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MEP is a national network with hundreds of specialists who understand the needs of manufacturers. For the past 20 years, they have worked with thousands of manufacturers delivering $1.44 billion in cost savings annually and $10.5 billion in increased or retained sales in one year.

MEP provides companies with services and access to public and private resources that enhance growth, improve productivity, and expand capacity. We work with companies willing to invest in their future, to make improvements in the short term, and position themselves to be stronger long-term competitors both domestically and internationally.

 

During the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families meeting on June 23, 2009, in Perrysburg, OH, the Department of Commerce announced the expansion of the National Innovation Marketplace. This program will help revitalize supply chains by providing manufacturers with the tools they need to transition from contracting sectors to emerging technologies and new market opportunities.

"American manufacturers have sophisticated technologies and systems and some of the most skilled workforces in the entire world," said Secretary Locke. "By expanding the National Innovation Marketplace, the Commerce Department is bringing together in one place the ideas, products and future opportunities businesses need to identify new markets, diversify and create new jobs."

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NewS

• Secretary Locke Announces MEP Director to Lead Administration's New Initiative to Aid American Businesses
  U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced a new Obama Administrative initiative designed to streamline government bureaucracy and bring services and solutions directly to businesses and entrepreneurs creating and sustaining jobs. The new initiative will be launched this summer in the Detroit area.
  
  Click Here to Read the Press Release
  
• Top Aerospace Supplier Launches Lean Transformation Project with Florida MEP
  
  Vought Aircraft Industries, one of the world's largest independent suppliers of aerostructures, announces that it will engage Florida MEP to undertake Lean training initiative.
  
  Click Here to Read Press Release
• McFarlane Manufacturing Calls Upon Wisconsin MEP
  
Wisconsin MEP to assist McFarlane Manufacturing get products to market faster.

Click Here to Read Full Story

Events

• Upcoming Profit!101 Events Click Here
• Upcoming Growth Services
• Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Conference
  
The 2009 Oklahoma Conference on Manufacturing, co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and presented by the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, will take place on Tuesday, September 22nd in Tulsa, OK.

STATE OF MANUFACTURING

• Manufacturing contracted in April as the PMI registered 40.1 percent, 3.8 percentage points higher than the 36.3 percent reported in March. This marks the 15th consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector. A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates general contraction. A PMI in excess of 41.2 percent, over a period of time, generally indicates an expansion in the overall economy. Therefore, the current PMI indicates contraction in both the overall economy and the manufacturing sector.
• New orders for manufactured goods in March decreased $3.2 billion or 0.9 percent. This followed a modest 0.7 increase in February.
• Shipments of manufactured goods, down eight consecutive months, decreased by $4.5. This marks the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on an NAICS basisin 1992.
• Real earnings of factory production workers increased in March. Since its most recent low in August 2008, real earnings have increased by 5.2 percent.
• More on these and other indicators