Thursday, November 21 2019
Defense Manufacturing Partnership Leads to $183 Million in Sales, Hundreds of New Jobs
A partnership between three Midwestern research universities helped create more than 600 new jobs in the defense manufacturing sector in recent years.
The University of Michigan this week highlighted the Defense Manufacturing Assistance Program, a six-year partnership with Ohio State University and Purdue University to help defense businesses revamp their operations as federal funding declined and U.S. military involvement overseas dwindled.
In addition to 662 new jobs credited to the partnership in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, university officials said the agreement helped generate 139 new products, spark another $183 million in sales, and create 93 new markets across all three states.
Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute (EGI) provided 125 defense manufacturers with financial, marketing, operations, and technical support, campus officials said.
EGI Director Paula Sorrell said in a release that those companies lost contracts equivalent to at least 10% of their revenue, and noted that 50% or more of the overall defense supply chain was in jeopardy. More than 6,800 defense-related positions were lost in those manufacturing-heavy states, Michigan officials noted.
“We helped them diversify their revenue streams to stabilize the company as a defense contractor,” Sorrell said.
The university highlighted two Michigan businesses, in particular, to receive assistance from the program. Grand Rapids-based Patriot Solutions, which supplies government agencies with products from its manufacturer network, updated its website through the DMAP, while Cobra Aero, based in Hillsdale, received a matching grant through the EGI to develop hybrid drone engines for a Navy contractor.
“The help they gave us accelerated things dramatically,” Cobra Aero CEO Sean Hilbert told campus officials.
