TechHelp Manufacturing Specialists help Idaho manufacturers, food processors and entrepreneurs/inventors improve their competitiveness through continuous product and process innovation. Our consultants provide services statewide from our university-based offices in Boise, Twin Falls, Pocatello and Coeur d’Alane. Additionally, our services fall into three primary areas of practice that include:
- Operational Excellence – TechHelp’s Operational Excellence Team can help manufacturers produce products more efficiently and with higher quality. Our team of trusted advisors has experience in all phases of manufacturing and can help you make key operational improvements in Leadership, Lean Six Sigma, Quality, and more.
- Food Manufacturing Excellence – We bring a broad range of services to the food industry through site visits, needs assessments, on-site project work, on-site training, and public courses. As a result, Manufacturing Specialists offer a wide range of services that can help food processors grow revenues, improve productivity & performance, and strengthen their global competitiveness.
- studio\Blu – We specialize in concept development, design engineering, and prototyping solutions. studio\Blu includes full-time Staff Engineers and Boise State University Mechanical Engineering student employees. Furthermore, we help Idaho inventors, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers develop new products and make improvements to existing ones.
We are a partnership of Idaho’s three state universities. This partnership gives Idaho companies statewide access to our manufacturing specialists, university facilities, students, and faculty that can help meet their needs.
As a part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP), TechHelp gives Idaho companies access to the knowledge and expertise of a national network of 1,500 manufacturing experts at 50 centers.
As Idaho’s Economic Development Administration University Center, TechHelp leverages university resources to create growth and jobs in rural and economically distressed areas of Idaho.
We give our clients access to a large network of local and national resources through our university, private sector, and national MEP partners.
About NIST MEP
The MEP program is a federal public-private partnership that provides small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) technology-based services they need to thrive in today’s economy and create well-paying manufacturing jobs. MEP is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and implemented through a network of industry-led centers located in every state. Additionally, MEP centers are not-for-profit corporations that employ industry experts who work directly with manufacturers. Manufacturing is one of our country’s greatest economic strengths, producing 11.7 percent of GDP. Over 99 percent of manufacturing firms in America are considered small, with less than 500 employees.
About Idaho’s EDA University Center
As Idaho’s Manufacturing Extension Center and a partnership of Idaho’s three state universities, TechHelp is uniquely positioned to act as Idaho’s EDA University Center (UC). Acting as a conduit to Idaho manufacturers, TechHelp has been leveraging university assets since 1996 to build regional economic ecosystems that support innovation and high-growth entrepreneurship, resiliency, and inclusiveness. University Centers collaborate with other EDA partners, such as Economic Development Districts (EDDs), by providing expertise, applied research, and technical assistance to develop, implement, and regional support strategies that result in job creation, high-skilled regional talent pools, and business expansion in a region’s innovation clusters.
TechHelp leveraged an EDA grant to build and operate the New Product Development Lab at Boise State’s College of Engineering. Though the Lab helped many inventors & entrepreneurs take their products to market over the years, we eventually learned that our student employees were our most impactful product. They met our client’s needs and developed valuable skills and experience that they took into the workplace to help more companies succeed. To create more opportunities for students and better serve clients, TechHelp garnered another EDA grant to create studio\Blu, which focuses on developing a larger group of work-ready employees with a wider range of skills