As the statewide extension service of NC State’s College of Engineering, Industry Expansion Solutions (IES) partners with North Carolina industry to catalyze the transfer of knowledge and technology in support of economic development. IES supplies North Carolina businesses with the tools and services they need to help increase productivity, efficiency, quality and profit. IES also serves as the administrator for the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NCMEP) Center, the official representative of the MEP National Network™ and NIST MEP in North Carolina.

North Carolina’s statewide system of employee development and customized training provides one of the most highly skilled workforces in the nation. The NC Community College System (NCCCS) offers a free, customized job training and recruiting program for new and expanding businesses. It offers comprehensive training support ranging from a catalogue of established programs to customized curricula tailored to address specific business needs. The state’s 58 community colleges provide employee education, training and support services in all 100 counties.

The State of North Carolina provides specialists who can help companies enter worldwide markets with value-added services. These specialists are housed at the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), a public-private organization that can prepare and assist NC companies to export and advise foreign-based firms on how to begin operations in NC. EDPNC also offers a variety of personalized tools and services to help new companies locate in NC, expand current business operations or by growing or adding another location.

The Polymers Center provides polymer testing, polymer processing and workforce training to increase knowledge within emerging technologies in the plastics industry. It has the rare combination of equipment and expertise to analyze, troubleshoot and make recommendations. It offers engineering and testing capabilities, plastics compounding and workforce training for extrusion and injection molding. Its sister company, the Polymers Technology Center, can help companies with custom compounding needs and the development of new products and specialty compounds and researching new resin and additive combinations.

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The Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC) is a business accelerator for product innovation and testing. It provides new and existing companies with low cost testing, research and development, where resources are shared and capabilities are inventoried to aid companies. MSC helps manufacturers increase sales, improve quality and efficiency to create or retain jobs. This is accomplished by enhancing and improving products through R&D; assisting in creating prototypes for new, innovative offerings; analyzing new materials to enhance structure and programs and testing products for reliable content and quality.

Business Incubation Opportunity

If you have a great product idea and ready to be your own boss, then Manufacturing Solutions Center Business Incubation space is right for you. Manufacturing Solutions Center can assist you in developing your product and getting it to market.

Hangar6 / First Flight Venture Center program, is the Research Triangle region’s premier prototyping and design assistance space for technology-based companies. First Flight enables designing, building and modeling product prototypes using tools, such as 3D scanners, CO2 lasers, metal fiber lasers, CNC mill, 3D printers and more.

The University of North Carolina Charlotte, William States Lee College of Engineering, Industrial Solutions Laboratory provides cost-effective solutions to industry partners through state-of-the-art facilities, technical expertise, senior and graduate student educational projects and R&D and consulting with faculty.

The Program is multi-disciplinary with Electrical, Computer, Mechanical, Systems, Electrical Engineering Technology and Mechanical Engineering Technology students participating. Typical teams include 5 students working for two semesters on your project. See examples of recent projects HERE. See examples of completed projects HERE.

We value companies that desire to be part of the ecosystem that creates the next generation of engineering talent for our communities.

As a part of NC State’s land-grant charge, Wilson College of Textiles has a core mission of extension and outreach which is encompassed in all our efforts; however, two units within Wilson College are principally charged with this important work – the Textile Protection and Comfort Center (TPACC) and Zeis Textiles Extension (ZTE). These units accomplish this mission through the key areas of (1) Lean Six Sigma, continuous improvement and design thinking programs, (2) product development, (3) material and product testing and quality assurance, and (4) textile training.