Sanford Helps Arden Companies Win Manufacturing Innovation Grant

Arden Companies is set to receive a boost of more than $600,000 to help bring manufacturing back to the United States – and it has its Sanford location to thank.

In combination with NC State University’s College of Textiles, Arden Companies is one of seven grantees of the Walmart U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund. The Fund will award a total of $4 million to the seven winners to “create new processes, ideas, and jobs that will foster America’s growing manufacturing footprint.”

The College of Textiles and Arden will use the grant to develop an innovative digital printing system that will bring Arden’s soft goods production back to the United States while remaining globally competitive. Locally, that translates to more job opportunities for Sanford’s manufacturing base.

A crucial factor for the grant application’s success was Arden’s location. Only cities with mayors who are members of the US Conference of Mayors were eligible for the grant – and Sanford Mayor T. Chet Mann is one of those mayors.

“The City of Sanford believes in the resurgence of manufacturing in our area and nationwide,” Mann says. “We are in full support of this initiative and look forward to seeing its results in our community.”

Walmart’s goal for the grant is to “bring more jobs and more production back into American communities,” says Michelle Gloeckler, the company’s executive president of consumables and U.S. manufacturing.

Other awardees include Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis for implementation of metal 3-D printing, Oregon State University to develop alternative mold fabricating approaches, and Texas Tech University to support research on cotton production and biotechnology.

For more information on the grant, visit Walmart's U.S. Manufacturing website.