Pennsylvania Manufacturers Attribute Significant Job, Revenue and Technology Benefits to Statewide Industrial Resource Center (IRC) Program
For Immediate Release
January 4, 2023
Manufacturers Resource Center
7200A Windsor Drive | Allentown, PA 18106
Allentown, PA – Data voluntarily provided to independent researchers by 541 small and mid-sized manufacturing firms across Pennsylvania throughout 2022, and subsequently verified by the U.S. Department of Commerce, confirm that the statewide Industrial Resource Center initiative – the Commonwealth’s flagship program for strengthening the competitiveness and resiliency of smaller industrial firms – generated significant positive results amidst a turbulent economy. Over the past 12 months, manufacturers that utilized Industrial Resource Center (IRC) professional services avoided 4,099 layoffs while adding 1,226 full-time workers to their payrolls. They also realized $398.9 Million in retained sales and secured $108.9 Million in new customer orders because of their IRC assistance.
“Over the past year, nearly 2,000 small and mid-sized manufacturers across Pennsylvania called upon their regional IRC to help them address the lingering challenges of the pandemic. The outstanding results reported by the 541 companies surveyed by an outside entity are impressive – but also reflect just a fraction of the true impact that the IRC’s provide to Pennsylvania’s manufacturing economy”, said Rich Hobbs, President & CEO of the MRC, the IRC that serves Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, and Schuylkill counties in PA.
In addition to growing their workforces and increasing their top-line revenue numbers, companies that performed consultative projects with their regional IRC reduced their non-personnel operating costs by $43.1 million over the past 12 months and invested more than $212 million in new equipment, facility expansion, advanced technologies, and workforce training.
Over the past three years, since the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, services provided by the IRCs across Pennsylvania have enabled manufacturers to avoid 12,565 layoffs, create 3,506 new manufacturing jobs and increase revenues by nearly $370 million.
Pennsylvania’s IRC initiative consists of seven affiliates – DVIRC, Catalyst Connection, the Innovative Manufacturers’ Center (IMC), MANTEC, the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC), NEPIRC and NWIRC.
MRC’s primary services focus on Business Growth, Operational Excellence, Industry Certifications, Leadership Development, and Business Strategy and Development. MRC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving manufacturers. MRC is dedicated to creating jobs and economic opportunity in eastern Pennsylvania’s Lehigh, Northampton, Schuylkill, Carbon, and Berks counties. To find out more about MRC and our comprehensive services, visit our website at www.mrcpa.org.
Contact Information:
Patricia Felise | Media Relations
Manufacturers Resource Center
pat.felise@mrcpa.org | (610) 628-4640 ###