KLH unveils Technical Research and Education Program

KLH unveils TREP Program

by Matt Stefanski & Kevin Heins

In order to better assist secondary education programs and projects, KLH Industries, Inc. is proud to launch the Technical Research and Education Program (TREP).

KLH recognizes the impact secondary education research has on specialized projects and development. These research projects, engineering programs, product developments, and public service projects are often relied upon to provide tomorrow's solutions. Higher education facilities have been long standing members of some of the nation's most highly classified, complex engineering solutions.

The TREP Program is designed to further relationships with engineering colleges, technical schools, and national laboratories in order to provide valuable machined parts and engineering expertise.

The goal of the TREP Program is to provide higher education facilities with the finest parts available, while simultaneously saving valuable time and money for educational programs.
Often times, experience across multiple industry sectors turns into cost and/or time saving solutions for educational programs. KLH has routine experience with OEMs in the Aerospace, Medical, Defense, Energy, Automotive, Electronic, and Food Processing sectors. Of course, each sector has unique specifications and requirements.

For example, some Medical components have fine finishes that prevent contact inspection. Instead, KLH utilizes a non-contact Tesa Visio system - accurate to +/-0.0001" - that uses light to measure critical dimensional requirements.

KLH is fortunate to have already manufactured precision parts for colleges and universities across the nation, including:

• Purdue University
• Michigan University
• Northern Michigan University
• Milwaukee School of Engineering

As an ISO 9001:2000 registered company, KLH constantly monitors both internal and external work, ensuring that our customers receive the most precise, cost-effective, and controlled parts available.

Trust and respect are always required for a successful working relationship, and as a result, KLH is always compliant with strict confidentiality agreements.

KLH understands the importance of specialized research projects and would like to make available any/all of our capabilities to assist along the way of your next project.

Click here for more information about KLH's Technical Research and Education Program, or contact Matt Stefanski at (800) 294-8363 x 252 or mstefanski@klhindustries.com.

BotsIQ "Challenges" Students

BotsIQ "challenges" students
by Kevin Heins

Using robotics education as a foundation for manufacturing careers
Student-participants of the BotsIQ Robotics Education Program might think the BotsIQ Challenge is destruction - to design and build a robot capable of denting, slashing, scratching, and gashing.

When two robots are removed of their safety restraints and unleashed inside a reinforced arena, it's certainly easy to get that impression.

Following the July 2008 competition at the Washington County Fair, Journal Sentinel writer Don Behm noted that, inside the arena, the 15 pound mechanical robots seemed more like gladiators:
And spectators cheered like Romans when Up Chuck, armed with a spinning bar and built by Slinger High School students, systematically destroyed Black Widow IV, an entry from Germantown High School...Up Chuck's steel bar lifted its opponent off the arena floor as the audience of 50 or so howled approval. (click here to watch this match)

During a BotsIQ match, two robots participate in a head-to-head competition to outscore - and not necessarily destroy - each other. Students participate in an educational, engaging, and competitive environment with safety and operational limitations.

Regardless of the outcome, though, there is more to a BotsIQ competition than victory or defeat; students are able to nurture the core-principles of an advanced manufacturing career.

The true BotsIQ Challenge is not destruction at all, but construction (if not cleverly disguised). The construction of a multi-dimensional skill set, featuring mathematics, engineering, mechanics, teamwork, project management, and even public speaking.

According to the BotsIQ handout documentation, the official mission of BotsIQ is to "revitalize and promote scientific and technical education in middle schools, high schools, and post secondary institutions through robotics."

It makes perfect sense, then, that chief supporters of the Wisconsin chapter are area businesses, technical colleges, and manufacturing organizations.

BotsIQ gives students the opportunity to learn and develop apprenticeship level skills before students are age-eligible to do so. Employers are discovering that participants of the BotsIQ program are more prepared to contribute.

"I need employees with hydraulic and electronic aptitude or experience," says shop-owner Bill Gilbert, "I hired my last employee solely because he listed BotsIQ Club on his resume. He is working out great."

BotsIQ is nonprofit, national program inspired by the television series BattleBots®. The next BotsIQ Wisconsin competition will be held on April 4 at Discovery World, from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm.

The event is free to the public with discounted ($5.00) parking, and will be located inside of Discovery World's Innovation Theatre (simulcast in the Digital Theatre), a stadium-seated amphitheatre strangely reminiscent of a coliseum.

To see pictures of previous BotsIQ bots and competitions, click here.

SEO for Small Businesses

Making SEO Work For Your Small Business
By Matt Stefanski

How do you know if you’re visible to others if you can’t see yourself? That’s the challenge for some of manufacturing’s smaller businesses in today’s world.

Many small businesses are attempting new marketing strategies on a daily basis. It used to be a panic to be found on the front pages of Google through whatever means possible. Companies have since enforced the ideas of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for increasing their business’s internet brand recognition.

Let’s first define SEO. SEO simply translates to increasing and, more importantly, improving website traffic from search engines through organic search results. It looks at how and why search engines find your site and how relevant the search term is to your global content.

The recent economic scare has led some manufacturing companies to believe that additional expenditures for marketing campaigns and SEO in a downturn economy can be a waste. With the right tools and a lot of patience, however, SEO can play an important role of allowing your small business to be seen on the front pages of popular search engines just like the big players at a cost that is reasonable, considering the potential return.

Take KLH Industries, Inc. for example. KLH is a precision manufacturing company in Germantown, WI. Last summer KLH was organically listed on Google a handful of times, depending on the search term. Even though KLH does not generally have a product to sell, they have to focus on selling a service. The services they provide are not, by any means, typical. They manufacture critical parts and components for Aerospace, Medical, Energy, Automotive and Electronic equipment manufacturers. With a limited budget and facing a downturn economy, SEO became a cost effective way to put their services and capabilities in front of potential customers on a much larger scale and, for KLH, has proven to be very effective.

One important aspect that you must understand about SEO is that it does not happen overnight. If you already have a website, that’s a start but SEO primarily focuses on content. I stress the word content because that is the best way to gain search engine ranking through organic search. While writing content for your website, keep your customers in mind. Make sure the information is not too technical, simplistic or wordy. Keywords play one of the largest roles in SEO and it is up to you as to how you label your products or services so that search engines can find relevance to your site rather than your competitors.

Asking questions and evaluating answers are key measures to find which methods work for your business type but, again, don’t expect this to happen right away. Like any business model you have to put something into place, track it, test it and analyze it to determine if you have found the optimal strategy.

KLH is constantly exploring new methods and improving on current methods of SEO. Even through this downturn, KLH’s marketing team has developed effective SEO strategies that have helped increase brand recognition, lead generation and customer retention in all market sectors.
In closing, make sure that you are patient, determined and open-minded while implementing the right SEO package for your small business. Do your research and do not be afraid of failure. Remember to focus on what works for your potential customers. SEO is a continuous challenge and perfecting the strategy is only half the battle; the true challenge is maintaining effectiveness.