“Over the roughly three year period in which we utilized Trade Adjustment Assistance funds we literally transformed our manufacturing operations from an outdated MRP based system with huge inventories, long lead times and inefficient use of human resources -
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to a lean manufacturing based shop floor based on Just in Time fabrication and delivery of parts, significant reductions in inventory on hand, lead time reductions and lower payroll costs. Our inventory turns have increased from a 10-year average of 6 turns per year to 10 turns per year currently. In the last 5 years, we have doubled our annual revenues while maintaining or reducing the number of employees on our payroll.”
Randy Bell, Vice President
Pearson Packaging Systems
Spokane, Washington
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Benefits of Trade Adjustment Assistance
Working with the Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (NWTAAC) will benefit your firm in a number of ways:
- Eligible companies can receive up to $75,000 in grant funds for a wide range of projects to assist them in maintaining their competitiveness.
- Companies have the opportunity to pursue projects that will:
- enhance their strategic positioning
- improve their overall performance
- increase growth and profits
- adapt to changing conditions of the market
- Grant funds enable companies to develop and complete important projects that they might not have considered without assistance, and to do so in an effective and structured way.
- Our staff will assist you in every aspect of the process:
- initial evaluation
- application (petition)
- development of the strategic plan (adjustment proposal)
- implementation of funded projects as outlined in the plan
Typical Projects
The list below includes examples of the types of projects that have been funded by NWTAAC. These projects can be tailored to your firm’s specific needs. NWTAAC grant funds are typically used to pay for projects that require outside consulting services. If the project you are interested in is not listed, please contact us.
Marketing
- Website design
- Brochure design
- Catalog design
- Package design
- Trade show booth design
- Market research & market feasibility analysis
- Design & testing of new products
- Development of new markets
- Development of sales representative network
- Advertising and Sales Promotion
- Public Relations Planning and Implementation
- Product Planning and Diversification
- Product Pricing
- Customer Service Analysis
- Export Assistance
Manufacturing
- Lean manufacturing
- Design for manufacturability
- Site layout and process control design for new equipment
- Re-engineering process layout
- Manufacturing equipment design
- Printed circuit design
- Kaizen training
- Inventory Management
- Production Planning, Control and Scheduling
- Cost Identification and Reduction
- Statistical Process Control
Quality Assurance
- Development of QA procedures
- ISO 9000 preparation
- Gap audits
- Documentation prep & ISO 9000 certification audit
- ISO 14000 environmental standards
- Product Certification
Information Systems
- E-commerce
- Strategic planning
- Custom software
- Search Engine Optimization
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