Rock Island Today

PEORIA, IL – Congressman Eric Sorensen (IL-17) is announcing a $400,000 grant awarded to the Peoria-based Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) to strengthen local manufacturing and improve supply chain efficiency and resilience. 

"To create good-paying jobs in Central and Northwestern Illinois, we need to make sure our manufacturers have resilient supply chains that can support our region's businesses and families," said Sorensen. "I applaud our local leaders in the manufacturing space for securing this critical funding to better support jobs and strengthen our local economies." 

“Illinois manufacturers are resilient but have felt the constraints of a disrupted and evolving supply chain over the last few years,” said David Boulay, President of IMEC. “This investment will streamline the connection of manufacturers to help strengthen their current supply chain and find new opportunities to become suppliers for those needing their resources. By analyzing capability, capacity, and gaps, IMEC can help navigate direct matches to their needs both statewide and nationally through the combined efforts of the U.S. Department of Commerce NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership Network.” 

The grant funding was awarded by the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to help optimize manufacturing supply chains and create a resilient manufacturing supply chain network in the state of Illinois. 

The funds will allow IMEC to conduct outreach to determine Illinois’ manufacturers’ supply chain needs and capabilities, better report this information, and connect manufacturers with solutions that strengthen Central and Northwestern Illinois’ regional supply chains. 

Congressman Eric Sorensen is the first openly LGBTQ person elected to represent Illinois at the federal level and is a member of the New Democrat Coalition. He serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Prior to serving in Congress, Sorensen was a local meteorologist in Rockford and the Quad Cities for nearly 20 years. His district includes Illinois’ Quad Cities, Rockford, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal. 

Original source can be found here.