|
About NJMEP
Dr. Saul Fenster, then President of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Dr. Donald Sebastian, Executive Director of the Center for Manufacturing Systems (CMS) at NJIT, and Dr. Jay Brandinger, then Director of the Commission on Science and Technology, worked for close to a decade to gain the United States Department of Commerce's approval to establish a Manufacturing Extension Program in New Jersey. As a result of their efforts, the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. (NJMEP) began its operations in January 1996. It is one of 75 MEPs across the United States that is working to support the Manufacturing Sector by delivering technical and business assistance.
In New Jersey, we have field agents deployed by territory that will work with manufacturers to identify opportunities to improve their operations. Once a project is identified NJMEP works through a network of New Jersey based universities, county colleges and private sector experts to provide the needed assistance.
Our Field Agents are assigned to every county in New Jersey and have worked their entire career in manufacturing, and several have owned their own businesses. Their job is to work with you and your organization to identify opportunities to improve business or to assist you in implementing solutions to an opportunity that you may have already identified. They access and project manage public and private sector technical and business resources in the state who will implement the solution to these business opportunities. Among these resources are New Jersey's universities, colleges, county colleges and vocational schools as well as a diverse group of private sector experts.
As a not-for-profit organization, the New Jersey MEP receives some funding from the federal and state governments and therefore fees charged for implementation assistance are very cost effective. Not withstanding this factor, NJMEP operates as a private sector entity and draws its staff, field agents, and administrative staff from the private sector. NJMEP President, Bob Loderstedt, captures it best when he says, "We have a public sector mission accomplished with a private sector mind set."
|
|
