U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) pressed key Senate appropriators to support small and medium-size manufacturers in Minnesota and across the country with technical assistance and other resources to help them grow profits, improve productivity, and enable them to better compete globally.
 
Sen. Franken, in a letter to the top Democrat and Republican on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, urged that the bill funding Department of Commerce activities for 2013 include funds for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), which funds Enterprise Minnesota. MEP is the only public-private program dedicated to helping manufacturers grow their businesses.  Enterprise Minnesota, chartered by the state legislature in 1987, is the Minnesota center of MEP. It offers services to manufacturers to help them grow profits, including tools to become more operationally efficient and energy efficient and to improve supply chain management. In 2011, it launched its Pathways to Growth Project, which will help 25 Minnesota manufacturing companies implement a series of integrated solutions that ignite innovation and growth, with the goal of deliveingr a 20 to1 return on investment for participating companies.
 
“Manufacturing is the backbone of our economy in Minnesota. Enterprise Minnesota has a strong track record of helping manufacturers grow their business,” said Sen. Franken in the letter sent with several Senate colleagues. “At a time when economic recovery is our national priority, the services of Enterprise Minnesota continue to be a wise investment.”
 
You can read the letter Sen. Franken and his 33 of his colleagues here.