“‘The initial budget came back from OMB … at zero.”
The Manufacturing Extension Partnership is being threatened with budget cuts again (almost an annual event). The MEP offices around the country provide lean training and consulting, particularly for small and medium size manufacturers. Is this a service that the government should be providing, or should private sector consultants fill this role?
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Helping small and medium-sized manufacturers fund improvement efforts is a good idea but government subsidies to consulting firms are not. NIST is not competent to pick consultants for manufacturers and the MEPs are unfair competition to other service providers.
Government support should go directly to manufacturers, to pay market rates for consultants or contractors they choose.