The TAAF program assists manufacturing firms that have been adversely affected by imports from foreign competition by providing technical assistance and cost sharing to improve a variety of manufacturing, marketing, financial management and IT issues. Some examples of implementation projects that will provide value to the company and improve operations include:
Manufacturing, engineering and production
- ISO preparation and registration
- Quality assurance
- Product development, design, prototype and testing
- Product certification
- Operation analysis
- Productivity improvement (LEAN, Six Sigma)
- Process engineering inventory management
- Facility and equipment review
- CAD/CAM selection and implementation
Financial and general management
- Profit planning, cash management and budgeting
- Debt restructuring
- Cost management
- Strategic planning
- Expansion and diversification
- Workforce development and training
- Organizational analysis
- Compensation and incentive programs
- Succession planning
Marketing and sales
- E-commerce
- Social media
- Trade shows
- Market research and planning
- Advertising and sales promotion
- Website development, updating, translations, smartphone compatibility
- Distribution analysis and development
- Sales force management programs
- Product line evaluation
- Export and international trade development
Information technology support systems
- Employee training
- Integrated manufacturing systems
- Hardware evaluation, software upgrades
- System conversion and enhancements
- Custom programming
- E-commerce
Note: Computer hardware cannot be cost shared — only evaluations, installation, software and training. Production equipment cannot be cost shared — only associated design effort, installation, software and training.