Archives

Past News Releases

PENNTAP wins national award for decreasing 'digital divide'
Monday, February 13, 2006

University Park, Pa.--Using the Internet and e-business tools is essential for success for businesses of all sizes, but for small companies, bridging the "digital divide" isn't always easy. Many don't have the resources, the knowledge about technology solutions or the skilled employees to exploit e-business effectively. That's why Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) developed the e-business Technical Assistance Program (e-TAP) especially for small- and medium-sized companies. A cadre of e-business technical specialists located throughout the state provided hands-on technology assistance and education to more than 1,450 Pennsylvania companies to help them increase their e-business capabilities, resulting in $55 million in economic benefits to the companies. As a result, the e-TAP initiative has been honored with the 2005 Award for Excellence in Business Development from the University Economic Development Association (UEDA).

The three-year e-TAP initiative resulted in $5 million in private capital investments on e-business technology, $38.5 million in sales benefits and 1,050 jobs created or retained.

"The rapid development and deployment of Internet technologies and the growth of e-business applications have created not only opportunities, but also substantial confusion and apprehension in the business community," Jack Gido, PENNTAP director, said. "While larger companies have sufficient resources to cope with the communication revolution, many smaller firms do not. The e-TAP initiative was designed to decrease the 'digital divide' between large and small companies."

PENNTAP ( http://www.penntap.psu.edu/ ) helps Pennsylvania businesses improve their competitiveness by providing a limited amount of free technology assistance and information to help resolve specific technical questions or needs. The University Economic Development Association ( http://www.universityeda.org/ ) is a nonprofit association that provides information and a forum to enhance the performance of organizations providing business, economic development and technical assistance to businesses and communities.

Wayne Figurelle, e-TAP initiative program manager, made a presentation on e-TAP and accepted the award during UEDA's annual conference in Monterey, Calif.

"The e-TAP initiative truly indicates the level of commitment by our staff to helping clients with their technology needs," Figurelle said. "Each member of the e-TAP team has a real passion for improving the economy of Pennsylvania and improving the competitiveness of the clients we help."

The assistance one company received led to an improved Web site and nearly $1 million in economic benefits, including nine jobs created or retained. Tedd Wood Inc., a manufacturer of kitchen cabinets, employing 60, in Juniata County, had created a Web site several years ago, but it wasn't generating much business until an e-TAP technical specialist helped the company develop a new Web site. "Not only have we seen a substantial increase with sales that are directly tied to the Web, but our employees feel better about seeing their product being shown in such a (desirable) manner," said Matt Pannebaker, Tedd Wood president.

According to Figurelle, PENNTAP launched its three-year e-business Technical Assistance Program in 2002 in response to a significant increase in requests for assistance with Internet, Web and information technology-related business issues. Funding for the e-TAP initiative was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development through the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. As part of the initiative, PENNTAP established a statewide partnership with the Pennsylvania Business Retention and Expansion Program.

PENNTAP deployed e-business technical specialists across the state, co-locating them with economic development organizations, to provide rapid response teams for small businesses. In addition to providing direct technical assistance to companies, the technical specialists also conducted more than 120 technical outreach seminars on e-business topics for more than 3,300 participants and made more than 470 presentations to almost 8,000.

One of the participating companies was Penn-Union Corp., a manufacturer of electrical connectors in Edinboro. Dan Imel, total quality manager, said, "If not for the help of PENNTAP, we could not have been successful. This project will keep us at the leading edge of technology and will enhance our ability to continue as a manufacturer in Pennsylvania competing against foreign companies."

Since the conclusion of the e-TAP initiative, PENNTAP's e-business consultants have continued to assist medium-sized Pennsylvania companies with information technology issues. Their new focus is on advanced information technology issues for industry clusters critical to a region's economy, Figurelle said. For example, PENNTAP assists the plastics industry cluster in northwestern Pennsylvania and the biomedical industry cluster in the southeast.

A reconstituted network of PENNTAP information technology consultants is now located in six regions of Pennsylvania:

• Central Region: Carlos Colon, Lewisburg, ccolon@psu.edu, (570) 847-3457;
• Northeast and Northern Tier Region: Donna Yale, Towanda, dyale@psu.edu, (570) 596-3585;
• Northwest and North Central Region: Donald LeGoullon, Oil City, donl@psu.edu, (814) 677-3152;
• South Central Region: Donald Krysakowski, York, djk12@psu.edu, (717) 887-7905;
• Southeast Region: Gerard Rein, Philadelphia, gjr11@psu.edu, (215) 275-7212; and
• Southwest Region: Joe Polk, Pittsburgh, jpolk@psu.edu, (412) 352-6836.

Additionally, two PENNTAP information technology specialists are assigned to assist the health- care sector statewide:

• Eastern Pennsylvania: Christina Gettins, Allentown, christinag@psu.edu, (570) 881-2699; and
• Western Pennsylvania: Greg Snyder, DuBois, gws10@psu.edu, (814) 592-9950.

New director named to lead PENNTAP

Wayne Figurelle has been named director of the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP).

Since joining PENNTAP in 2001, Figurelle has been program manager for statewide information technology initiatives where he led a network of technical specialists who helped businesses with e-business and internet-related technology assistance. That initiative was recently honored with an award of excellence from the University Economic Development Association.

Before joining PENNTAP, Figurelle was client-server/Internet development division manager for Link Computer Corp., a provider of technology products and services specializing in infrastructure, network engineering, software development, business applications and information technology staffing. Previously, he worked for Raytheon in a variety of software, system development and project management assignments. Figurelle graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a triple major in electrical engineering, computer engineering and math.

PENNTAP, a unit of Penn State Outreach, helps Pennsylvania companies improve their competitiveness by providing a limited amount of free technology assistance and information to help resolve specific technical questions or needs. PENNTAP is a federal-state-university partnership for economic development, and services the entire state of Pennsylvania through a network of specialists who have specific areas of technical expertise and are located throughout the state. For information on PENNTAP, visit http://www.penntap.psu.edu/ online.

e-Business program earns UEDA award

"e-Business Technical Assistant Program (e-TAP) Initiative," an accomplishment of the Pennsylvania Technical Assistant Program at Penn State University, was awarded the University Economic Development Association's (UEDA) 2005 Award of Excellence in Business Development. The award for the project was presented at the UEDA Summit on Higher Education and Economic Development in Monterey, Calif.

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) at Penn State launched the three-year e-Business Technical Assistant Program (e-TAP) Initiative in 2002. The e-TAP initiative substantially accelerated the use of Internet-based technology through technical assistance for the sole purpose of increasing e-Business capabilities of small companies thereby decreasing the "Digital Divide" between large and small companies. The initiative focused on providing technology assistance to small- and medium-sized companies throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, focusing on economically distressed regions of the state. The e-TAP initiative delivered technology transfer, hands-on technical assistance, and education to small companies through PENNTAP's network of geographically positioned senior e-Business technical specialists. Because of their credibility in the business community and the connection to Penn State, PENNTAP specialists have been able to inform, educate and develop acceptance of e-Business technology.

The measurement of benefits is an important part of any successful program. The e-TAP initiative used PENNTAP's post-assistance client evaluation survey process to measure the impact of this initiative. The straightforward process has been recognized as a best practice in an EDA-sponsored study. Use of these surveys has shown that the e-TAP initiative produced significant results. The e-TAP initiative provided one-on-one technical assistance to more than 1,450 companies. These companies have reported that through this technology transfer and assistance, they have realized more than $55 million in economic benefits and have created and retained 1,050 jobs.

The Excellence in Economic Development Awards Competition is held annually to identify outstanding efforts in assisting members' clients to become more globally competitive, more viable in their fields of expertise, or more capable of delivering services to the public sector.

"Being cited for an award of excellence by the University Economic Development Association is a significant feat for those involved in higher education and economic development," said UEDA President Jerry L. Smith. "The award gains national recognition for winners in their perspective field and often enables them to secure additional funding and clients, and serve as a model to other programs."

UEDA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving the nation's institutions of higher education and their economic development affiliates. UEDA focuses on policy, practice and partnerships -- enhancing the interface of higher education and economic development. Established in 1976, UEDA was created to provide advocacy, information and a forum to enhance the performance of university-based organizations and their affiliates as they provide economic development, and business and technical assistance to businesses and communities. The organization has a diverse membership with common goals on enhancing enterprise competitiveness and community wealth.

Did You Know: PENNTAP provides assistance with Gulf Coast cleanup

Thursday, November 3, 2005

When representatives from the pulp and paper industry in Lake Charles, La., were helping FEMA investigate alternatives to landfilling and burning mountains of tree, brush and building debris caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, they came across an article on desification of wood residues on Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) Web site during their research. This in turn led them to John Pletcher, author of the article and a wood products technical specialist with PENNTAP, who provided them with feasability studies to establish pellet fuel plants, operating and maintenance cost industry surveys, and a sample business plan for establishing a pellet fuel plant. According to Pletcher, "Pellet fuel is a renewable fuel made from residues generated from the forest products industry and has been growing in popularity due to its clean efficient burn. It is also relatively inexpensive and easy to use." He said with residential heating costs expected to increase 30 percent to 70 percent depending on locale this winter that using vast quantities of biomass that were generated from storm damage could be a win-win situation for the Gulf region.

For more information on PENNTAP, visit http://www.penntap.psu.edu/ online.

Penn State receives multi-million dollar grant for plastics training
Thursday, June 9, 2005

Photos at http://live.psu.edu/still_life/2005_06_03_erie/index.html

Bill Owen

Brad Johnson, left, demonstrated the Sumitomo Injection Molding Machine to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, center, and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, right. To view more photos, click the image above.

Erie, Pa. -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced on June 3 that the Pennsylvania State Workforce Investment Board, in collaboration with Penn State, will receive a $3.75 million grant from the Department of Labor (DOL) to increase business retention and growth within the plastics industry. The grant, which is in support of the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative, will provide funding to help link existing and emerging regional initiatives into a broader statewide network to support every facet of the plastics industry's development.

"The Plastics Industry in Pennsylvania already has a competitive advantage," said Sandi Vito, Pennsylvania's deputy secretary for Workforce Development. "The partners we've assembled and this funding will help ensure that workers in the plastics industry across the state have the skills and education required for this evolving industry."

The network is designed to use the statewide workforce investment system to link established or emerging local industry partnerships with statewide economic, workforce and educational resources and align and integrate the aggregate resources of a statewide educational institution. Partners in this effort include the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board (WIB), Penn State, Pennsylvania College of Technology, a consortium of local WIBs and the statewide system of Industrial Resource Centers and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

"Penn State is playing a leadership role with the State Workforce Investment Board, to build upon our capabilities in plastics technology transfer and workforce preparation" said Craig D. Weidemann, vice president for Outreach. "This initiative is unique in that it brings together a very comprehensive approach of many educational institutions and government programs working with the private sector to advance a key industry sector in Pennsylvania. This collaborative effort, made possible by the U.S. Department of Labor and Secretary Chao, will serve as a national model designed for replication with other industries."

Penn State, through its affiliate Pennsylvania College of Technology and Penn State Erie, comes into the project as a full partner. The project also will rely heavily on Penn State Cooperative Extension and Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) for research.

"This initiative, and partnerships it has created, are designed to serve as a statewide template for the integration of workforce, economic development and education to support other key competitive industry clusters in the commonwealth," said Jack Gido, director of Penn State's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. "Recognizing that the face of manufacturing is rapidly changing with higher and different skill sets in critical jobs, it is imperative that increased emphasis be placed on innovation and training to produce a productive and responsive workforce."

The plastics degree programs offered at Penn College and Penn State Erie represent two of only four in the country that are accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (TAC of ABET).

Since 1987, the plastics engineering technology program at Penn State Erie has supported the region's growing plastics industry with a state-of-the-art plastics laboratory, industry-seasoned faculty, outreach through the Plastics Technology Center, and highly skilled plastics engineering technology graduates.

"Given the resources available through Penn State, this grant has great potential to increase the competitiveness of the region's plastics industry," said Jack Burke, Penn State Erie campus executive officer and dean. "More importantly, it will help retain current jobs and create new jobs in an industry that is vital to our future."

Davie Jane Gilmour, president of Pennsylvania College of Technology, said that recent studies commissioned by the commonwealth indicate that the plastics industry is well-positioned for growth in Pennsylvania. "This project provides a comprehensive, statewide initiative to support the workforce development needs of the plastics industry and helps supply the trained workers required to keep this industry competitive," she said.

Penn College has awarded 270 associate's and bachelor's degrees in plastics and polymer technology and engineering technology majors. Penn College also is home to the Plastics Manufacturing Center, one of the top plastic technology centers in the country, with extensive material testing laboratories, industrial-scale process equipment, world-class training programs and highly-skilled consulting services. The center supports all types of plastics processing technologies, including injection molding, extrusion, blow molding and rotomolding.

"This award will help the commonwealth's plastics industry retain a leadership role in the face of increasing global competition," Gilmour added. "By providing scholarships for students and helping incumbent workers maintain competitive skills, the funding will be an important step in keeping Pennsylvania manufacturers in step with advances in polymer materials and processing technologies."