Federal funding for a program that helps small and mid-size manufacturers in Kansas and several other states will return, at least temporarily.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Sharice David’s office announced that funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, or MEP, had been restored until the end of September.
Overseen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the U.S. Department of Commerce, the MEP program for decades has helped fund organizations that provide guidance and consulting services for small and mid-size manufacturers in Kansas.
In March, the NIST informed organizations in Kansas and nine other states that, due to cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration, they would lose funding at the end of the month.
Each state has an MEP, and in Kansas, it’s the Lenexa-based non-profit Kansas Manufacturing Solutions (KMS), which consults with a variety of different manufacturers throughout Kansas, from food service companies like Cargill Meat Solutions in Wichita to home goods like the Kansas City, Kansas-based Empire Candle to custom seat manufacturer Seats Inc. in Spring Hill.
KMS’s goal is to use its expertise to improve small and mid-sized manufacturers’ competitiveness and performance, according to a fact sheet released by the firm.
Because of the funding cuts in March, KMS laid off 7 of its 13 employees on April 1, and it’s still unclear if a temporary restoration of funds means the firm returns to full staffing.
KMS CEO Tiffany Stovall said Tuesday they will be taking time figure out how they will be able to continue when the money runs out permanently in six months.
“What we’re doing is we’re using this next six months to figure out how we can exist and continue to serve small-to-medium-sized manufacturers with or without federal funding,” she said.
Davids, who unveiled a piece of legislation she dubbed the Defend American Manufacturing Act after the MEP cuts in March that lobbies for long-term funding for state manufacturing offices across the country, celebrated the restoration of funds.
“This short-term fix is a step in the right direction, but Kansas manufacturers deserve more than temporary solutions,” she said in a press release. “We need to make sure this funding isn’t subject to political whims.”
Davids toured a JoCo manufacturer Tuesday
On Tuesday morning, Davids and Stovall of KMS toured SOR Controls, a Lenexa-based manufacturer that designs and produces pressure, level, temperature and flow measurement devices for industrial automation applications.
A client of KMS, the company, that employs about 150 people in Lenexa, has benefitted from KMS’s knowledge and saved money, not having to spend it on a private consulting firm, Burt Benton, CEO of SOR Controls, said.
“(Consultants are) always more expensive,” he said. “And you get to know your MEP. You work closely with your MEP. They get to know you. And it just creates an avenue for very effective and productive means of finding those resources.”
“A small company like us, we can’t necessarily afford to have a specialist in every particular thing that you have to know about in manufacturing these days,” he added.
Following the tour, Benton, along with Davids and Stovall repeated the importance of KMS and the need to have it funded.
“This is one of those federal programs that not only pays for itself, but it has untold benefits when it comes to keeping people employed, when it comes to growing market share when it comes to making sure that, especially when we’re competing for massive economic development projects … that our area is appealing because we have this wealth of expertise,” Davids said.
Stovall said the cuts in March hurt the services KMS can offer Kansas manufacturers.
“It’s had a huge impact,” Stovall said. “It greatly reduces our ability to serve manufacturers across the state and provide critical services that help them sustain, to help them grow, which is important, especially right now in the face of uncertainty around tariffs and supply chains.”
What’s the case against the MEP program?
Stovall with KMS pointed out that support for the MEP program has traditionally reached across the aisle. Along with Davids’s support, Stovall on Tuesday credited Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas for his support through the years that has helped make it a success.
“This program has had a lot of and still has a lot of congressional support from both sides of the aisle, historically,” she said. “So the decisions that were made were not congressional decisions because Congress supports this program and they have proven that year over year over year.”
Davids said she will also continue to stump for her “Defend American Manufacturing Act” legislation with would keep MEPs permanently funded and believes the measure can garner enough Republican support in Congress to pass.
“My GOP colleagues and I may disagree on a lot of things, but KMS is one example of MEPs across the country doing really good work across the states,” she said. “When you look at the return on investment of this program, I do believe we can find GOP support for this.”
Still, not everyone agrees funding for MEPs is critical.
Charlotte O’Hara, a former Johnson County Commissioner and Republican who has declared her candidacy for Kansas governor, owns O’Hara Keeler Properties LLC. The company owns two industrial buildings that are leased to three other small businesses, including Icon Poker, which manufactures poker chips.
O’Hara said the MEP program does not affect her business, but what does have an impact, she said, is increasing property taxes in Kansas, with commercial properties assessed at 25% compared to the residential rate of 11.5%.
“This is another example of funding [non-governmental organizations] that have very minimal impact (versus) the negative impact of continuing increases in property taxes,” she said.
Lenexa firm will continue without federal funding
If the federal fund for state MEPs in Kansas and elsewhere does eventually run out in six months, Stovall said KMS will have to pivot.
“We’ll just act like a normal consulting company. But that means we lose our singular focus on manufacturers. That’s what makes us experts,” she said. “We’ll lose that singular focus. We will venture into other industries as we try to diversify the industries and companies that we serve.”
In the meantime, she hopes that politicians in Washington D.C. continue to voice their support and see that the program is funded.
“If manufacturing is important to the United States the way that we say it is, then we have to put our money where our mouth is in terms of how we support manufacturing,” she said.
Other Johnson County federal funding news: JoCo financial experts urge patience amid market swings and tariff turmoil
