By Keith Patridge
McAllen Economic Development Corporation
Source: Texas Border Business, May 2011
We live in a connected world where mobile devices, internet and emerging technology have become a mainstream necessity in our lives. The entire world is our shopping basket. For any product or service we can locate multiple vendor options, compare features, prices and delivery all in the matter of minutes from the comfort of our home or on the go. This advanced technology shift also impacts the success of a city, region, state or nation. Embracing innovation and staying ahead of competition are key elements in making our community a more attractive location for investment. It also provides a source of pride for the residents knowing their hometown is progressive and able to compete in this global marketplace.
Since MEDC was established we have always worked to find new tools to attract investment and jobs to our international metro. As an example, we believe we were the first EDC to have a presence on the worldwide web, the first to promote rapid response manufacturing, and we were among the first to embrace elements of the green revolution by working with companies to start looking at remanufacturing, de-manufacturing, and recycling as potential profit centers.
One of our most recent projects involves the creation of a new Research and Education Park focused on the advanced manufacturing assets located in our area. This research park will be the first of its kind to focus exclusively on advanced and rapid response manufacturing and the workforce preparation and training needed to support both. The rapid response focus will provide global manufacturing companies with new research and applications in advanced materials, process, and procedures all focused on reducing the time and cost of taking a new product from concept to customer in as short a time frame and as low a cost as possible. Our goal is a 30 day design cycle. It is not possible today but with the support and talent of our community I am certain that if anyone can do it we can.
We already have companies moving their applied research operations and corporate support operations to the McAllen area at least in part because of the promise rapid response manufacturing holds in developing a higher margin, high-market demand next generation product. Let me quote one of our company managers after taking with our Research Park master planners, “ In my opinion the biggest hindrance to the growth of our company is the product cycle time; the amount of time it takes to get a product from conception to the marketplace. Today more than ever consumers want something new and different so speed to market is probably more critical than ever. Ironically one of the hindrances for us is the coordination of R&D activities [around the world]. Our product cycle time needs to be slashed by at least 50%. “
The education component of the research park is critical. To go from concept to customer in a short period of time implies that the skills and know how exists to build the newly designed product which in turn requires the development of new and faster technics in workforce training. We have partnered with the University of Texas Pan American, South Texas College and local companies to develop a world-class talent pool necessary to support advanced and rapid response manufacturing.
For more detailed information on the research and education park and other projects, please contact McAllen EDC at 956-682-2875 or connect with us via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.