Future of the MEP Centers

MEP Advisory Board Perspective 

Mark Rice

MEP National Advisory Board
Contents

• The present – as the Board sees it

• The future – higher needs and aspirations
MEP National Advisory Board

PUBLIC LAW 110–69—AUG. 9, 2007 “America Competes 2007”

MEMBERSHIP—The MEP Advisory Board shall consist of 10 members broadly 

representative of stakeholders

MEETINGS—The MEP Advisory Board shall meet not less than 2 times annually, and 

provide to the Director—

– ‘‘(A) advice on Manufacturing Extension Partnership programs, plans, and policies;

– ‘‘(B) assessments of the soundness of Manufacturing Extension Partnership plans and strategies; and

– ‘‘(C) assessments of current performance against Manufacturing Extension Partnership program plans.

REPORT—The MEP Advisory Board shall transmit an annual report to the Secretary for 

transmittal to Congress within 30 days after the submission to Congress of the 

President’s annual budget request in each year. Such report shall address the status of 

the program established pursuant to this section and comment on the relevant 

sections of the programmatic planning document and updates thereto transmitted to 

Congress by the Director under subsections (c) and (d) of section 23.’’.
MEP P3 Intricacies

Federal 

Objectives

State

Priorities

SME

Goals

MEP

• Messy

• Effective

• At Times Contentious 

• Negotiated not Mandated

• Extremely Responsive 

• Tangential Benefits are Frequent

• Comprehension of Benefit is Dispersed

60Diverse MEP Centers

31,373 Diverse SME Clients in 2012

MEP 

Implementation

Congressional 

Vision
SME Catalysts

R&D Tax 

Credit

IRS DOC

US Export

Assistance Centers

Manufacturing

Extension

Partnership

Services

State & Local

VOTECH & 

Workforce

Education

Industrial

Tax Relief

Infrastructure

Improvement

Public Safety

DOL DOE EPA HUD

Long Term 

Capital Gains 

Tax

Reduction

Energy

Programs 

Bond

Programs

Direct Foreign

Investment

Programs

DOT

Industrial Zoning 

& Free Trade 

Zones

City Economic 

Development

Programs

Economic 

Development

Programs

Federal 

Programs

NNMI?

Small Business

Innovation 

Research

State University

Technology

Assistance 

Programs

Apprenticeship 

& Workforce

DOE, EPA, DoD, 

& Other MEP 

Collaboration 

with MEP

Section 179

Accelerated

Depreciation

B2B

Industry

Groups

Professional 

Societies

Cluster 

Partners

SBA Financing 

Assistance

504, SBIR, EXIM

Joint Ventures

Supply Chain 

Relationships

Strategic 

Partnerships

Value Chain 

Relationships

Venture Capital 

Relationships

Government Proscribed Company Formulated

FAR

Purchases

SME Sales to 

USG Agencies
Recommendations from a Recent Board Meeting

• Funding

–Broaden MEP public-private partnership - but keep the cost 

share requirement

–Expand MEP Center business models - financial stability/growth

–More technology “broker” capability in and through Centers

• Management

–Exchange programs for Federal and Center staffs 

–Center Operations Reporting Evaluation (CORE) focus on the 

overall strategy achievement not on the measures themselves

–Regular open competitive awards for center operation 

–Promote local Board functions

–More ROI analysis on MEP’s growth programs

–Avoid programs that lack State and Manufacturer cost share
Recommendations from a Recent Board Meeting

• Workforce development 

–Needs more attention

–Business model needed for Center participation

• National

–As NIST considers new national initiatives, use the MEP system 

and existing centers of excellence rather than re-inventing the 

public-private infrastructure.

–More small and mid-size manufacturer input need in NIST’s plans 

& advanced manufacturing initiatives

–Re-evaluate MEP’s strategic plan with a focus the emerging 

national manufacturing strategy
International Benchmarking of MEP

http://www.itif.org/files/2011-smemanufacturing-tech-programss-new.pdf

Country Investment in 

Manufacturing Extension Programs 

as a Percentage of GDP

Return on $1 Investment in 

Manufacturing Extension Programs
MEP as a Government-Industry Bridge

http://www2.itif.org/2012-global-innovation-policy-index.pdf

“The true choice in innovation is not between government and no government, but 

about the right type of government involvement in support of innovation. A modern, 

practical approach recognizes both the need for fundamental support and the 

hazards of overzealous government intervention. The government should make sure 

individuals and businesses have the tools and support to take risks and innovate, but 

should not dictate what risks they take.” 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/SEPT_20__Innovation_Whitepaper_FINAL.pdf
MEP Future

Address the Critical SME Problems

1. Aging workforce – inadequate labor pipeline

2. Balance of trade in goods – SME share of the fix

3. Technology “Valley of Death” for small companies

4. Value chain evolution and its impact on SMEs

5. Process automation – can SMEs afford to stay at the 

cutting edge?

6. Keeping pace with accelerated product lifecycles
1. Workforce

Manufacturing Employment by Age

http://www.esa.doc.gov/Blog/2011/05/06/april-jobs-report-impact-education-and-age-manufacturing-employment 11
1. MEP Roles in the Manufacuturing

Workforce

• Bridge the gaps between antiquated training 

programs and the needs of industry

– Ripe area for public-private partnerships

– DOL “career pathways” are the building block

• NIST uniquely qualified to translate emerging 

technology implications into training “standards” 

for nextgen manufacturers 

• Collaborate with Federal agencies, States, and 

professional societies to reintroduce 

Manufacturing engineering curricula
2. Exporting – Overall Situation

• 1992 – 2012 Trade Deficit in Goods of ~$10 Trillion 

• 1992 – 2012 Net Trade Deficit of $8 Trillion

• 2012 Deficit in Goods of $740B (projected from Jan-Nov data)
2. Exports Are Important for MEP

U.S. has 50,000+ Small Exporting 

Manufacturers whose Exports Average 

$1M per year
2. MEP Exporting Initiatives

• ExporTech needs to expand

– 3 day executive training

• Why export – define your specific needs/problems

• Address specific needs/problems

• Executive develops product & region specific plan

• Trade missions facilitated

– High success rate – now in 25 states

• Need method to identify international 

opportunities and routinely communicate to 

SMEs

• Need a financial model that works for the Centers
3. Manufacturing 

Extension Services and 

the Valley of Death

U.S. Production Jobs, 

Investments, & Tax 

Revenue

Innovation

Exports

Manufacturing 

Knowledge

Traditional 

Role

Emerging

Role ?
3. MEP Roles in Bridging the Valley of Death

• P3 role in connecting R&D rich institutions 

with organizations capable of transitioning 

R&D into production. 

• MEP as a technology broker (beyond tech 

scouting)

– Federal to private

– Academic to private

– Company to company

• Beyond innovation to execution
4. MEP and the Evolution of SME Value Chains

Vendor Relationships

Value Chain Relationships

Supply Chain Relationships • Senator Hollings - "Father" of MEP (1988)

• Focus on lean and quality 

• MEP works lean and quality in the supply chain

• Flexible contracting approaches

• Shared incentives for strategic cooperation

• Shaped by the growth of the Internet

• Rapid expansion of international business

• More competition & shorter product cycles

1980s

1910s-1970s

2010s

Next-Gen Relationships

2040s

Public Private Partnerships

• Shared public-private investment 1990s

• Reduce contractual constraints

• Aligned incentives

NIST MEP Evolution

DARPA OTAs, Grand Challenge

Social & Business Networks

NIST MEP, DOT PPP, NMMI

• Frederick Winslow Taylor “Principles of Scientific Management”

• Henry Ford “Design for Manufacture”

• Kiichiro Toyoda “Kaizen” 

• William Edwards Deming "Plan-Do-Check-Act"

• Genichi Taguchi “Taguchi Methods”
4. Semiconductor Value Chain Partners

http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=126802
4. Value Chain Relationship Broker

• MEP connection between small and large 

businesses

• Broker for Innovation Impact Bonds (a la SIBs)

• Facilitating information exchange in the era of 

the semantic web
1972 – HP 35 Pocket Calculator

1976 – Cincinnati Milacron leads CNC Production

1957 – Ross and Pople at MIT g-code &

 APL Programming Language

1952 – John Parsons Patent for CNC, patent number 2,820,187 

1986 – Chuck Hull patents Sereolithography U.S. Patent 4,575,330

1980 – Japan CNC production 

 surpasses Germany

1979 – German CNC production 

 surpasses U.S.

5. Manufacturing Process Evolution

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1962 1972 1982 1992 2002 2012

Year

Millions of World Wide Web Users

1961 – Integrated Circuit Patent Award

2007 – I Phone Introduced

201? – Semantic web routine machine-to-machine

 disparate data transfers

1950 – MIT Servo lab uses Punch Tape 

 with a milling machine

1838 – Faraday uses Physical Vapor Deposition to make capacitors

2003 – NIST EMC2 Open Source Code

1982 – AutoCAD First Release

1975 – Microsoft Founded

1965 – DEC PDP-8 microcomputer

1998 – Google Founded

200,000 Years of Manufacturing Labor

2010 - DARPA crowd sourced design experiments

2009 – China Leads Machine Tool Production

21
5. MEP Future in Manufacturing Process Evolution

• Manufacturing process standards

• Technology awareness & infusion

• Avenue for government support of 

manufacturing technology insertion

• Advanced manufacturing training/infusion

– Robotic processes

– Additive manufacturing advances

– Biomanufacturing

– Nextgen technologies and methods
6. Accelerated Product Lifecycles

• Rapid product lifecyles

– Financial implications for SMEs

– Technology implications for SMEs

• What new mechanisms can be introduced to 

accelerate our transition of research into product

– US policy changes to remain competitive

– NMMI?

– Innovation Impact Bonds ? 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GrQtCh83w) 

– Something else