The New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program has released a report explaining the organization's effect on the state's economy.
Supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce to help small- and medium-size manufacturers identify and implement advanced manufacturing and management technologies, the MEP hired an independent third-party firm to survey its clients. Typically, clients are surveyed about one year after the completion of a project and asked questions relating to changes in efficiency and output as well as questions relating to the quality of the MEP services they received. Between October 2013 and August 2014, 39 companies surveyed reported that, as a result of their relationship with the MEP they have:
- · Created 97 jobs
- · Retained 167 jobs that otherwise would not exist
- · Increased and retained $12.7 million in sales
- · Spent $5.3 million on new investment
- · Experienced $4.3 million in cost savings
The effects of this increased economic activity, extends beyond clients. Increased sales by New Hampshire MEP client firms require that they increase their purchases of intermediate goods and services from companies located in NH and elsewhere to support their increased output. The supplying companies, in turn, generate additional demands of their own. In this way, dollar expenditures for final demand can be traced to all of the affected industries in the regional economy.
Income from new jobs generated by MEP clients and the supplying firm’s results in increased demand for consumer goods, ensuring a positive ripple effect throughout the NH's economy.