Federal Program’s Quick Response Helps U.S. Manufacturers Supply Critical PPE and Other Domestic Products

GEARING UP: MEP Center Responses to The COVID–19 Pandemic

Report published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Venter for Urban and Regional Studies
January 2021

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on U.S. manufacturing over the past year. In the short term, the pandemic has curtailed demand for many manufactured goods and interrupted supply chains en masse. Yet, it has also provided opportunities for manufacturers to pursue creative and adaptive strategies, for example shifting production to personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical devices. The scale of these manufacturing gains or losses have not rested entirely on the decision-making capacity or resourcefulness of a few individual firms, but also on the institutional support and coordinated assistance that manufacturers receive now and throughout the post-pandemic recovery period. The 2020 CARES Act recognized the potential of manufacturers to implement creative strategies in response to the pandemic, and distributed $50 million in support to manufacturing adaptation efforts coordinated by the U.S. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). “

Read the full report Here

Below is the original press release that explains the report released by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Washington, D.C., – January 29, 2021 – Today, the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced a new report, Gearing Up: MEP Center Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic, documenting the wide range of support the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a program under U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, is delivering to U.S. manufacturers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report details how, despite the pandemic’s profound impacts on manufacturing, MEP Centers are helping manufacturers safely operate and meet the nation’s critical needs for personal protective equipment (PPE).

The CARES Act recognized the potential of manufacturers to implement creative strategies to adapt and respond to the pandemic and provided $50 million for the 51 MEP Centers in every state and Puerto Rico to assist manufacturers in a wide variety of ways. These efforts include helping firms retool production systems, identify new supply chains, integrate new technologies, deliver safety training, and enhance cybersecurity protection.

A team at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, led by CURS Interim Director Dr. Nichola Lowe, Professor of City and Regional Planning, documented the wide range of MEP Center responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their report is based on the team’s research conducted during the fall of 2020.

Key findings include:

• 94,681 manufacturers contacted by MEP Centers as reported June 30 through September 30, 2020
• 8,966 manufacturing client projects completed by MEP Centers as reported June 30 through September 30, 2020
• MEP Centers in 48 states provided new or expanded consulting services or performed needs surveys
• MEP Centers in 42 states provided product and/or supplier matching services
• MEP Centers in 31 states created return-to-work guides
• MEP Centers in 29 states provided assistance with retooling to produce PPE
• MEP Centers in 13 states assisted manufacturers with PPE product testing and development

“MEP Centers have expanded far beyond process-oriented client support, demonstrating their ability to also help firms retain and redirect workforce talent, design innovative products and develop emergency response strategies that will be helpful for future pandemics and natural disasters. Scaling these efforts further will ensure our national economic recovery is driven by manufacturing innovation and the growth of high-paying, quality jobs,” said Dr. Nichola Lowe.

The report contains 51 profiles, one for each state and Puerto Rico. Each profile is 1-2 pages long and outlines the MEP Center’s pandemic-related assistance to their state’s manufacturers in areas such as training, layoff aversion, domestic sourcing and technology needs. The report includes a detailed chart that shows the types of pandemic-related assistance done by each state’s MEP Center.

“MEP Centers used the opportunities afforded by CARES Act funding to respond to both shorter-term challenges related to COVID-19, such as PPE retooling assistance and conducting needs assessments, as well as long-term opportunities that will benefit manufacturers long after the pandemic is over. In the short-term, MEP Centers have shown innovation and an ability to lean on nonconventional partners to meet common goals,” shared Olivia Raines, Project Lead at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About the Center for Urban and Regional Studies

The Center for Urban and Regional Studies conducts and supports research on urban and regional affairs — research that helps to build healthy, sustainable communities across the country and around the world. This project was supported by the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with funding from the North Carolina Coronavirus Relief Fund, established and appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly.

About ASMC

The American Small Manufacturers Coalition (ASMC) is a trade association of manufacturing extension centers that work to improve the innovation and productivity of America’s manufacturing community. ASMC advocates for legislative and programmatic resources that allow our small manufac13turing clients to better compete in the global marketplace. The Coalition and its members do this by increasing awareness of the importance of American small manufacturers, the challenges which they face, and the federal legislation and programs that affect them.