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Section 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The manufacturing sector has been an important part of the economies of both the United States and Utah. Economic development and job creation were two of Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s main initiatives. Within these initiatives are the objectives to strengthen and grow both rural and urban businesses within Utah.
The Utah Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (UTAHMEP) is the premier provider of manufacturing improvement services in Utah. UTAH-MEP implements proven solutions that produce measurable results. Formed in the beginning of 2020, the UTAH-MEP alliance brings together the strongest manufacturing improvement groups in Utah combined with university resources, government relationships, and economic development partnerships to provide excellence in training, consulting, and customer service. The UTAH-MEP alliance includes the University of Utah’s MEP Center (UUMEP), Utah State University’s Utah Manufacturing Extension Service (UMES) including the Manufacturing/Outdoor Products Support Hub, Impact Utah, Utah Manufacturers Association (UMA), World Trade Center of Utah (WTC Utah), and Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative (UAMMI).
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The global pandemic continues to affect all businesses throughout the state in dramatic ways, either through unprecedented growth or similarly unprecedented declines in revenue, as well as dramatic disruptions to their supply chains. In response to this global crisis, both state and federal agencies provided funds to be deployed directly to those impacted, or through agencies tasked with delivering specific assistance as a condition for receipt of funds. UTAHMEP received both state and federal funds that have been or continue to be used to support both Utah manufacturing companies and other businesses.
The UTAH-MEP assists small- and medium-sized clients throughout the state by helping to modernize their operations so they become more competitive, productive, and efficient.
Client manufacturing establishments (CMEs) and other rural businesses (ORBs) served by the UTAH-MEP during 2022 reported changes they were able to make due to the assistance (direct effects). The Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN®) was used to analyze the multiplying effects (indirect and induced). Below is a summary of the findings. Additional impacts and details can be found in Section 6, IMPLAN Results.
• As a result of the UTAH-MEP, 125 CMEs/ORBs (100 urban and 25 rural counties) reported the following effects: o 1,733 jobs created or retained with 372 of these in rural counties and 1,361 in urban counties. o $390.6 million in additional or retained sales with $61.1 million of that from CMEs/ORBs in rural counties.
• The reported effects of jobs and sales do not represent all the impacts of UTAH-MEP, but they are the most easily measured quantitatively, lending themselves to the economic impact modeling of UTAH-MEP on the economy of the state of Utah.
• The direct effect, which measures changes within the client itself, is the equivalent of 2,036 jobs and just under $648 million sales or output for 2022. For details on how the direct effects were calculated, see Section 6, IMPLAN Results.
• The total impacts are the direct effect plus the indirect and induced effects. Total impacts include 4,721 jobs; $295 million in employee wages; $1,163 million in output or sales; and $30.8 million in state and local taxes. A breakout for urban and rural areas is seen in Tables 1 and 2. Figures 1 and 2 summarize the total impacts.
• The above impacts are based solely on what the clients themselves attest to as changes they made directly from the assistance received from UTAH-MEP. These reported client improvements may be maintained beyond the scope of the one-year study period for this model. If such is the case, the eventual impacts of UTAH-MEP’s work may be even higher than estimated here.
