For SBDC and APEX advisors, economic developers, agencies and anyone who knows a good shop. These are the shops we're looking for, and here is how to send one our way.
America's small shops are the base of everything the country builds, and that base is shrinking. Relight the Forge is organizing the shops that are left so America can make things at a scale it hasn't seen since the 1970s.
fewer small businesses won Defense Department contracts in 2020 than in 2011.
China's shipbuilding capacity compared with America's.
manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2033.
GAO, small business contracting, fiscal 2011 to 2020. U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, 2023. Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, 2024.
China now makes 28% of the world's manufactured goods, and the United States 17%. Closing that gap takes more than contracts. It takes small shops that work as one and can grow their output when the country calls, and that's what we're building.
Independent shops, visited and held to one standard, with the contracts, bids and paperwork handled in one place. A buyer gets one company accountable for every part, whichever shop makes it.
A job feed that matches federal work to the right machines today, and the quoting, inspection and record-keeping tools that make each shop faster to qualify and easier to trust.
When the country needs parts in a hurry, a network that is already organized and inspected can take the work at once. It's the idea behind the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network, built up from the shops themselves.
More than half of America's small-business owners with employees are 55 or older. When an owner is ready to step back, we introduce them to families, crews and buyers who will keep the shop running, keep its name and keep it in American hands.
We price jobs to win and to pay the shop. What we keep pays for the bidding, the paperwork, the tools and the readiness to surge. The goal is manufacturing capacity the country can count on.
Share of world manufacturing output, United Nations data, 2024. Owner ages, Gallup, 2024.
Independent American shops that make parts to a drawing. These are the four kinds of work on the federal jobs we post, and how much of it each one gets.
CNC milling and turning to a drawing, in metal or plastic.
On the board nowPipe flanges, pins, clevises, connecting links, bushings, spacers and couplings
Fabrication, welding and sheet metal work in steel, stainless and aluminum.
On the board nowMounting brackets, access covers, plates, marine doors and hatches, clamps and handles
Bending, cutting and fitting metal tube and pipe, and hose assemblies.
On the board nowBent metal tubes, tube and pipe assemblies, hose assemblies and exhaust pipe
Cable assemblies, wiring harnesses and wire rope assemblies built to a drawing.
On the board nowSpecial-purpose cable assemblies, wiring harnesses, electrical leads and wire rope assemblies
A shop usually holds several NAICS codes: its own, like 332710 Machine Shops, and the codes for what it makes. These are the codes on the federal jobs we post. A machine shop under 332710 can take a job coded 332510 Hardware, so match the kind of work, not every code.
No code matches that. If the shop makes parts to a drawing, tell us about it anyway.
We start in California's San Joaquin Valley and work with shops beyond it when a job needs their process.
DLA spent about $2.0 billion in fiscal 2025 on the kinds of parts these shops make. A referral puts some of that work into a local shop and adds to what the country can make when it needs to.
Every member benefitFederal jobs matched to its machines, found and bid by us.
Contracts, bids, packaging and marking rules and invoicing.
It keeps its name, prices and customers, and joining is free.
Defense parts made by shops in your area, by people who live there.
Steady work, and introductions to the next owners when it's time, keep local shops open and in American hands.
Organized, inspected shops the country can call on, the idea behind the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network.
Tell us about the shop. We'll call the owner, mention who sent us, and come see the shop. The owner decides.
Or send the owner to the join pageSBDC, APEX Accelerator, MEP, economic development and agency teams: we'd like to talk about working together.