$100 Million Economic Impact for Arizona and National Award Result of $3 Million Grant

Arizona MEP Facilitates Program that is Adding Jobs and Creating New Revenue

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Aug. 25 -- Arizona is home to some of the nation's most innovative high-tech companies, yet many of these companies are forced to look outside the United States for workers because they can't find employees who have the necessary tech skills. Often these companies bring in foreign workers using an H-1B visa that allows foreigners to work in specialty jobs in this country.

In most cases local companies would prefer to hire local workers and in the post-9/11 world, getting visas for foreign workers can be a difficult process.

To combat the need for foreign recruiting, the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG) applied for and was awarded a grant in early 2004 from the U.S. Department of Labor. The first grant of its kind to be awarded in Arizona, the program has produced incredible economic success in just over a year since implementation.

"What we got from the Department of Labor was a three-year, $3 million grant designed to immediately strengthen the technology and business skills of engineers and scientists while increasing the sustainable competitiveness of Arizona manufacturers in global markets," said Teri Drew, NACOG regional director. "Working with a variety of partners, what we have done is create a highly successful program that is producing close to $108 million in economic impact for the state and region."

NACOG contracted with the Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP) to deliver the program, dubbed the MEP U.S. DOL H-1B Skill Technology Training Program. The job of the Arizona MEP is to administer the grant, recruit employers and employees and work with other partners to carry out the training.

"This program isn't just about training workers with competitive skills, we're also working with individual companies to help them meet their specific needs of their business," said Naidu Katuri, Arizona MEP lean project manager. "Whether it's worker training or business planning, through this program we're putting together company-specific teams of consultants, university professors and industry experts to help these companies take the next step and it's producing significant results."

One of the companies in the program is Ridgetop Group, Inc. in Tucson, a world leader in electronic prognostics and reliability technology. Ridgetop technology is currently used primarily for military applications, such as warning fighter jet pilots of potential equipment failures before they actually occur, avoiding fatal systems failures and keeping the planes combat ready.

Ridgetop became involved with the NACOG and Arizona MEP program because the company wanted to diversify and move from primarily working on Department of Defense contracts, into the $200 billion commercial electronic equipment sector.

"Our technology has incredible potential for applications in the commercial market, but as a small technology firm we needed help transitioning and diversifying for uses in the public sector," said Doug Goodman, Ridgetop chairman and CEO.

Working with consultants the Arizona MEP brought in, Ridgetop developed a strategic business plan to help with marketing and commercialization. The program also helped Ridgetop identify the auto industry as the commercial sector that would be ideal for its initial entry into the commercial field.

"Our technology has a variety of safety applications for cars, like predicting degradation of anti-lock breaking systems and electronically alerting the driver or their mechanic of the problem before it occurs," added Goodman. "Thanks to the H-1B program we are now working with a major auto manufacturer on ways to implement our technology into their cars. Without NACOG and the Arizona MEP we would be months or years away from where we are now and wouldn't have tapped into what is a very promising growth opportunity for our company."

Studies of the H-1B program predict continued success for Arizona companies and the local economy, including:

  * Creating or retaining 1,360 jobs, paying $54.5 million in employee wages
    and benefits
  * Increasing or retaining economic output worth $185.6 million
  * Contributing or retaining $81.3 million of gross state product
  * Generating or retaining $20.8 million additional tax and non-tax revenue
    at the federal, state, and local levels, including $5.3 million at the
    state and local levels

Recently, NACOG learned that their MEP U.S. DOL H-1B Skill Training Technology Program received a 2005 Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), a Washington, D.C. based public interest group that recognizes organizations for demonstrating innovative approaches to economic and community development.

During its annual training conference on August 27-30 in Seattle, Washington, NADO will showcase the NACOG training program along with other award winners.

In addition to NACOG and the MEP, other partners include Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. The Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Lab and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) are also important partners.

The Arizona MEP is an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. The national MEP is a network of manufacturing extension centers that provide business and technical assistance to smaller manufacturers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Through MEP, manufacturers have access to more than 2000 manufacturing and business "coaches" whose job is to help firms make changes that lead to greater productivity, increased profits, and enhanced global competitiveness. For more information on the Arizona MEP program call 480-874- 9100.