Fred Smith Store Fixtures received a $200,000 grant toward investing in automation to format, profile, and edge workpieces into a single production run.

INDIANAPOLIS – A half-dozen businesses with strong ties to the wood industry are among 44 Indiana businesses to receive Manufacturing Readiness Grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) in partnership with Conexus Indiana. The Manufacturing Readiness Grants program was launched in 2020 to stimulate private sector investments to modernize Indiana’s manufacturing industry. This year’s grant recipients serve a variety of specialties including entertainment and décor, industrial applications, injection molding, and medical devices. The six wood industry companies, which received a total of $820,000 in matching grants, represent a wide range of activities spanning from logging through store fixture manufacturing. They include:

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Rich Christianson is the owner of Richson Media LLC, a Chicago-based communications firm focused on the industrial woodworking sector. Rich is the former long-time editorial director and associate publisher of Woodworking Network. During his nearly 35-year career, Rich has toured more than 250 woodworking operations throughout North America, Europe and Asia and has written extensively on woodworking technology, design and supply trends. He has also directed and promoted dozens of woodworking trade shows, conferences and seminars including the Cabinets & Closets Conference & Expo and the Woodworking Machinery & Supply Conference & Expo, Canada’s largest woodworking show.

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