2022

Image by an unnamed photographer on Pexels As you ski, sled, work, or wander into the winter cold, there is a good chance this Northwest family-owned company is keeping you warm. Decades ago, the founder recognized that no one likes wet clothing. He developed a novel product to keep people warm and dry. Recently, the […]

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexel Do you know an exceptional small business owner that deserves recognition for their achievements? The U.S. Small Business Administration has opened its 2023 National and District Small Business Week Awards, including the annual Small Business Person of the Year Award. Visit the SBA’s dedicated website at www.sba.gov/nsbw to download

Photo by Jonas Mohamadi from Pexels August is when many of us are flying, driving, or enjoying the summer weather at home. Wherever your vacation (or staycation) is, we wanted to share some of our favorite manufacturing podcasts. Manufacturing Happy Hour – The podcast intro says it all, “the podcast where we get real about

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels Idaho Commerce is accepting applications for companies that want to take their websites and products international! The program supports eligible companies with awards of $9,000 for eligible digital marketing activities focused on international growth. The grant requires a 25% match by the company – so for every authorized incremental

Idaho manufacturing companies can tap into various manufacturing grants and resources to grow and expand their business.

Photo taken by Artem Beliaikin via Pexels While there is no such thing as “free money” from the government, multiple state and federal grants and federal benefit programs support manufacturing companies in different aspects of the business. For example, there are grants to support operations efficiency, worker training, research and development, and trade competition in

Image by Julien Millerant from Pixabay As you load up the car for the summer road trip, there is a chance you will be enjoying the great outdoors with gear from one of the many Northwest outdoor recreation manufacturing companies. One family-owned outdoor gear company has manufactured specialized outdoor equipment for avid recreationists to enjoy

Photo by Nadezhda Moryak on Pixel June Northwest Manufacturing Event Round-up There are a number of different manufacturing and workforce events around the Northwest in June. Here are some of our top picks. PowderMet2022 (Portland, OR) June 12 This year, the leading North American technical conference on powder metallurgy and particulate materials is hosted in

A Northwest industrial equipment manufacturer rapidly lost business to imports from China and Taiwan. An economic developer recognized the problem and referred the company to the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) program. When the company applied for TAAF, they had lost half of their employees and 65 percent of sales over two years. NorthwestTAAC

We’ve all heard about trade competition and lost jobs in the media. AT NWTAAC, we work with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who are negatively affected by trade competition, what is often called “trade impact” in policy lingo. For large companies or from a macro-economic perspective, import competition may seem like a rising tide –