FASTLANE awarded $1.9 million to continue serving West Central Ohio manufacturers

Manufacturers across West-Central Ohio will benefit from a five-year Ohio Development Services Agency award to the region’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership affiliate, FASTLANE.

Launched in 2012 with a $250,000 ODSA award, FASTLANE will receive $1.4 million to continue providing manufacturers in West-Central Ohio with assistance in the areas of technology acceleration, continuous improvement, workforce development, supply chain optimization and sustainability. As the lead affiliate and program manager for the Materials and Manufacturing Aerospace Technology Hub, FASTLANE will receive an additional $500,000 to support the development of new technologies and supply chains for aerospace materials and manufacturing in Ohio.

FASTLANE is located within the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Manufacturing/Technology Solutions Accelerator Office.

“We are proud to be awarded funding that will allow us to strengthen and grow manufacturing throughout our eight-county region,” said Phil Ratermann, director of FASTLANE. “This funding will be used to bring our specialized manufacturing consultants to companies, thus subsidizing some of the costs for services that are normally beyond the reach of small business budgets, and to continue to offer services and training sessions to help manufacturers become more competitive.”

Under the new award, FASTLANE will subcontract to five partner organizations: Sinclair Community College, Clark State Community College, Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, Dayton Better Business Bureau, and Champaign Economic Partnership. Each partner will perform specific deliverables to further support manufacturing.

Small and medium-sized manufacturing companies represent 90 percent of the growth in high-paying jobs in Ohio. Since FASTLANE's inception, services provided by the MEP have had a significant impact to the regional manufacturing community, including more than $16 million in savings, $36.5 million in new incremental sales, creation and retention of 165 jobs, and additional investments for growth totaling more than $24.7 million.

November 21, 2016