SME, MEP make it easy for manufacturers to do business with defense industry supply chains

Despite spending billions of dollars on supplies, the defense industry is shrinking its supplier base, like most enterprises. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are making contracts less available to small businesses by trying to use their purchasing system more effectively, and buying larger

numbers of items in a single contract. This practice puts many contracts out of reach of a single small business. The response to this situation is the defense supply chain initiative, spearheaded by the Manufacturing Supply Chain Consortium (MSCC), a new resource for small-to-medium enterprises throughout the six New England states, provided by New England centers affiliated with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) network.

SME has developed a partnership with the MEPs in New England to provide new business options for its members and EASTEC attendees. Participation in the defense supply chain initiative provides SME members and EASTEC attendees with unprecedented opportunities to be chosen to supply components to OEMs under contract to the defense industry without the need for large investments of time and capital in order to meet defense industry certification requirements, by becoming part of a database of designated defense industry suppliers. Visit the MEP in Booth #6658 at EASTEC for more details, or check out www.manufacturingsupplychain.org.