SOMERSET, KY – Winston Crawford is getting contract work from the federal government thanks to the Supplier Education & Economic Development (SEED) program and its annual contracting symposium, which connects local manufacturers with federal and regional supply managers.
Crawford is one of several Eastern Kentucky advanced manufacturers who participated in SKED’s Sixth Annual Eastern Kentucky SEED Symposium on Wednesday, October 23. During the full day of events, local representatives met with some of the world’s biggest prime defense contracting officials to build connections that lead to growth and new work for their businesses.
The event, held at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Ky., is the culmination of months of training, preparation and certifications, getting robotics and automated machinery developers, metal stamping, 3D printing designers and others ready to meet and sell themselves as potential suppliers to the defense industry.
SKED and its SEED partners, Kentucky Manufacturing Extension Partnership and KY APEX ACCELERATOR, work with these same manufacturers and continue to recruit new ones throughout the year, preparing them for the symposium.
Crawford, owner of Limestone Manufacturing in Somerset, attended the symposium for the first time in 2023 as a start-up machine shop with a couple of machines. This year, he’s invested in new equipment and machinery and added a couple of employees, allowing him to be competitive on the federal level.
He now regularly wins contracts with both the Department of Energy and Defense. In the past couple of months, this work has added more than $500,000 in new revenue from the federal government, and he projects this will continue to grow.
The event is a collaborative effort between the office of Fifth District Congressman Hal Rogers and SKED.
Congressman Rogers was on hand for the event to encourage business connectivity and continued regional work.
“The ultimate goal of this event is to create more jobs and expand our businesses across the region with federal contract opportunities. Over the last seven years, more than $70 million have been invested and more than 500 jobs have been created as a direct result of the partnerships formed at this symposium,” said Congressman Rogers, who launched SKED in 1986. “The SEED Symposium opens the door of opportunity to show off our skills here in Kentucky’s Appalachian region. We have the best workforce in the country, coupled with innovative manufacturers that are becoming certified and qualified for competitive federal contracts.”
Since its inception, companies participating in the SEED program have invested more than $70 million in the region and created some 500 jobs. SKED’s partners have trained nearly 600 workers.
In 2023 alone, SEED companies invested nearly $6 million in Southern and Eastern Kentucky and created 65 new jobs.
Representatives from 11 aerospace, defense, and regional contracting companies, including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and GE Aerospace, attended this year’s event. They held a panel discussion on the best way to do business with the federal government. They also met individually with small business owners and managers, listening to them give their sales pitches and presenting their capabilities statements.
Eastern Kentucky-based businesses exhibited their products and capabilities and met one-on-one with defense prime contractors at the symposium. The event also allowed these same manufacturers to network. Over the years, many connections have been made, creating an ever-expanding growth ecosystem among these small and medium-sized advanced manufacturers.
Some of the region’s two- and three-tier automotive companies have attended in recent years, increasing interest and connectivity among SEED clients.
SEED is a seven-year-old program created by SKED to train, certify, and prepare the region’s advanced manufacturers to do business with large corporations and two- and three-tier automotive manufacturers.
Since SEED was initiated in 2017, more than 500 workers have been trained, many achieving the necessary certifications needed to acquire government contracts, and more than $70 million in new investment by local manufacturers has been injected back into the communities of Eastern Kentucky.
SKED Executive Director Brett Traver says the SEED program and the symposium contribute to the 38-year-old nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution’s mission.
“This program is another way that SKED acts as a connector to help companies grow by finding resources and new business,” Traver said. “We appreciate Congressman Rogers and his staff for their advocacy and work to bring these opportunities to the region. I also want to thank the company representatives who traveled across the region and country to help make this event happen.
For more information about the Sixth Annual Eastern Kentucky SEED Contracting Symposium or SEED, please contact Brett Traver, SKED executive director, at 606-677-6102 or brett@skedcorp.com.
