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NIST in Arkansas

$20M

in financial awards from NIST to organizations in the state of Arkansas in 2024

  • In FY 2024, NIST supported the state’s aerospace and aviation sectors with a $10 million grant for Arkansas State University’s new Center for Advanced Materials and Steel Manufacturing. An additional $10 million in grants to the University of Arkansas in FY 2024 support a Center for Design and Materials Innovation and a Center for Large-Scale Testing of Seismic Systems.
  • Arkansas metals manufacturers rely on NIST reference materials for iron and steel alloys to check for composition, hardness and toughness, ensuring the highest quality control for materials where failure would cause catastrophic losses.
  • NIST’s library of reference materials helps to ensure that foods grown or eaten in the U.S. are safe from contaminants and allergens that could cause illness to consumers. Arkansas companies rely on NIST reference materials such as tomato, peach and apple leaves to check their food safety testing methods and help them comply with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act.
  • Since FY 2020, Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions, part of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, has received $6.2 million in federal funds from NIST, with $5.5 million matched in nonfederal funds, to build capacity for innovation, operational excellence, sustainability and leadership development among Arkansas manufacturers.

Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions helped custom furniture maker WWBeds in Little Rock adopt value stream mapping and lean and Toyota  Kata methods to create production flows and eliminate barriers. WWBeds tripled its sales revenue to $1.6 million and saved $600,000 in overtime. 

MEP Success Stories

Lean Manufacturing Training Triples Production While Eliminating Overtime

Reported Year
2024
WWBeds facility in North Little Rock, Arkansas, was struggling to meet their customer demand due to material and work flow issues, process layout, limited space, excessive overtime, and not knowing which issues to work on. Leadership turned to AMS, part of the MEP National Network™, for help.

Leader Starter Kata and Training Within Industry Job Instruction Help Company Achieve Business Improvement in Less Than Eight Months

Reported Year
2024
The plant anticipated a need to increase its production capability due to continued strong demand for metallic stearate. The automated process of the business continued to be highly dependable, but there was a need to strengthen its leadership aspect to meet the changing labor dynamics. While lean manufacturing concepts had been introduced in early

Building Better Bikes in America

Reported Year
2023
Allied Cycle works is competing directly with offshore manufacturing. They need to take advantage of anything that will give them the edge with efficiency, which means adding automation. Sam Pickman, one of the founders of Allied, enlisted Ben VandeHoef, with Phillips Corporation, an AEDC- Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions automation partner, to

Learn how NIST improves the lives of all Americans by conducting research and fostering collaborations that make possible everything from reliable vaccine storage and fair fuel transactions to next-generation MRIs and fair stock trades. Check out NIST Works for You.

Featured Video

Heroes of American Manufacturing: Mayville Engineering Company (MEC)

Heroes of American Manufacturing: Mayville Engineering Company (MEC)