{"id":59262,"date":"2014-08-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-names-director-of-polaris-manufacturing-extension-partnership\/"},"modified":"2014-08-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T00:00:00","slug":"uri-names-director-of-polaris-manufacturing-extension-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/08\/uri-names-director-of-polaris-manufacturing-extension-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 names director of Polaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 13, 2014 \u2013 The 溏心vlog免费B站 has named Christian Cowan the director of Polaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership<\/a>, effective August 4.<\/p>\n


\n\tCowan is a manufacturing executive with more than 20 years of experience managing small and large organizations in the information technology networking, energy and textile industries. He was most recently the director of global product management for Opengear, and he previously served as vice president of marketing for Asure Software, product manager at A123 Systems, and product line director for American Power Conversion. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI\u2019m excited to bring my broad business experience to support local manufacturers,\u201d said Cowan, who earned an engineering degree from Villanova University and an MBA from 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cIt\u2019s critical to take the important research happening at 溏心vlog免费B站 and use it to help improve local companies.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI was greatly impressed by Christian\u2019s breadth of engineering and business experience both in the manufacturing sector and in using advanced technology from universities,\u201d said Jim Petell, executive director of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Research Foundation, which absorbed the former Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Service last year and renamed it Polaris. \u201cHe brings new capabilities to Polaris that promote our strategy of using the innovations and skills of 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty and students to stimulate new growth for Rhode Island manufacturers.\u201c<\/p>\n


\n\tCowan said that manufacturing in the United States has changed dramatically in the last 15 years \u2013 from mass manufacturers of products to custom manufacturers \u2013 and organizations like Polaris must adapt their programs to provide the best service to their clients and to the Rhode Island workforce.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy aim is to grow the program\u2019s capabilities to support the changes taking place in the strong manufacturing industry in Rhode Island,\u201d he said. \u201cLast year Rhode Island manufacturers added 700 new jobs after decades of job loss. These are important jobs to build Rhode Island\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe average annual salary for a manufacturing job today is $45,000, and the sector employs more than 40,000 people.<\/p>\n


\n\tHis first priority, Cowan said, is developing new programs and services for the manufacturing community, including innovation engineering, supply chain optimization, and specialized support for family-owned companies. He also plans to leverage state and federal resources to provide the necessary funding to accomplish Polaris\u2019 mission. As the manufacturing industry partner to the Governors Workforce Board, Polaris has led the creation of Rhode Island\u2019s new apprenticeship program for computer numerical control operators. It also administers training grants funded by the state for participation in its public and on-site workshops and trainings. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI want Polaris to be top of mind when manufacturers are thinking about how to achieve operational excellence,\u201d said Cowan. \u201cThis encompasses businesses looking to grow, restructure or optimize their operations. I want us to be the go-to experts for whatever assistance they may need.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tPolaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership provides on-site training and one-on-one custom services designed to help manufacturing companies in Rhode Island grow their businesses and operate more efficiently. It offers \u201clean manufacturing\u201d programs, including production optimization, cost reduction, facility layout and quality management services like ISO certification, as well as growth-oriented services designed to help manufacturers access new markets and develop new products and processes. <\/p>\n


\nEstablished in 1996, Polaris operates under a contract with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which provides $750,000 in annual funding. It is one of 58 manufacturing extension programs located across the United States.<\/p>\n


\nPhoto by Nora Lewis<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 13, 2014 \u2013 The 溏心vlog免费B站 has named Christian Cowan the director of Polaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership, effective August 4. Cowan is a manufacturing executive with more than 20 years of experience managing small and large organizations in the information technology networking, energy and textile industries. He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}