ANN ARBOR—Small manufacturers can often feel like lightweight boxers up against heavyweight champs—always being batted about the ring of foreign competition. Sometimes, they just need someone in their corner if they are to have a fighting chance.

Luckily, several firms in Indiana are getting the incentive they need to stay competitive through the Great Lakes Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (GLTAAC) at the University of Michigan. The center provides customized business assistance and up to $75,000 in matching funds to small manufacturers negatively affected by imports.

Trade-impacted businesses like George Koch Sons, an industrial finishing company based in Evansville, and Sacoma International in Edinburgh have benefited from GLTAAC’s financial support. They brought in needed expertise from consultants in market research, sales plan development, lean manufacturing, quality certification, information technology systems and other projects crucial to business success.

In Indiana, GLTAAC has also worked with, Apex Precision Technologies in Camby, Atlas Foundry Co. in Marion and more than 60 other manufacturers across the state. These firms have received more than $2 million of business improvement projects.

“The general trend in America is that we are all facing competition from foreign goods and services, regardless of the industry,” said George Koch Sons’ operations manager Steve Rapagnani. “And because competitive pressures face all of us, these grants and programs are so valuable in helping companies fight back.”

With three years of declining sales and the loss of 35 percent of its work force through layoffs, George Koch Sons turned to GLTAAC in 2005. The company used the assistance it received from GLTAAC to hire private sector consultants and conduct a comprehensive customer survey designed to help it hone in on its optimal target markets.

“The market research they helped us with has led us to a more robust marketing plan,” Rapagnani said. “Our business seems to be on the upswing. Our understanding of the market, competition and customer needs has definitely improved.”

The customized strategy delivered by GLTAAC also included recommendations and funding for the training needed on new software and information systems.

At Sacoma International, the pressure of foreign imports forced the automotive metal stamping and steel parts supplier to move up the value chain away from its commodity products.

With 75 employees and annual sales of $10 million to $15 million, Sacoma opted to find ways to create more complex products with better margins—products that customers could not find overseas. To accomplish this, Sacoma contracted with a design engineer to develop these new products, covering half the cost of doing so with matching funds from GLTAAC.

Sacoma president Tom Thornburg said the company also needed a good marketing strategy to identify market niches that would secure its future over the long haul and find the right kind of customer for its unique products. GLTAAC helped there, too, facilitating the contract with an Indiana-based marketing firm.

“We discovered that certain customers just don’t fit, as hard as that is to say,” Thornburg said. “Our research allowed us to know when to say no.

“We are excited to be able to take advantage of what GLTAAC offers. We’ve been able to identify key market niches and, as such, see a good solid future with continued growth.”

Sacoma is already seeing results, recently winning a major program with one of the U.S. automakers. The company is in the process of designing and testing a new product they hope to have up and running soon.

“This is good confirmation that the years of effort we have put into changing our structure seems to be justified,” said Sacoma co-founder Ken Seim.

Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms is the only federal program specifically designed to help manufacturers that have been adversely affected by foreign competition. GLTAAC serves import-injured companies in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. It helps firms assess their current business situation, works with them to develop a realistic strategy and actionable plan for recovery, then facilitates its implementation by paying for half of the cost of hiring outside, private-sector consultants to complete the specific projects identified in the plan.

Application is free. For more information, visit www.gltaac.org or contact Ruth Ann Church at (734) 998-6596 or [email protected].

Great Lakes Trade Adjustment Assistance Center