Overcoming Barriers to Technology Adoption in Small Manufacturing Enterprises (SMEs)

..................................................................................................................xi 1 SMEs and the Defense Industrial Base..........................................................1 2 TIDE Program: Charter and Activities ............................................................3 2.1 The TIDE Mission ......................................................................................3 2.2 TIDE Organization and Operation..............................................................3 2.3 Research and Findings..............................................................................3 3 TIDE Demonstration Projects .........................................................................7 3.1 2D to 3D CAD Conversion.........................................................................7 3.2 Adopting Automatic Scheduling and Simulation Tools................................7 3.3 Adopting 3D CAD and CAE Tools..............................................................7 3.4 Adopting a Control-System-Modeling Tool.................................................8 3.5 Adapting Ecommerce and Manufacturing Execution System.....................8 3.6 Testing Application Service Provider Paradigm for SMEs ..........................8 4 TIDE Workforce Development ........................................................................9 5 TIDE Technology Development ....................................................................11 5.1 Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE).............................................................................................. 11 5.2 Advanced Engineering Environments...................................................... 11 6 Addressing Barriers and Constraints ..........................................................13 6.1 Barrier: Lack of Information .....................................................................13 6.1.1 TIDE Activity ................................................................................13 6.2 Barrier: Lack of Expertise ........................................................................15 6.2.1 TIDE Activity ................................................................................15 6.3 Barrier: Perception that Technologies Are Unaffordable...........................15