Montana Manufacturing Council
The Montana Manufacturing Council (MMC) formed in 2001 as a subsidiary of the Montana Chamber of Commerce. It followed the former Montana Manufacturers Association, which dissolved earlier and turned over a small treasury to the Montana Chamber to create the MMC.
The MMC helps build manufacturing in Montana in several ways:
- advocating for legislation and rules that benefit manufacturing
- supporting and promoting international trade
- educating Montanans about the importance of manufacturing
Manufacturers and their supporters are eligible to become members of the MMC at the base rate of $250 per year, plus $5 per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employee in Montana. Membership in the MMC brings an automatic membership in the Montana Chamber of Commerce, including all benefits of members there.
The MMC works with a variety of partners:
Montana Manufacturing Extension Center (MMEC)
The Montana Manufacturing Extension Center (MMEC) is a not-for-profit, economic development organization helping manufacturers with engineering, technical and business management issues. MMEC has been operational since 1996 and has assisted many Montana companies with both short- and long-term projects involving quality systems, lean manufacturing, product costing, plant layout, software selection, and more.
http://www.mtmanufacturingcenter.com
Montana World Trade Center
The Montana World Trade Center (MWTC) works to increase international trade through public-private partnerships, business networking, and student education. http://www.mwtc.org
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
The Montana Manufacturing Council is a member of this national organization and is recognized as one of the State Association Group (SAG) under its umbrella. Each state can only have one SAG member. As such, Montana Manufacturing Council members get access to information not available to nonmembers. http://www.NAM.org
COSMA
COSMA is an informal organization that provides a forum for its member state associations to:
- discuss the important challenges of primary concern to state manufacturers’ groups, including Federal and state programs and regulations affecting industry;
- compare best practices on advocacy strategies and other operations and programs vital to the success of state manufacturing associations; and
- share information, technical assistance, and action on matters requiring special attention by state manufacturing associations.
COSMA meets once per year for a two-day conference, organized by the hosting state association.
