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Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, has announced the extension of a billion-dollar program that’s designed to accelerate the resurgence of American manufacturing. The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) will designate up to 12 additional regions as “manufacturing communities” under the latest round of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative.

New York State is home to a vibrant food manufacturing and distribution industry. Small vendors in related markets, such as beverage production and tableware, are also thriving. Businesses can’t grow with capital, however, and many startups struggle to get bank loans. However, as a recent article in Crain’s points out, for entrepreneurs that sell to a certain supermarket company, the supply chain itself may a funding source.

New York State’s medical technology industry is home to multinationals such as Welch Allyn and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and to startup companies whose innovative ideas could be the next big thing. For medical device manufacturers of all sizes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent announcement about expediting the regulatory process is welcome news.

Are you getting the most value from your engineering department? Do engineers have time for tasks that are critical to your company’s long-term success, or are they so busy with today’s projects that there’s too little time to mitigate tomorrow’s risks? In a recent survey from IHS Engineering360 Media Solutions, many engineers reported tighter resource constraints, a faster pace of work, and increasingly complex designs. What does this mean for your manufacturing business both today and tomorrow?