CTE-I-STEM Cookie

In my October blog I-STEM, I suggested we should expand the concept of STEM to I-STEM, to include Imagination/Innovation.

Follow-on thinking has evolved this to the CTE-I-STEM Cookie concept as discussed below.

For this blog Acronym “CTE” refers to Career Technical Education ; Acronym “I” refers to Imagination/Innovation and Acronym “STEM” refers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The North Carolina Standard Course of Study Guide provides detailed information about CTE course offerings in North Carolina.  The NCSTEM website discusses STEM in more detail.

The May 2009 Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM in Schools article starting on page 14 entitled “STEM as a Curriculum - An Experiential Approach” , By Jan Morrison & Raymond V. “Buzz” Bartlett have some interesting points which support some of the concepts discussed in this blog.

One of the points is:
” Effective teaching and learning in both STEM and Career and Technology Education are, practically speaking, the flip sides of the same coin.”

The concept of flip sides of the same coin trigged my thinking to what is addressed in this blog as two faces of a cookie or sandwich.

If we look at STEM as one face of a cookie or sandwich and CTE as the other face, then the good stuff in the middle is Imagination and Innovation; therefore it seems logical to think of all three in terms of a CTE-I-STEM cookie, or sandwich.

You don’t get a good cookie or sandwich without the two faces containing good stuff in the middle. Dagwood and his sandwiches are a prime example of imagination and innovation working on the ingredients of a sandwich.

The Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM article goes on to say,
“We must first recognize STEM as a unitary idea, not simply a grouping of the four disciplines in a convenient, pronounceable acronym.”

“The University of Maryland engineering professor Leigh R. Abts has used the term “metadiscipline” to describe STEM, meaning a realm of knowledge that speaks to the presentation of technical subjects as they exist in the natural world, part and parcel of each other. “

It goes on to say “This approach breaks down the boundaries of disciplines devised by and for academia, our historical taxonomy of learning reinforced by Charles W. Eliot and the National Education Association’s Committee of Ten in the late 1800s. Organizing knowledge into disciplines may be useful for research, for delving deeply into the secrets of any natural phenomenon, or for dividing up knowledge into teachable chunks. But it does not reflect the reality or convey the excitement of the world we live in. Neither does it help lead students toward inquiry’s counterpoint: solving problems by applying knowledge to design solutions. This is what students will be called on to do in the workplace and in life.”

In my humble opinion, the ideas of “Unitary” and “metadiscipline” can be applied to the concept of including CTE-I-STEM.

Recently while celebrating my youngest grandson’s birthday at the NASCAR Theme park at Concord Mills, I shared with him and his friend the concept of the Cookie Challenge. This would consist of a group with teams of 5-6 individuals working together based on M21C Innovative Engine Team. The cookie challenge teams would decide what their challenge would be and compete based on using M21C concepts in their approaches to the challenges.

Using a napkin to define STEM and CTE; and explain the M21C Innovative Engine Team; I then used Book light and Repen examples to demonstrate the various functions of Customer/Marketplace, Technologist /Production-Service, Engineer/Development, Scientist/Research and Business/Entrepreneur team. My July blog on Entrepreneur Hats describes this and includes the Logistics Hat.

When asked to use their imagination for another ride at the theme park they started drawing an airplane on a napkin.

The highlight of this session was when my grandson took the napkin and folded it and put it in his pocket, maybe it will be a seed that will sprout.

For several years, I have been plagued with the idea of PIE (Pre-college Innovative Engines) in our Schools. Maybe the approach of a Cookie Challenge would be a viable way to plant the seeds of PIE in our Schools.

If these 9 year old boys can grasp the concept of a Cookie Challenge then it would seem others could also.

Our local High School held “The Reality Store” for 10th graders. The format of stations (Bank, Taxes, Housing, Transportation, Utilities, etc) could be structured around the Innovative Engine Team with the objective of an Innovative product or service resulting from the exercise. Anyway it seems worth additional thought.

Postscript 7/21/2011
I recently discovered this website http://steam-notstem.com/ which adds "Arts" to STEM. I feel it addresses somewhat the idea which I had written about in this blog. I now promote I-STEAM to include "Arts"; it emphasizes the importance of creativity which may not be oblivious in STEM.

CTE-I-STEM Cookie

In my October blog I-STEM, I suggested we should expand the concept of STEM to I-STEM, to include Imagination/Innovation.

Follow-on thinking has evolved this to the CTE-I-STEM Cookie concept as discussed below.

For this blog Acronym “CTE” refers to Career Technical Education ; Acronym “I” refers to Imagination/Innovation and Acronym “STEM” refers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The North Carolina Standard Course of Study Guide provides detailed information about CTE course offerings in North Carolina.

The May 2009 Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM in Schools article starting on page 14 entitled “STEM as a Curriculum - An Experiential Approach” , By Jan Morrison & Raymond V. “Buzz” Bartlett have some interesting points which support some of the concepts discussed in this blog.

One of the points is:
” Effective teaching and learning in both STEM and Career and Technology Education are, practically speaking, the flip sides of the same coin.”

The concept of flip sides of the same coin trigged my thinking to what is addressed in this blog as two faces of a cookie or sandwich.

If we look at STEM as one face of a cookie or sandwich and CTE as the other face, then the good stuff in the middle is Imagination and Innovation; therefore it seems logical to think of all three in terms of a CTE-I-STEM cookie, or sandwich.







You don’t get a good cookie or sandwich without the two faces containing good stuff in the middle. Dagwood and his sandwiches are a prime example of imagination and innovation working on the ingredients of a sandwich.



The Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM article goes on to say,

“We must first recognize STEM as a unitary idea, not simply a grouping of the four disciplines in a convenient, pronounceable acronym.”



“The University of Maryland engineering professor Leigh R. Abts has used the term “metadiscipline” to describe STEM, meaning a realm of knowledge that speaks to the presentation of technical subjects as they exist in the natural world, part and parcel of each other. “



It goes on to say “This approach breaks down the boundaries of disciplines devised by and for academia, our historical taxonomy of learning reinforced by Charles W. Eliot and the National Education Association’s Committee of Ten in the late 1800s. Organizing knowledge into disciplines may be useful for research, for delving deeply into the secrets of any natural phenomenon, or for dividing up knowledge into teachable chunks. But it does not reflect the reality or convey the excitement of the world we live in. Neither does it help lead students toward inquiry’s counterpoint: solving problems by applying knowledge to design solutions. This is what students will be called on to do in the workplace and in life.”



In my humble opinion, the ideas of “Unitary” and “metadiscipline” can be applied to the concept of including CTE-I-STEM.



Recently while celebrating my youngest grandson’s birthday at the NASCAR Theme park at Concord Mills, I shared with him and his friend the concept of the Cookie Challenge. This would consist of a group with teams of 5-6 individuals working together based on M21C Innovative Engine Team. The cookie challenge teams would decide what their challenge would be and compete based on using M21C concepts in their approaches to the challenges.



Using a napkin to define STEM and CTE; and explain the M21C Innovative Engine Team; I then used Book light and Repen examples to demonstrate the various functions of Customer/Marketplace, Technologist /Production-Service, Engineer/Development, Scientist/Research and Business/Entrepreneur team. My blog on Entrepreneur Hats describes this and includes the Logistics Hat.



When asked to use their imagination for another ride at the theme park they started drawing an airplane on a napkin.



The highlight of this session was when my grandson took the napkin and folded it and put it in his pocket, maybe it will be a seed that will sprout.



For several years, I have been plagued with the idea of PIE (Pre-college Innovative Engines) in our Schools. Maybe the approach of a Cookie Challenge would be a viable way to plant the seeds of PIE in our Schools.



If these 9 year old boys can grasp the concept of a Cookie Challenge then it would seem others could also.



Yesterday, our local High School held “The Reality Store” for 10th graders. The format of stations (Bank, Taxes, Housing, Transportation, Utilities, etc) could be structured around the Innovative Engine Team with the objective of an Innovative product or service resulting from the exercise. Anyway it seems worth additional thought.



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RESOURCE INFORMATION BELOW



The May 2009 Education Week’s SPOTLIGHT on STEM in Schools article starting on page 14 entitled “STEM as a Curriculum - An Experiential Approach” , By Jan Morrison & Raymond V. “Buzz” Bartlett have some interesting points which support some of the concepts discussed in this blog.



Editor’s Note: “STEM”—short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math—is considered crucial subject matter for today’s students and critical to their future success in the global economy. This “Spotlight” takes a closer look at innovative approaches to STEM teaching and learning in American schools.



” Effective teaching and learning in both STEM and career and technology education are, practically speaking, the flip sides of the same coin.”



“We must first recognize STEM as a unitary idea, not simply a grouping of the four disciplines in a convenient, pronounceable acronym.”



“The University of Maryland engineering professor Leigh R. Abts has used the term “metadiscipline” to describe STEM, meaning a realm of knowledge that speaks to the presentation of technical subjects as they exist in the natural world, part and parcel of each other. “



“This approach breaks down the boundaries of disciplines devised by and for academia, our historical taxonomy of learning reinforced by Charles W. Eliot and the National Education Association’s Committee of Ten in the late 1800s. Organizing knowledge into disciplines may be useful for research, for delving deeply into the secrets of any natural phenomenon, or for dividing up knowledge into teachable chunks. But it does not reflect the reality or convey the excitement of the world we live in. Neither does it help lead students toward inquiry’s counterpoint: solving problems by applying knowledge to design solutions. This is what students will be called on to do in the workplace and in life.”







IEEE The Institute issue December 7, 2009 feature article

A Recipe for Innovation

BY KATHY KOWALENKO

IEEE Life Fellow Gerard H. “Gus” Gaynor, Fellow Gordon W.

Day, and Senior Member Mauro Togneri recently shared their views on innovation

with The Institute.

Gaynor is president of the IEEE Technology Management Council, which focuses on good practices for members involved with overseeing the management of engineering, technology, innovation, and strategy.



“Countries have two reasons for becoming more innovative. One is national, the other global,” Togneri says.

“Nationally, a country wants to raise its citizens’ standard of living, create well-paying jobs, and develop products to offer to the world market. From a global view, innovation in one country helps all countries, because it reduces poverty, creates more efficient ways of doing things, and opens up world markets for technology products.”

Gaynor finds innovation essential to leading countries out of a recession but points out that “it can’t be done at the national level. “It’s got to be done down at the individual level,” he says. “Innovation starts at the bottom, not at the top.”



“But,” he says, “they will use many of the same tools to stimulate innovation: building a solid infrastructure, creating good communication systems, putting into place financial structures that encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, and funding education to create a high-tech workforce.”



“The most important raw material for innovation is brainpower, and assuring there is an abundance of that is perhaps the most important thing IEEE can do,” Day says. “Engineers create jobs because they come up with ideas, invent new products, and build up the companies they work for as well as start new ones. That’s how an economy grows.”



CAREFUL NURTURING

Innovation needs to be cultivated, the experts say.

“Innovation requires an environment that fosters it, people who are willing to take risks, and companies that can be patient and tolerate failure,” Togneri says. “When you are creating or inventing something, you need to take chances, because you don’t know whether it will work.



“To be innovative, a company needs a longer horizon, where it isn’t just worrying about tomorrow’s financial results but looking at its long-term future,” he continues. The purpose of innovation is to provide something of economic value, Gaynor adds. It begins with an idea that is developed into a workable concept, and then, hopefully, into a product. “Innovation equals invention plus commercialization or implementation,” he says. “The process is not simple. Until someone takes research results and commercializes them, it’s not really innovation.

“In today’s world, people are expecting innovations to be churned out every 12 months, and that’s not going to happen.”

He points out that innovation also includes activities that refine or simplify an organization’s processes, such as doing something more efficiently or reducing waste.

You can learn more about innovation from Gaynor’s four e-books: Doing Innovation: Creating Economic Value; Developing a Workable Innovation Process; Fostering an Innovation Culture; and What It Takes to Be an

Innovator. The e-books are available to IEEE members for US $9.95 each and can be found under the IEEEUSA

e-books section of the IEEE Career site.

I-STEM ....

Over the years emphasis has been given to "Science & Math", "Technology & Math", "Engineering & Technology" and more recently to "Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM)" skill sets. I would recommend that this be extended to I-STEM to include Imagination and Innovation.

Our IEEE Central NC Section Education Activities outreach in the local schools has used this concept in promoting Engineering and Technology Career Options. We have used the Transportation Area in the Greensboro Children's Museum as a vehicle to emphasize the importance of Imagination and STEM.

You can see a number of slides that demonstrate these in various Transportation Areas in the Museum for the following:
- Rail Transportation Infrastructure

- Air Transportation System
- Air Traffic Control Tower
- Marine Systems
- Fire Protection & Safety Systems
- Police Technology
- Transportation & Entertainment
- Energy System
The charts also emphasize the importance of Future Vehicle Control and getting involved in with the Future.

DestinationImagiNation promotes the importance of Imagination and has several challenges that give all ages experience in using their imagination. From the standpoint of Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C), imagination and innovation comes into play when Entrepreneurship (Business Hat) is thinking about business models, products or ways to improve processes. Also, the STEM skill sets are important to the Scientist, Engineering and Technology Hats, in that they are essential to understand how new concepts and technologies can be applied to current and new products. The M21C Hats are discussed in other posts of this blog and on the BC Services & Wares web site.

Therefore, it seems to me that the M21C Hats may have the STEM skill sets but without Imagination and Innovation they will not realize their full potential. So I recommend you use our M21C metaphors and your I-STEM to aid in realizing full potential of your products, business models and Entrepreneurship.

Post Script:
After writing this blog, I ran across an interesting article "Engineering — The Silent "E" in K-12 Education" which indicates that too often STEM equates to STM.  This relates to my opening comments about the different ways people relate to STEM.  A new report, Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects, released last month by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council's Center for Education discusses this. 

The report finds that science and technology education in the United States has so far mostly focused on science, technology and mathematics — commonly abbreviated as "STEM," even though the "E" in STEM stands for engineering.

"A major unintended finding of this report is that engineering is the 'silent E' in STEM," says Greg Pearson, Senior Program Officer at the National Academy of Engineering. "What the committee came to realize, after lots of research, digging and workshops, is that despite the increasing national attention to STEM education, nearly all of the major references almost always referring to science or mathematics or the two in combination, but almost never to T and E."

The report also found that, in practice the T — technology — often relates to computer technology, not technology education.

The report goes on to say, "But despite its silence, the E does exist, it just isn't talked about as much or as well understood by the public, or even by the education field. The report actually found that a growing number of K-12 students in the U.S. are experiencing the open-ended, problem-solving process of engineering design. More importantly, data compiled by the committee suggest that these design-oriented experiences can improve student interest and achievement in science and mathematics, increase awareness of engineering as a profession and the work of engineers, boost interest in pursuing engineering as a career, and increase general technological literacy."

Hopefully reading the above report and this blog the reader will have a better understanding of STEM and I-STEM.

Postscript 7/21/2011
I recently discovered this website http://steam-notstem.com/ which adds "Arts" to STEM.  I feel it addresses somewhat the idea which I had written about in this blog.  I now promote I-STEAM to include "Arts"; it emphasizes the importance of creativity which may not be oblivious in STEM.

Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE) ...

Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE) is a new program initiated by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Small Business Administration to help emerging entrepreneurs in rural and urban communities achieve the American dream of owning their own business. Economic freedom is the foundation for individual success and prosperity. Project GATE supports economic freedom through promoting individual entrepreneurship. Project GATE seeks to energize local small business creation and help diverse urban and rural populations create, support and expand small businesses.


In North Carolina there are limited areas where GATE is being implemented as shown on the map. The map above shows the GATE service area in red and blue. Click here to download a printable site map.

If you live in one of the red counties on the map above, you are in a GATE Site area and will be able to work with a local GATE counselor in person. You should visit your local JobLink Career Center to learn more about the GATE program. At the JobLink, you can attend an orientation session and the staff can help you apply for the GATE scholarship. The GATE Sites are housed at your local Community College Small Business Center. If you live in one of the blue counties on the map above, you are eligible to be served by the GATE Virtual Site and will be able to work with a remote GATE counselor over the telephone. You will still have access to local training and programs, but will be expected to communicate by phone and internet as well.

If you live in an urban area, shown in gray, you must meet two additional criteria to qualify for the GATE program:
1. You must have been laid off from a job in a rural county, and;
2. You must plan to start your business in a rural county.

A very nice video regarding the Randolph County program is available at Digtriad. I talked with Jim Judge who is one 9 GATE counselors managing the program accross North Carolina, he indicates it started in April 2009 and is going strong.

This program appears to focus on areas that have been a concern of the author for several years, that of how to plant and cultivate Innovative Engines that produce value added to the 21st century economy. Several of my blog entries discuss this in more detail; specifically Entrepreneur Hats ... addresses the idea of planting seeds for Innovative Engines in k-12 through making hats for the key functions of a successful venture: Scientist (Research), Engineer (Development), Technologist (Production/Service), Customer (Marketplace), Business (Entrepreneur) and Logistics (Global Supply Chain).


It is hoped this blog will help to trigger new ways of thinking inside and outside the box that will add value to the 21st century economy.

Make Schools Stronger ...

This article was published in the Greensboro News & Record COUNTERPOINT on March 24, 2007

Ways we can make our schools stronger BY LONNIE H. BAXLEY JR.

Quality comes from ownership with integrity and appropriate resources in a healthy paradigm.

It was interesting to reflect upon this in light of the Teacher Working Conditions Community Forum held at GTCC Jamestown on March 18, 2007. Guilford Education Alliance (http://www.guilfordeducationalliance.org/) sponsored this forum, which included participation from teachers, parents, community members and the Guilford County school board. [Report published April 2009]

Two things bubbled up in my mind from the discussion that appear to be essential ingredients for improved quality in our schools. First is time for teacher planning; time is an important resource and lack of it results in reduced quality and teachers becoming frustrated and unable to be adequately pre­pared to teach the students.

Second, "school improvement teams," when appropriately implemented, can address improving the health of the paradigm. Where can the public help in improving teacher working conditions? Among the ideas suggested at the forum were volunteers in schools, relieving teachers from menial tasks such as copying, etc.

Also, school improvement teams that help identify and resolve issues in a cooperative spirit make for a healthier paradigm for teachers and, therefore, a healthier learning environment for students.

These factors would support improving the rigor, relevance and relationships that are cited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as important to education.

The public can get involved by getting to know its schools and teachers, volunteering in a way that frees teachers to better plan, and understanding issues that affect the learning environment and holding those responsible accountable for improvement.

We are blessed to have Dr. Margaret Arbuckle and her staff as advocates for our schools in Guilford County. The best investment is in the next generation!

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Virtural Support Organization ....

The Greensboro Chamber and the NC Biotechnology Center announced the formation of a new center that will accelerate market entry and economic development of International Bioscience Companies coming to the Piedmont Triad region and NC.

Peggy Low WS Chamber; John Merrill, Exec. Director Gateway University Research Park; Doug Edgeton, President of the Piedmont Triad Research Park and VP, WFUHS; Russ Read, Executive Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Workforce Training; Gwyn Riddick, Regional Director, North Carolina Biotechnology Center; Rob Clapper, President Greensboro Chamber of Commerce; Leroy Stokes, VP, Guilford Technical Community College; Davis Montgomery, Manager, Business Relations, Duke Energy signed a Memorandum of Support (MOS) July 27, 2009.

Instead of building a physical facility, the partners will use existing space within their own facilities to house international companies as they enter the market. The Greensboro Chamber will be managing partner for the Center.

The Center will ultimately provide assistance with business organization, intellectual property protection, regulatory counseling, market channel development, and connections to capital for international bioscience companies seeking to enter the Piedmont Triad. The center will be a turn-key location for doing business when visiting the region and will be a central point of contact to establish connections between companies and governments, research universities and parks, business incubators, and licensing venues.

This blog gives me an opportunity to discuss some additional facets of Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) introduced in previous blogs. In the March 29, 2008 blog, Innovation …. Customer I introduced the ISCORPIO Metaphor; at that time emphasis was on the Innovation and Customer Facets of the Metaphor.

Thinking about the Piedmont Triad International Bioscience Business Center (PTIBBC) in light of the ISCORPIO concept I would like to focus on the "Organization", "Resources" and "Outer CORE" petals. The concept of a virtual organization without "Brick and Mortar" resources is innovative and best utilizes the resources from various partners. I would say that this is an excellent example of "Thinking outside the Box". It will allow the clients that are exploring the Piedmont Triad Area to get first hand feels of the variety of resources available to them. One that I mention is the North Carolina "Wet Lab" Facilities. It is my understanding that the web lab located at the Piedmont Research Park has now graduated their first class.

The "Outer CORE" petal addresses the Common Operational Resource Environment (CORE). This relates to the environment within which a Business operates and includes government, education, economic development groups, language, financial, culture, communication and transportation infrastructure. The FedEx International Hub that is opening soon is a prime example of the Transportation Infrastructure.

North Carolina is doing good things by beefing up the Outer CORE with the NC Research Network discussed in NC Research Parks .... New Backbone blog and such things as the Piedmont Triad International Bioscience Business Center discussed in this blog and NC Biotechnology Network.

Entrepreneur Hats ...

Critical functional areas of a successful business are depicted in the diagram. In the context of

Metaphors for the 21st Century (M21C) these are Marketplace, Production/Service, Development, Research and Business. This was introduced in the blog Seeing the Invisible.

Taking this chart and redrawing it to emphasize the critical hats for the Innovative Engine we have five critical team hats as shown in second diagram.

Five of these hats are defined at M21C Described.

The Innovation Engine is depicted here with the Team Hats focused as follows:

• The Customer Hat is focused on the needs of the Marketplace.
• The Technologist Hat is responsible for producing wares & services of highest quality, lowest cost, timely delivery and customer attractiveness.
• The Engineer Hat designs and develops prototype wares & services that meet the next wave of marketplace needs.
• The Scientist Hat explores and provides proof of principles, works out the physics and mathematics of devices that can provide options to Engineers in designing or enhancing the products for production and marketplace.
• The Business Hat looks at the big picture and coordinates the system to make a profit. This hat is also the core Entrepreneur thrust of the team, other hats are expected to be Entrepreneurial in thinking.

These were introduced in the January 12, 2009 blog “NC Research Parks .... New Backbone”.
For several years, I have felt we need some way to introduce the concept of Pre-college Innovative Engine (PIE) to students of the next generation workforce. It seems to me if they started thinking in the context of M21C, some would get a head start on making use of thinking that will help to give our country a competitive edge in the 21st century economy.

Over the years, I have been looking at how the schools and various groups are approaching this important task. From my vantage point none of them effectively give the insights that are built into M21C thinking of the five team innovative engine hats.

In my volunteer work as the IEEE Central NC Section Education Activities Champion, I have attempted to plant the seeds of the importance of thinking of the various functions of the five team hat. Since we are promoting Engineering as a career option in the outreach into our K-12 schools, I have found using the diagrams shown above have been helpful in discussing the difference of Engineering and Engineering Technology Majors as described in http://www.tryengineering.org/become.php. In fact I have been using these diagrams since the early 1990s when I was teaching at NCA&T to help the students get an understanding of the different career options; it has been a robust model for discussing this with them.

In the April 18, 2008 blog http://bcswonline.blogspot.com/2008/04/global-value-streams-21st-century.html a diagram of creative work from “Tough Choices or Tough Times” report was introduced. I have found the Creative Work Diamond in diagram parallels the concepts of Research, Development/Design, Marketing and Sales of the M21C innovative team. The Global Supply Chain Management is not depicted in the above M21C diagrams but is discussed in “Focus on bestChoices Functions”.

The following diagram includes a Logistics hat to connect Innovative Engines and represent the Global Supply Chain. This effectively gives a way of thinking about the complete product flow from materials to end product.

The next visual is an attempt to introduce the

concepts discussed above with an activity for students that create hats representing the various team functions. The idea is to form teams of Innovative Engines and Logistics for simulating the Global Supply Chain and then provide challenges for the students to create their own business and industries.

Hopefully this will get students to thinking outside their normal boxes toward an innovative economy, which it seems we are in need. The diagrams introduced in this blog do not cover all important functional areas; these are expanded on in other metaphors in http://www.bcswonline.com/index.html.

Repurposing continued ...Earth Stone Products

3/26/2011 Post script updated:  http://www.digtriad.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=138603 has nice video on "Made In The Triad: Earth Stone Products"

In my February 11 Blog, I discussed Re-purposing Buildings, at the end I mentioned Earth Stone Products. I had an opportunity to visit their facility and get a first hand view of how they were taking waste land field materials and re-purposing them to elegant materials for use inside and outside.

This facility gives me an opportunity to discuss one of the M21C metaphors that views the 3 dimensional concept of producing products.

This cartoon illustrates the concept of a three dimensional product example. In the "Y" dimension there are several different components that can be modified or combined in the "X" dimension into various products for the "Z" dimension. For Earth Stone Products the "Y" is waste land field materials, specifically discarded granite counter tops. The "Z" is the products that are produced at their facility in Greensboro, NC. Within the Earth Stone facility there are equipment that process the discarded materials into a wide variety of pattern shapes as shown on their website.

The photo essay shows their facility and equipment which is performing the functions of "X" by using presses and dies that take the various shapes from discarded materials and producing various pattern shapes depending on the die used.

Looking at the photo essay the top row shows the entrance sign, shipping and receiving area and interior staging area. Row 2 shows the operator placing a material discard onto the press and the resulting stamped curved product. On the third row is the conveyer belt sending the cut products into a machine that uses steel shot to perform the abrasive processing, the last image shows the metal shot that the machine uses. From this photo essay you have a real live example of the "X" that was illustrated above in the cartoon.

It was interesting to also see how they were re-purposing liquid containers as containers for shipment of the processed products; the top of the container and structural members were removed to allow open access to the container. It is my understanding that this is a safer way to ship the heavy products instead of shrink wrap.

Another aspect of the "X" processing is the Intelligent Property where the process has world wide patent protection (pending).

Hopefully this will add insight into the concepts of Metaphors for 21st Century, new ways of thinking inside and outside the box.

Thanks to Rosemarie Williams, Owner Earth Stone Products and John Tesh for the excellent tour and agreement to use their company as an example of how M21C "X,Y,Z" metaphor applies.

Repurposing Buildings ….

This week I had the opportunity to tour a repurposed building here in Greensboro; the Revolution Mill Studios. The developer, James Peeples, has a vision of a historic district with several abandoned cotton mill buildings reclaimed and refurbished into first class business and residential buildings.

At the west end of the building is an events center, which is visualized in the photo essay at right.

To give a comparison of what the building looked like before just look at the adjoining buildings which have not received any conversion.

The first contact I had with this venture was back in the late 1980’s when Gary Dent came into a GTCC class with a large thick notebook with a plan to convert one of the old Cone cotton mills into an entrepreneur center. The entrepreneur center at that time was in an old bank building in downtown Greensboro. My initial visit to that center was in the vault which had been converted into a conference room. At that time I had not been exposed to the term repurposed buildings, but that surely was an example of using something designed for one purpose now being used for another purpose; a vault designed for money now for being used as conference room.

If you visit the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship you find a building that was once abandoned but, now thriving with all types of businesses. There are now over 60 associates in the building with over 100 graduates (businesses that have moved to other locations). This highly successful incubator is a prime example of people that thought outside the box and started their own businesses.

Next to the Nussbaum Center in an adjacent part of the mill building is the Revolution Mill Studios that are being converted into new homes for businesses, some of which have moved from the Entrepreneur Center next door. On their website you can see how far they have come and the quality of the conversion. You can also find history of the facility at their website. A total of 250,000 of the 600,000 square feet of the mill has been renovated and is occupied by 97 businesses. Projections are that as many as 1,000 to 1,500 will work at Revolution Mill when the rehabilitation is complete.

Repurposing buildings is a good example of paradigm shift, moving from the old to the new. As David Murdock notes in his adage “To do the Impossible, you have to see the Invisible.” In a book on paradigm shifts, I recall the author pointing out ‘An Administrator gets everything he can out of the paradigm within which he is operating (looking inside the box); a Visionary sees something that is not in the paradigm (looking outside the box); but a Leader is one that can move from one paradigm to another paradigm. It seems to me the developer of repurposed buildings would be a Leader in this context. Of course for this to happen, there must be appropriate resources to accomplish the various tasks required to transition from an existing paradigm to the new paradigm.

Hopefully this brief blog on repurposing buildings will give you some more ideas on thinking inside and outside the box.

Post Script: This site http://www.earthstoneproducts.net/wp/ takes waste landfield materials and repurposes them to elegant materials for use inside and outside.

NC Research Parks .... New Backbone

North Carolina demonstrates a state that is thinking outside the box with the network of Research Parks developed starting in 1959 with the Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh-Durham area. 

Information about North Carolina Research Parks are identified here.  These will leverage the unique characteristics of the individual parks that have been established in the state and highlights the diverse strengths of the state’s knowledge resources.

The North Carolina Research Parks Network’s mission is "To enhance the state of North Carolina’s global competitive position through a network of science and technology parks focused on collaborative efforts and technology-based economic development.”

In my December 2, 2008 blog “Seeing the Invisible ….” I discuss the NC Research Campus at Kannapolis, NC and include links to speeches during the November 20, 2008 Dedication.

These various research parks have emerged over a fifty year span. Stretching from Charlotte to Raleigh, they form a backbone of advanced research and development vertebrae along the I85-I40 corridor.

Expanding scope of the chart of Business Engine discussed in the previous blog “Seeing the Invisible ….”; we see NC has now put in place a research and development structure that should mesh nicely with the next phases of Production/Service and Marketplace. By creating the network of parks it should bring focus to the Business part of the engine. Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives marry well with this network of parks and will be the channel through which research products can be effectively taken to the marketplace. Also, by FedEx placing their international logistics hub in the middle of the backbone, NC is poised to be an international powerhouse of the future, if implemented appropriately.

I am encouraged to see the developments being taken by NC are congruent with my Metaphors for 21st Century (M21C) thinking and validates the concepts discussed in this blog and my companion website http://www.bcswonline.com/. The Five Team Innovative Engine chart also applies nicely to this thinking.

The five hats of Scientist, Engineer, Technologist, Customer and Business are key skills of the workforce that is required for the 21st Century Economy. There are other important skills such as Global Supply Chain Management as depicted in the “Global Value Streams ….21st Century Skills” blog of April 18, 2008.

Here’s hoping that North Carolina will continue to think outside and inside the box by utilizing the best practices of an innovative engine; it appears to me these are compatible with of M21C concepts.