Jasper, Ind. (August 8, 2022) – Indiana Furniture has been awarded a Manufacturing Readiness Grant of $109,121 that will facilitate investment in autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). These AMRs will be used for material handling, freeing employees of the firm from tedious tasks and refocusing them on higher-value activities.
Indiana Furniture has provided quality office furniture for over a century with the highest standards in design, quality, and craftsmanship.
Indiana Furniture was previously awarded a grant of $90,879 in the third quarter of 2020, which allowed the company to incorporate innovative technology and automation at that time, as the company worked to meet increased demand.
Given Indiana’s manufacturing-intensive economy, industrial modernization remains a fundamental requirement for sustainable economic growth in the State. Indiana has the largest concentration of manufacturing among the states, accounting for 26.41% of the total output of the state’s economy ($100.26 billion in value) in 2019, while employing 16.37% of the workforce.
“The Manufacturing Readiness Grant program, administered by the IEDC and in partnership with Conexus Indiana has accelerated the timeline on two Industry 4.0 projects that have allowed our people to focus on more value-added work and increase our total capacity,” said Chad Nord, VP of Operations at Indiana Furniture. “The latest grant is helping to scale up our Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) adoption from a single robot doing a simple task to a fleet of three robots working together to move materials within and between our manufacturing facilities.”
“We are very fortunate Indiana Furniture is located in Dubois County. Their drive to further automate and innovate their manufacturing operations makes them excellent recipients of the Indiana Manufacturing Readiness Grant. I’m excited to see these outstanding companies continue to thrive in Dubois County.” said Ed Cole, President of Dubois Strong.
To be eligible for a Manufacturing Readiness Grant, a company must be a registered business with the Secretary of State’s Office with plans to modernize smart manufacturing technology and equipment in Indiana.