues; expect more and get more back in benefits; and can always be found at the forefront of the robotics industry.

With the blessing of RIA’s Board of Directors, who also met during the Forum, Chairman Morris spoke to a gathering of the industry’s top companies during the opening networking reception to invite others to join the ranks of Platinum members for special recognition. In the coming months, she explained, their companies will be honored as industry leaders in a print ad campaign with leading trade journals including RIA’s Robotics Industry Directory.

Only at the Forum could there be enough authority on hand that literally overnight the Platinum Supplier category almost doubled from four to seven, and Integrators got a big boost when RIA’s new president, Richard Litt, declared his company, Genesis Systems Group, a Platinum Integrator. Time still remains for other companies to make the choice for Platinum and also be recognized in the upcoming media campaign.

Assembly magazine has been selected as the first media partner for ad placements that highlight Platinum supplier and integrator members. You can contact staff or anyone on the Membership Committee to discuss your options. Today, more than 270 companies belong to RIA as suppliers, integrators, users and consultants, and there is a level of membership that fits any budget and corporate vision.

I want to express my personal appreciation to a group of hard working friends and colleagues who meet every quarter to examine ways to bring more value to RIA members. Volunteers on the Membership Committee include:

Catherine Morris, Chairman (Senior Account Manager, ATI Industrial Automation)
Michael Ferrara (Director, Factory Automation Robotics, EPSON Robots)
Joe Gemma (North American Sales Manager, Stäubli Robotics)
Michael Jacobs (President, Applied Manufacturing Technologies, Inc.)
Dave Potter (Vice President, Distribution, FANUC Robotics America, Inc.)
Peter Tarbell (Midwest Regional Manager, Robotics, DENSO Robotics)

Full contact information of these committee members is not listed here to avoid those who might try to harvest such information for spam. I’m happy to connect you with these and others who can talk to you about membership, and of course I can handle inquiries of this nature, too. I can be reached at 734/994-6088 (bhuse@robotics.org), or go ahead and leave a comment here — just be sure to leave me a way to reach you.

Join or upgrade today – 2008 will be a great year for all of RIA’s members!

Sponsored User Membership Campaign

(a.k.a. Subject Line Needed)

All RIA committees have been asked to participate in a new user member campaign developed in concert by RIA’s Membership Committee and MARCOM Committee, with full endorsement from Trevor Jones, President, Robotic Industries Association.

 

Each committee member is asked to sponsor a new member in the User Silver category. There is no charge to the sponsor or to the new member, however only companies that use or are contemplating the use of robots in their manufacturing process are qualified for the offer.

 

According to Catherine Morris, Chairman of the Membership Committee, the goal is to bolster the user ranks which in turn benefits all members with more networking opportunities. She emphasizes that the membership is by invitation only, and this exclusivity is part of the value of the offer. Users currently make up 20% of RIA’s member ranks.

 

Each sponsor is limited to 10 companies they can recruit for “free,” however the actual retail value is $150. Please emphasize the sponsorship aspect when recruiting. An html document for your recruiting convenience has been created and sent to all committee members under separate cover. If you need it again, contact the Webmaster at webmaster@robotics.org, or call 734/994-6088.

 

Current RIA User Members

User Silver Membership Benefits