The year 2025 marks the 65th anniversary of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech.
A robust manufacturing sector has helped define Georgia’s economy for decades, and as it has grown and changed, GaMEP has been – in one form or another – evolving right alongside it.
Evolving from an Agricultural Economy
Georgia Tech was established in 1885 as a trade school (originally named the Georgia School of Technology), designed to help promote the transformation of the agrarian South to an industrial economy. As the school grew, its mission expanded as well.
In 1905, President Kenneth Matheson defined the mission of Georgia Tech as, “Teaching first, then research and finally extension work among the people of the state.”
In 1919, the first seeds for GaMEP were planted when state leaders determined that in order to grow jobs and raise incomes, it was crucial for Georgia to diversify and expand it industrial base. To help achieve this, the Georgia General Assembly voted to create the Engineering Experiment Station (EES) at Georgia Tech. This program (which later became the Georgia Tech Research Institute) received funding in 1934.
As EES grew, it formed the basis for additional outreach programs designed to support the state’s growing industrial economy. This included conducting vital research and economic analyses for rural communities across the state, helping to attract industry.
By 1960, there were more than 4,500 manufacturers in Georgia, 80% of which employed fewer than 100 people. It became increasingly clear that services were needed to support new and existing firms. To meet this need, the Georgia General Assembly voted to create the Industrial Extension Service (IES) at Georgia Tech, which opened field offices across the state to provide technical assistance directly to manufacturers.
Supporting a New Industrial Base
In 1961, the IES’s first field office opened in Rome. Five years later, offices had expanded to include Albany, Augusta, Brunswick, Carrollton, Savannah, and Macon. By 1984, additional offices existed in Douglas, Gainesville, Brunswick, Columbus, Dublin, and Madison.
The offices provided diverse solutions, such as energy conservation and facility planning, based on the needs of the area. By the 1980s, IES boasted a statewide presence with an expanded menu of services and was gaining national recognition.
Elliot Price, now GaMEP’s Augusta region manager, began as a project engineer in 1984.
“Each region had standalone services,” he recalled. “When I first started off, a lot of companies were getting into total quality management. Then we moved into lean manufacturing with Toyota’s concepts.”
Price and his colleagues split their time between helping attract new industries to the state (what he termed “planting seeds”) and technical assistance (“getting the work done”).
Added Price, “One thing that hasn’t changed is our service to industry. We’ve always been customer focused.”
Building Strong Client Relationships
Throughout the years, GaMEP has focused on building long-term relationships with companies, supporting them through different stages of business growth and helping them respond to new challenges as they arise.
Penn McClatchey is CEO of Southern Aluminum Finishing (SAF), a metal finishing and fabrication company with roughly 200 employees across six locations nationwide, including two in Georgia, Villa Rica and Lithia Springs. He’s worked with GaMEP since the 1980s.
“We serve a lot of different markets,” McClatchey said of SAF. “It’s a blessing, but it has its own set of problems because it’s hard to really focus on one thing.”
GaMEP helped the company bring clarity to its operations early on through a strategic planning project that helped SAF’s leadership formulate a nuanced answer to the question: “What business are we in?”
That was just the beginning of a decades-long partnership between SAF and GaMEP. Over the years, said McClatchey, “We did a variety of lean boot camps and general lean training through the 90s, and we took advantage of a lot of the continuing education that GaMEP did.”
In recent years, as SAF has continued to grow, the company has worked with GaMEP to complete projects in facility layout, quality management, and technology implementation.
Becoming GaMEP
In 1988, the precursor to today’s national Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) was established to support the transfer of manufacturing technologies, such as robotics and automation, to small and mid-sized manufacturers across the U.S. The program began establishing regional centers across the country.
In 1994, the IES joined the MEP National Network. Federal funding allowed for expansion and diversification of services.
For Price, the shifts associated with federal affiliation also brought a new level of recognition to the group. “For many years we fought just to be understood and known,” he said. “Now we are an integral part of Georgia Tech and called on to be part of the growth in Georgia.”
Continuing to Innovate
To stay on the cutting edge of innovation, GaMEP continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of its clients.
While still offering many of the services from the early days such as energy assessments and plant layout design, GaMEP is now a comprehensive resource for manufacturers offering services related to business health, leadership, operational excellence, sustainability, safety, supply chain, and technology. GaMEP also offers specialized services for key manufacturing sectors in Georgia, including food and beverage, automotive, and medical device.
Advancing Cutting-edge Solutions
As technology continues to evolve, GaMEP is helping manufacturers navigate what technology project manager Andrew Krejci calls “the new age of manufacturing” – Industry 4.0.
Krejci joined GaMEP in 2023; he and his colleagues in the technology group help companies adopt smart technologies such as data collection and analytics, artificial intelligence, and augmented and virtual reality solutions, all tailored to meet their needs and integrated with their current process and machinery.
One way they do that is by facilitating visits to Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF). There, said Krejci, “We have a range of technologies, and we do hands-on demos so manufacturers can become familiar with them, before making a big investment.”
When Keith Dutterer, plant manager at Ingevity, an automotive filter manufacturer in Augusta visited the AMPF, he was impressed.
“The labs that they have at the AMPF are cutting-edge, and that’s helpful because we can really see the technology and generate ideas that would directly impact our plant,” Dutterer said. “There are things in that lab we are installing already in our plant, but there are also other things that could help us out in the future.”
Supporting Economic Growth
GaMEP is now an essential element in the suite of services offered by the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2), a unit of Georgia Tech that encourages statewide economic growth and plays a significant role in the state’s innovation ecosystem.
According to 2025 data from the National Association of Manufacturers, Georgia’s manufacturing sector contributes $82.6 billion to the state’s economy and employs 426,500 people.
Over the past decade alone, GaMEP has provided assistance and education to more than 3,900 manufacturers across 144 counties. Together, those activities helped GaMEP clients create or retain 14,500 jobs, invest $1 billion in capital improvements, realize $3.5 billion in sales, and save nearly $450 million in costs.
Tim Israel, GaMEP director and EI2 associate vice president, joined GaMEP in 1989, and has seen the program continue to grow its economic impact for more than thirty years.
“In 2024, the State of Georgia experienced a significant return on its investment, with the GaMEP generating an impressive $294 for every state dollar allocated to manufacturing projects,” he said. “This remarkable outcome highlights the critical importance of the state’s strategic investments in strengthening Georgia’s manufacturing sector.”
Looking Toward the Future
David Bridges, EI2 vice president, situates GaMEP’s work within the organization’s broader focus – looking beyond the numbers to celebrate impacts on individuals and communities.
“When Georgia manufacturers become more productive and profitable, they hire more people, pay better wages, and stabilize local economies, especially in rural and underserved areas of the state,” said Bridges.
As GaMEP looks to the future, its leadership and team members see opportunities to continue contributing to Georgia’s economic prosperity by supporting innovation and growth in this key industry.
Price put it best: “If you don’t move forward, you might get left behind. That’s really true with manufacturing.”
It’s also true of GaMEP – and one of the many reasons the organization continues to expand its expertise, resources, and services to meet the needs of Georgia’s manufacturers.
Visit our About GaMEP or Statewide Impact pages to learn more about GaMEP or Contact Us today.
NOTE: Data related to capital improvements, costs, jobs, and sales represent self-disclosed survey responses through a third-party organization; not all manufacturers disclose data.
Sources:
2025 National Association of Manufacturers Data
