The MAC Goes Global

The University of Pittsburgh Manufacturing Assistance Center (MAC) is going global.

The MAC, which is located at the Pitt campus in Titusville, Pa., will soon open locations in rural Tuver, India, and urban Lagos, Nigeria. 

“Our model at the MAC is to take people who are at the margins, people at the lowest tier of the socioeconomic ladder, and in six weeks, we get them jobs—not only jobs, but careers in manufacturing,” said Bopaya Bidanda, Ernest E. Roth Professor of industrial engineering and founding Director of the MAC. “This model has been so successful that now, folks in India and Nigeria want to replicate it.”

The initiative recently received $60,000 from Pitt’s Momentum Funds 2022 Teaming Grant. The funding will allow Bidanda and his team to develop and conduct research to leverage the Pitt MAC platform in international locations. The team consists of faculty members from across Pitt: John Stoner in the University Center for International Studies, John Wallace in the School of Social Work, Ravi Madhavan in the Katz Graduate School of Business, and M. Najeeb Shafiq in the School of Education.

“Our vision is to transform these communities with manufacturing,” said Bidanda. These centers help train people, provide jobs and create additional jobs. It helps serve as an economic multiplier to benefit communities around the world.”