Using local suppliers has its advantages, but finding them can be time consuming, and manufacturers move on to the companies they can find easily. A new Web site is aimed at changing that, connecting buyers and suppliers of custom manufactured components in NH. The state of NH partnered with MFG.com, the largest global sourcing marketplace for the manufacturing industry, to create a Web site where buyers can identify local suppliers instead of contracting with out-of-state firms.
One of the consistent things we were hearing from [Gov. John Lynch's Jobs Cabinet Roundtables] was they wanted to buy local, but they didn't know where to get the information on who local suppliers would be, says Steve Boucher, communications and legislative director at the NH Division of Economic Development, of the impetus for the new site, which launched in April.
The site, www.mfg.com/partner/nheconomy, is free for buyers, while suppliers pay $99 a month for an online profile and access to projects seeking supplies. The potential marketplace is vast as smart manufacturing and high tech are the state's largest market segment for wages and benefits, encompassing 3,700 companies in 2009 that employed nearly 80,000 people and paid $6.4 billion in wages and benefits, according to a study by the NH Center for Public Policy Studies.
This is what I call an in-state online supply chain, says Zenagui Brahim, director of the NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership. It helps the small and medium-sized manufacturers do business with each other, but also connects them with large employers looking for vendors.
Current Issue - May 2024