Central Michigan University

Aiding industry

By Barbara Sutherland Chovanec

Some members of Michigan’s ailing tool and die industry have received a boost from CMU students in a Master of Business Administration course.

During an eight-week course last fall, Deborah Gray’s class at CMU’s Midland site developed marketing plans for one of 25 tool and die company collaboratives in Michigan. The companies are receiving state tax incentives for forming the collaboratives in order to work together to strengthen Michigan’s tool and die industry.

JoAnn Hinds, ’72 MA ’76, owner of Diamond Die and Mold of Clinton Township, made the call to CMU seeking marketing expertise for the Michigan Coast to Coast Tool and Die Collaborative.

Gray’s students divided into four groups, learned the ins and outs of manufacturing, conducted research, studied business-to-business marketing techniques, and developed marketing plans for the collaborative.

“It’s probably the most in-depth project I’ve had students tackle in a short class,” Gray says. “This was very rigorous for an MBA class to take on in eight weeks.”

“It was really intense,” says student Zachary Strope. “It allowed us to use all our skills, and it was more than just a marketing class.”

Students met with the entire collaborative membership twice and met with Hinds another couple of times. At the end of the project, the students delivered their recommendations in a four-hour presentation to the business owners.

“The people in the collaborative were just so excited,” Hinds says. “The CMU students gave us way more than what the other collaboratives have done.”

Student Kendra Bethke says she and her peers took their responsibilities seriously, knowing businesses and families are depending on their advice.

“It was nice knowing they had faith in us even though we are still students,” says Andrew Tracy.
And the bottom line: Gray says the plans are 100 percent trustworthy.

“I would bank on them if I were running one of the businesses,” she says. •