Small- to medium-sized manufacturers in the Roanoke and New River valleys routinely face high hurdles.

For example, as government-sponsored research and development has declined, many large corporations have reacted by absorbing those costs and increasing R&D.

But many smaller companies struggle to adequately fund product development, and some have slashed internal R&D efforts, according to Kevin Creehan, a Blacksburg-based expert on modern manufacturing.

As a result, small- to medium-sized companies can fall behind during an era when the global economy requires they develop innovative, customized products to compete.

Creehan is the featured speaker at the NewVa Corridor Technology Council's monthly breakfast meeting Thursday -- set to begin at 7:15 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Airport in Roanoke. Registration is required and a fee is charged.

Creehan, who has a doctorate in industrial engineering, is president and co-founder of Blacksburg-based Schultz-Creehan and former director of the Center for High Performance Manufacturing at Virginia Tech.

Creehan will discuss "innovative principles in product development," with a focus on strategies smaller companies could adopt to streamline product development while also maintaining a robust approach to R&D.

During an interview Tuesday, Creehan said commodity manufacturing's decline and exodus overseas is likely to continue.

"High value" manufacturers, which develop and sell customized products others cannot duplicate, can compete, he said. But they must continue to support internal R&D and consider new approaches to product development, he added -- approaches that can be suggested by modern industrial engineering.

Creehan also will discuss the work force challenges many high-tech manufacturers in the region encounter when trying to recruit qualified workers -- people who have the education, aptitude for training and traditional work ethic required for such jobs.

"It appears that the loss of manufacturing jobs today has as much to do with the work force supply side as it has the demand side," Creehan observed.

Creehan's review of the Virginia governor's manufacturing summit, held in Richmond in late July, suggested that "the number one priority, and the focus of most of the conversation throughout the summit, was work force."

The NewVa Corridor Technology Council is a nonprofit organization that works to create a favorable regional climate for technology-based businesses and entrepreneurship. It has offices in Blacksburg and Roanoke.

NCTC suggests participants in Thursday's meeting will learn about, among other topics:

n Emerging trends in research and development and global competition;

n Potential solutions to cost and revenue challenges in the emerging environment for manufacturers;

n How industrial engineering principles can improve production; and

n Examples of how new principles in product development can affect local companies.