Jeff Allspaugh, the Regional Manager of IMEC (Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center), shares some insights into the current trends in manufacturing in Illinois in the face of this pandemic. 

 Who is IMEC? 

IMEC stands for Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, which is part of the MEP National  Network. IMEC is one of the manufacturing extension partnerships. There are 50 in the nation that is sponsored by the Department of Commerce. Each state has an MEP center.

• Mission: The MEP network is committed to growing and helping manufacturers in their community grow. 

• Overview of staff/expertise: IMEC has 1,400 employees either in roles of sales and business development or actual technical specialists that deliver the service.

• Top areas of assistance: leadership, strategy, customer engagement, operations, and workforce

• Coordination/collaboration with: CIRAS in Iowa, universities, local colleges, technical schools, economic development centers, technical associations, and chambers of commerce

The Impact of IMEC on Illinois Manufacturers

In 2019, IMEC communicated with thousands of Illinois manufacturers, assisting over 800 companies with a thousand value-added projects and saving or creating 4,600 jobs with over 1.2 million in average new and retained sales per project. There was an average $19 to $1 return on investment, which means for every dollar invested they got $19. They have $436 million in aggregate impact to the Illinois economy from their work in 2019 and about $5 billion aggregate impact with their work since 2000. 

Top responses from the needs assessment:

• Urgent 

• Immediate - (ex. dropping product lines, diversification of markets, data management)

• Over the next 6 months

• In the next 12 months - (ex. technology as a long-term solution, supply chain)

Trends they’re currently seeing:

• Creating growth: Rebounding to keep what you have, earning back lost business, and earning new business

• Improving safety: Ensuring safe environments and employee well-being

• Improving operational outcomes: Drive productivity and efficiency in current processes

• Workforce development/enhancement: Unemployment went up from 3% in February to now, 8%, hiring challenges due to transportation issues or wage issues

Initiatives available to Illinois manufacturers:

• Top shop benchmarking for machine shops

• Industry 4.0 and automation technology

• Matchmaking effort in partnership with the city chamber

• Innovation voucher - state funds available for training and low-cost loans