Two Grants Hoosier sewn-goods manufacturers may not be aware of

Manufacturing Readiness Grants

Manufacturing Readiness Grants are an Indiana Economic Development corporation initiative in partnership with the Next Level Manufacturing Institute. The grants awards program aims to stimulate Indiana’s businesses’ to modernize through the adoption of smart, innovative, and emerging Industry 4.0 technologies.

A successful grant applicant in your sector has already been awarded a significant sum to modernize their cutting room. The Manufacturing Readiness Grants website states:

‘This company is investing in technology that will enable them to increase speed, reduce waste, enhance design capabilities and expand product offering within their seating operation.’

If you are looking at modernizing your cutting room operations, now is the time to do it!

The key points of the grant are as follows:

• Funding range and budget:
  Commencing in July 2021 and budgeted at $10 million per year, funding expansion for the program has also been included in the 2022-2023 state budget.
• Deadline:
  None. Applications are processed in monthly cycles
• Eligibility
  • Must be a manufacturer planning to make a capital investment in *smart manufacturing technologies
  • Small- and medium-sized manufacturers (<500 employees) are heavily favored.
• Qualifying
  Projects that can be immediately started and quickly executed pending an award are preferred.
• How big are the award amounts?
  Grants are based on a 1:1 basis up to a maximum of $200,000 per company. i.e., A project valued at $400,000 would secure a grant award of $200,000.
• *How do I know if my application resembles a smart manufacturing project:
  Visit the website to view the criteria, or contact our Indiana office (details below) if you would like more information about how our equipment meets these criteria

Applying for the grant is fairly straight forward and the grant organisers have even loaded a sample application form with fields filled with sample information to encourage applicants.

Indiana Small Business Restart Grant

The Indiana Government is helping businesses such as yours throughout the pandemic by expanding the Small Business Restart Grant and injecting a further $60 million in funding. Its been a challenging time for many businesses, and this is a great opportunity that we don’t want you to miss out on.

The deadline for applying is 31 December 2021

The government has advised that businesses apply and submit expenses for reimbursement as soon as possible. Grants will be issued in the order in which applications are received until funding is exhausted or the program expires.

Eligible Expenses:

For expenses to be eligible, they must have incurred between 1 March 2020 and 31 December 2021 and can cover operations, such as

• Payroll
• Insurance premiums
• Rent or mortgage payments
• Utilities
• Lease payments
• Safety investments.
• Software service payments
• Food delivery