U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Announces $1.5 Million for Wisconsin Manufacturers to Respond to COVID-19 Pandemic

The Bipartisan CARES Act Includes $50 Million to Support Manufacturing During the Pandemic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today announced that the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity will receive $1.5 million for manufacturers to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID 19 pandemic. This funding comes as part of the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act that passed Congress in March and was signed into law by President Trump.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an economic crisis that is hurting our Wisconsin manufacturers,” said Senator Baldwin. “I supported the bipartisan CARES Act because it provides critically needed federal funding to support our manufacturing businesses and workers, and gives them the tools they need to keep moving our Made in Wisconsin economy forward.”

“This additional funding enables the Wisconsin MEP System to help more manufacturers chart their way out of this unprecedented downturn,” said Buckley Brinkman, executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity. “The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership and UW-Stout’s Manufacturing Outreach Center will engage companies across the state to catalyze an effective recovery.”

The CARES Act included $50 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to help manufacturers prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity, Inc. (WCMP) was selected to receive $1.5 million to implement projects that will provide assistance to Wisconsin manufacturers to improve their ability to respond the challenges of Survival, Transition, Stabilization, and Expansion. The Center will: 

• Conduct outreach to 1,000 or more Wisconsin manufacturers;
• Create five new offerings or offerings delivered on new platforms;
• Engage in two new multi-Center engagements;
• Support at least one new formal Supplier Scouting engagement; and
• Facilitate ten new supplier matching opportunities.