The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the agency that would get the least amount of funding of the three agencies mentioned in last week’s blog article about the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. However, it is the agency that has ongoing programs benefiting manufacturers, especially through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), established in 1988.
The MEP program is a national network with thousands of specialists who understand the needs of manufacturing and small businesses. The MEP program has assisted more than 200,000 firms through a network of centers across the country to assist small-and medium-sized manufacturers adopt and use the latest and most efficient technologies, process, and business practices.
MEP is participating in Manufacture America events launched by the International Trade Administration’s Manufacturing and Services unit. The Manufacture America program is designed to help American manufacturers rethink, retool, and rebuild their operations through exploring new products, markets, processes, and sources of finance. A series of Manufacture America regional conferences will convene to allow manufacturers to:
- Learn how they can retool and rebuild through entering new market segments, new industries, or new supply chains and modernize processes to become more sustainable and efficient while lowering operations costs.
- Hear success stories form manufacturers who have successfully retooled.
- Learn about growing industries.
- Learn about export opportunities as well as how to export.
- Learn about resources and funding that are available to help rethink and retool, including technical assistance and financing.
- Discuss issues the manufacturers face with federal, state, and local governments
- Network with representatives from other companies.
The other events will take place between August and October in Morgantown, WV, Pittsburgh, PA, Detroit, MI, Canton, OH, and Chicago, IL. These states are home to the industries that have been hit the hardest by the recession; namely the automotive and machine tool industries. The problem with events such as this is that they don’t receive publicity so very few companies are aware of them.
If your company isn’t already involved with a MEP center or with the trade and commerce agencies of one of the states in which an event will be held, you wouldn’t hear about the Manufacture America events. There are MEP programs in nearly every state from Alabama to Wisconsin. To locate the nearest MEP program, visit www.nist.gov/mep.
In California, two organizations administer the NIST MEP Program:
California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) – serving southern California from San Diego up to Fresno County in central California.
Corporation for Manufacturing Excellence (Manex) – serving northern California.
Both organizations leverage NIST funds with California’s Employment Training Panel (ETP) funds to reduce the costs of training to employers. Companies qualify for ETP funding if they pay into the unemployment insurance fund, have a 20 percent turnover rate or less, and have a manufacturing NAICS code or can prove they face out-of-state competition. Their employees are eligible for training if they are residents of California, work full time (35 hours a week or more), meet the minimum wage requirements, which vary by county, and have been employed at least 90 days prior to the first day of training.
Both organizations provide industrial services that are divided into practice areas that specifically support manufacturers:
- Strategic Business
- Lean Enterprise
- Information Technology
- Energy Services
- Quality
- Supply Chain Management
CMTC also operates the Small Manufacturers Advantage ™ program in which a no-fee assessment is conducted and a written report of improvement recommendations is provided. The report includes the assessment, a roadmap, self-implementation tools, relevant articles, and a listing of other California business resources. The report is designed in a format for self-implementation, but a follow-on “Jump Start” program of consulting by CMTC professionals can be scheduled at no cost.
When budget deficits are so high at the federal and state level, we can’t waste taxpayer money with programs and events that don’t reach the people that would benefit from them. Now is the time for agencies and organizations receiving government funding to think “out of the box” and use new channels of communication to make people aware of events and programs that would be beneficial to them. It’s time for all of us to be more proactive in keeping informed about programs and events that could benefit our businesses. One such site is www.manufacturing.gov