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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Maine State Incentive Grants Assist Business Expansion Through the State

02/19/2018
The Maine Technology Institute approved six challenge grant awards from the Maine Technology Asset Fund 2.0 program to help businesses expand throughout The Pine Tree State.

The MTAF2.0 Program is financed by a $45MM bond approved by voters in June 2017 that MTI manages on behalf of the State of Maine.

Recent awards were made to businesses located across Maine from Southern Maine to rural Western Maine, with the six projects having impact on employment and revenues in many different counties, according to Governor Paul R. LePage. Awards include;

Verso Corporation which received an award of $4 million for its $17 million project. The Verso Androscoggin Mill currently manufactures specialty and graphic papers. The project supported by this MTI grant will include capital upgrades to the shuttered pulp line and No. 3 Paper Machine at the mill, allowing this equipment to restart for the manufacture of packaging grades. This increased production will create approximately 120 full-time jobs.

SmartLam received an award of $3 million for its project estimated around $22.5 million. Founded in 2012, SmartLam is the first manufacturer of Cross-Laminated Timber in the United States. SmartLam decided to expand its operations with a new manufacturing facility at a yet to be determined site in Maine. Site selection for the facility is in process and will be completed within the next 2 months.

Ready Seafood Company in Saco received $2.250 million to fund its 6 million project. Ready Seafood recently purchased a 40-acre property to develop a Maine Lobster Full Utilization Campus. The goal of this project is to collaborate with Maine’s top lobster scientists to develop holding methods to ensure that more of Maine’s lobster harvest can be shipped and processed. This new facility will create 40 new full-time positions. The campus will include an innovative lobster holding mechanism, a new lobster processing plant, a research lab, a lobster shell dehydration plant and a logistics hub.

Sea Bags of Portland was awarded $1 million for its $4 million project. Sea Bags handcrafts totes and accessories from recycled sails on Custom House Wharf. The company’s MTAF 2.0 award will be used to develop new precision manufacturing capabilities to build capacity and accelerate growth in customized products.

Arcast in Oxford received an award of $187,500 for its $500,000 project. Arcast has made its mark in the field of metallurgical processing. Arcast is now expanding operations into powder production, employing its own technological developments. The MTI-MTAF-2.0 funding will greatly accelerate that ambition at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology, such as additive layer manufacturing.

SaviLinx in Brunswick received $95,000 for its $245,239 project. The company provides business process outsourcing contact services to the public and private sectors. The MTAF 2.0 Grant enables SaviLinx to create an innovative system called the SaviLinx Enterprise Information Management System that will enable the delivery of enhanced professional services providing strategic information and analytics to their clients.

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