Over the past several years manufacturers have lost business due to foreign competition. The Trade Adjustment Assistance program was established by the U.S. Department of Commerce to balance global competitiveness. The federal guidelines were recently updated to make the application process easier and allow more manufacturers to qualify for the grant dollars, even if they tried unsuccessfully once before.

How do I qualify?

There are dozens of ways to qualify for the grant dollars. Some examples include if sales, employee hours, or employment head count this year is less than any of the previous 3 years. As the economy slowly improves and manufacturers rebound from the recession, the window of opportunity to take advantage of this grant will be closing for many companies. MANTEC recommends that interested firms inquire immediately.

How much can I get?

Qualifying companies can be approved for matching dollars up to $75,000. Over the summer Senator Bob Casey visited American Products Inc. (API) in York, PA to show his support for the MATAAC program. API qualified for the full $75,000 and was able to train employees in LEAN practices and upgrade its ERP system. API President Jack Eltringham commented that "the training makes us more competitive."

How can I access the grant?

Local manufacturers can access the grant dollars through the Mid-Atlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (MATAAC). MANTEC has established an effective process with MATAAC to make the paperwork as painless as possible and access the funds sooner.

To start the process contact your Professional Business Advisor directly or MANTEC at 717-843-5054 x223

A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that results in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage, loss of life or change to the environment. In 2011 alone, we have experienced many natural disasters: snow storms, powerful tornadoes, earthquakes, and most recently flooding. At the same time we heard reports of other disasters: gas leaks, fires, explosions, and structural failures.

Without a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan in place and updated regularly, you are only one event away from a major interruption that could set you back years or even put you out of business entirely.

Do you provide "Mission Critical" parts or components to your key customers? Would they value knowing that you have in place a well-defined disaster recovery/Business Continuity Plan to insure the uninterrupted flow of these vital parts or components to them?

Proactively creating and managing a Recovery Plan to address disasters, technological failures, or other major disruptions strengthens your company and protects its future. A quality plan can help you retain existing business and even gain new customers.

You probably already realize how important a long-term Recovery Plan is, and chances are you have already had it on your list of things to do but couldn't devote the significant resources required to develop it internally. By partnering with MANTEC, you can finally implement this critical improvement affordably, quickly, and with minimal distraction from your daily operations.

Read more on this service offering or download the flyer.

Do you have a plan? Is it a waste of time in your opinion? Leave a comment!

The risk may not be worth the reward to seek lower costs from China. China labor and material costs are soaring, shipments are delayed and quality is questionable. Using proper cost models shows the true expense of offshoring. Could you be more competitive to source from the US?

The move to reshore production (also known as homeshoring, onshoring, backshoring, and repatriating) has grown increasingly popular in the U.S. over the last few years. Companies can reshore to:

• Reduce pipeline and surge inventory impacts on JIT operations;
• Improve the quality and consistency of inputs;
• Cluster manufacturing near R&D facilities, enhancing innovation;
• Reduce IP and regulatory compliance risk;
• And, most importantly to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

View an NBC video about a manufacturer returning work to the US from China. (Sorry- will need to view a commercial first.)

Are you currently outsourcing abroad and looking at bringing it back? Have you had any experiences on this? Leave a comment!

Learn from the national expert on Reshoring and share experiences with other CEO's during this on November 17.

Can't join us in person- join in for the webinar

A July 2011 poll of 1,202 likely American voters conducted by The Mellman Group and Ayres, McHenry & Associates revealed that they believe manufacturing will help restore America's lost status as the world's number one economy.

Along with manufacturing's rising profile, support for "Made in America" has also skyrocketed since 2010. Pollster Whit Ayres explains, "Americans strongly believe that we cannot be the world's leading economy and job creator without manufacturing. They want to be able to buy top-quality products that say 'Made in America.'"

Manufacturing leads all other sectors of the PA economy, accounting for 13.6% of gross state product (GSP)..making PA Made crucial to the state economy.

Join us October 5 as manufacturing industry expert, Dr. Ned Hill addresses:

• The current state of manufacturing in Pennsylvania
• Successful manufacturing practices and how many are able to leverage the current economic environment to their benefit
• The comprehensive national manufacturing policy that will affect Pennsylvania businesses.

Click for event details