Volume 6, No.4
Winter 2000

ILMR Homepage

Feature Articles:
Portal Page Web site:
Access the Information You Need, All in One Place

Rapid Respone Unit:
What Employers and Dislocated Workers Need to Know

Help for Illinois Employers
The Industrial Training Program (ITP) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Illinois (MEPI)

Union Membership in 2000:
Numbers Decline During Record Economic Expansion

Archives

ITP and MEPI
Helping Illinois Companies Meet Future Challenges
By: Lynn Morford

Today’s successful companies know they face a continuous challenge. The benchmark for success is a moving target: every day, new technologies are being developed to make business work faster and smarter. Companies that fail to meet the challenge will find themselves left in the dust.

Fortunately, in Illinois, several programs are available to help businesses assess their needs, identify weaknesses and strengths and access services. In some cases, monetary assistance is also available to help them achieve their technology development goals. Two of those programs —the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Illinois and the Industrial Training Program, administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) —can help Illinois companies and their workers stay in step with technological advancements.

MEPI—Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Illinois

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Illinois (MEPI) targets its efforts toward helping small and mid-sized Illinois manufacturers improve their competitiveness. With two primary centers located in Peoria and Chicago and affiliated centers in other regions of the state, the MEPI helps manufacturers achieve their productivity goals through technology modernization and enhanced business practices. Firms may work with the centers and their field offices to access technical information, assessment and evaluation services, conduct modernization assessments, and access technical expertise to assist with individual projects.

Two Manufacturing Centers Serve Illinois

The Chicago Manufacturing Center (CMC) serves the metropolitan Chicago area. CMC’s staff of expert consultants, as well as a network of alliance partners, offer its clients a full range of consulting services tailored to meet their specific needs. Among services offered are: growth management services (such as business and strategic planning), market analysis, sales and marketing, public relations and marketing communications, international business development and human resources management, information technology (including software selection and implementation and network planning and design), environmental services (such as source and waste reduction), quality and process improvement (including ISO/QS-9000 training), energy management practices, workforce development services and much more.

The Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center, headquartered at Bradley University in Peoria, serves the balance of the state. IMEC’s professionals work to develop long-term relationships with individual companies —becoming “extensions” of their operations. At no cost to the company, an IMEC Project Manager will go to the site, listen to a firm’s needs and evaluate possible areas of assistance. If more in-depth help is needed, IMEC staff can work with companies to prioritize areas of need, focus goals and objectives and contract with project performance teams to help them implement improvements.

Technologies, however, are only as good as the workers who utilize them. And that’s where the Industrial Training Program (ITP) can help.

ITP—Industrial Training Program

Established in 1979 to help companies meet their employee training needs, ITP has evolved into one of Illinois’ most important workforce development tools. Today, ITP grants help large individual employers meet their training needs, and also provide funds to assist consortia of small and mid-sized companies that have similar training needs.

Under the Single Company component, individual companies may seek assistance in helping pay eligible training costs for their workers. In most cases, these companies are undertaking a major expansion project in Illinois or locating new operations in the state. Companies undertaking a major capital investment in new equipment or technologies that will thereby retain operations in Illinois may also be able to qualify for ITP assistance.

The Multi-Company component encourages small and mid-sized companies with similar training needs to band together to train their workers and enhance their competitiveness. Typically, an intermediary organization— such as a business and industry association, college or university, or labor organization—applies for grant funds and conducts or sponsors the employee training programs. This component also assists large manufacturers in offering training to their supplier network companies.

Over the years, both the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Illinois and the Industrial Training Program have proven to be valuable tools in the effort to help Illinois businesses meet the challenge of changing technologies. MEPI services assist companies in identifying and implementing new technologies to improve their competitiveness, while ITP helps companies ensure that their employees have the skills needed to make these technologies achieve their purposes.

More information about MEPI and ITP may be found by visiting the DCCA Web site at http://www.commerce.state.il.us. For specific information on MEPI, call 312/814-4849 (TDD: 800/419-0667). For information on ITP, call 217/785-6284 (TDD: 800/785-6055).