DATE: Thursday, November 27, 1997           TAG: 9711270707

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY AKWELI PARKER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

GROUP GETS FUNDING TO CONTINUE FACTORY HELP

Say you run a small- to medium-sized factory and developing countries are eating your company's lunch with their cheap labor.

What to do?

The U.S. Department of Commerce says it has the answer. Its National Institute of Standards and Technology runs a nationwide network of centers offering technical and business assistance to smaller manufacturers.

NIST said this week it will continue funding Virginia's A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership - the pit stop for the Commonwealth's manufacturers looking to better their business practices, processes, and equipment.

NIST gave high marks to VPMEP's technology and business resources, management and financial plan and its knowledge of Virginia's smaller manufacturers, awarding the center $311,114.

Based in Martinsville with field offices throughout the state, the center gives technical help to small to medium-size Virginia manufacturers. There are about 6,900 state manufacturers that employ fewer than 500 workers, according to the 1997 Virginia Manufacturers Directory. They provide about 250,000 jobs.

Gerard Ward, VPMEP executive director, said the public should see results of the taxpayer-funded investment next year.

VPMEP gets other money directly from the state and from Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology for a total 1998 fiscal budget of $3.2 million.

The General Assembly created the manufacturing resource in 1992 to serve southern and central Virginia. This year the legislature authorized the center - a partner with Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology - to serve the rest of the state.

Despite opposition from groups that oppose spending tax dollars to help businesses, NIST said its nationwide funding of Manufacturing Extension Partnerships are ``yielding sizable benefits'' in the form of more jobs and higher sales.

The agency said a recent survey of 2,071 client companies reported the creation or retention of 3,257 jobs as a result of MEP services.

This is the fourth year NIST has given money to the Philpott center. MEMO: Companies in Hampton Roads can contact the Virginia Philpott

Manufacturing Extension Partnership through Old Dominion University's

Technology Applications Center at 683-5505.

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