MEP funding good news for Michigan manufacturers

Michigan's hard-hit manufacturing sector got a big boost on June 25. The House Appropriations Committee marked up the Commerce, Justice and State appropriation bill to include $122 million in funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program. MEP helps fund 59 centers around the county that assist small and medium-sized manufacturers preserve and win new orders, improve quality, and reduce cost and lead time. In Michigan, the MEP program helps support the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC), which has offices in Plymouth, Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Traverse City and Marquette.

In recent years, the administration has sought to defund MEP, but Congress has insisted on supporting it, citing the fact that it is the only federal program aimed directly at preserving onshore manufacturing. Both nationally and in Michigan, MEP has enjoyed broad bipartisan support. For fiscal year 2009, the President's budget proposed less than $5 million for MEP, far below the $106 million it has received in recent years. In fiscal year 2008, MEP was funded by Congress at $89.6 million, a 15 percent cut from the year before and well below the $122 million called for in the America COMPETES Act that passed last August.

Until June 25, it looked as if MEP would continue to get less than full funding, which would have meant cuts in the services available to smaller manufacturers. But House appropriators were convinced by Michigan Congressman Joe Knollenberg, a longtime champion of the program, to set the mark for MEP at $122 million.

"With the Senate having already marked at $110 million, this is great news for small and medium-sized manufacturers around the nation and here in Michigan," said MMTC president Mike Coast. "Now the MMTC can deliver even more services and achieve even larger impacts," Coast explained. A third-party survey that goes to MEP clients around the country found that in the most recent survey year MMTC customers credited their projects with having created or retained $100 million in sales and 956 jobs, and with reducing costs by $18.3 million. MMTC is particularly pleased that, in his remarks to the Appropriations Committee today, Congressman Knollenberg illustrated MEP's important work by citing the successes of two MMTC clients, Total Door in Pontiac and Universal Tube in Rochester Hills. According to Total Door's general manager, Patricia Yulkowski, ‘volume is up 9.8 percent and we added $514,000 to the bottom line. ... It is exciting to come to work.’ Instead of going out of business or laying people off like so many companies in Michigan have had to do, both Total Door and Universal Tube have improved processes, cut costs, gone after new business, and kept their people working."

With a fully funded MEP program, Coast concluded, "we can help even more companies do the same."

Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC) provides Michigan's small to medium size manufacturers with operational assessment, technical assistance, training and mentoring services, and market diversification counsel. MMTC is the Michigan affiliate of Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership through the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Clients of the MMTC reported during the most recent full year survey sales gains of $38.6 million, with retention of $61.7 million in sales, investments of $30 million, cost savings of $18.3 million and 956 jobs created or retained as a direct result of their work with MMTC. Headquartered in Plymouth, the MMTC has five affiliate offices around the state (Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Traverse City and Marquette) to serve Michigan manufacturers. Find out more at www.mmtc.org.