Last week I was approached by some of my manufacturing leader friends about a panel they just recorded on the MakingChips podcast about a critical issue that's likely familiar to many of you by now. And that is:

Defunding of the MEPs or Manufacturing Extension Partnerships.

In case you're not familiar, the MEPSs are public-private partnerships that exist in every state throughout the US. These organizations exist to help small manufacturers with everything from securing grants for training and upskilling to lean manufacturing to ERP implementation to cyber security and more.

Now – despite all the talk from our current administration about bolstering the American manufacturing sector, 10 MEPs had already been defunded at the time of this recording. And plans for this to continue are looming in the weeks and months ahead.

Here's the problem:

For the US manufacturing to grow, we NEED our small manufacturers who represent such an overwhelmingly large percentage of our manufacturing economy to thrive. And we need to support them more right now than ever before.

I've been asked to syndicate this conversation to bring attention to the issue with THIS audience of The Manufacturing Executive, in hopes of activating YOU to speak up and to take action.

So in this panel, you'll hear from five manufacturing leaders – most of which you'll likely recognize. They'll get you up to speed and most importantly, they'll tell you what YOU can do to help:

– Paul Van Metre of ProShop ERP

– Nick Goellner of Advanced Machine & Engineering and MakingChips

– Meaghan Ziemba of Mavens of Manufacturing

– Mike Payne of Hill Manufacturing and MakingChips

– Jim Mayer of The Manufacturing Connector