WROI News

Rochester Iron & Metal, Inc. among those to receive Manufacturing Readiness Grants; Paragon Medical, ,ITAMCO also named

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), in partnership with Conexus Indiana, announced the sixth round of awards totaling nearly $4 million in Manufacturing Readiness Grants to 43 Indiana businesses, supporting a projected $46.1 million in technology-enabled capital investment across Indiana.

 

Recipients include companies in Fulton, Marshall and Kosciusko counties.

 

Launched in 2020, the Manufacturing Readiness Grants program was created to stimulate private sector investments to modernize Indiana’s manufacturing industry. Since then, $17.4 million in grant funding has been awarded to 212 companies in 60 counties, prompting proposed projects with combined budgets of $138.9 million and $22 million in estimated new wages.

 

In recently published case studies, Conexus Indiana provides an in-depth look into various completed projects, highlighting business impact and outcomes. These, along with data analysis from applications and surveys, find:

 

  • Rather than displacing workers, investments in technology are freeing workers from tedious tasks to perform higher-value, higher-paying functions.
  • Awards support modernization at primarily small and midsized firms (average of 165 employees) with long histories of participation in Indiana’s manufacturing economy (average of 37 years in operation).
  • The most adopted technologies include robotics, cobots, 3D printing and next-generation machines with sensor-enable features such as data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
  • 68% of companies report Manufacturing Readiness Grants have enabled or expanded the scope of technology projects, and an additional 26% say the grant accelerated project timelines.

Recipients include:

  • ITAMCO Co. (Marshall County; $191,240 grant award) is a gearing and precision machining manufacturer for heavy-duty industries including mining, off-highway vehicles, marine, wastewater, construction and aviation. The company is investing in automation and robotics to augment both the pre- and post-heat treatment steps in its manufacturing process.
  • Paragon Medical Inc. (Kosciusko County; $105,000 grant award) is a contract medical device manufacturer that produces a full range of components for the global orthopedic and life sciences market, including bone screws, plates, orthopedic implants, endoscopic devices, sterilization trays and more. The company is investing in additive manufacturing, with a focus on metal 3D printing, enabling rapid iteration on patient-specific devices for the medical device market.
  • Rochester Iron & Metal Inc. (Fulton County; $37,500 grant award) is a recycler and reseller of scrap metal. The company is investing in an automated conveyor belt, magnets and pre-shredder, which will create production efficiencies such as increased throughput and energy savings while also eliminating heavy, unshreddable metals from the company’s existing auto shredder.

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